No comments about Discoveries: Paradise on Earth (Discoveries (Abrams)).

3 comments about Penelope Hobhouse's Garden Designs.

1. A friend of mine introduced this book to me when I was doing research and writing "Planting Design Illustrated." I loved it. It has many great photos to illustrate garden design. It is a collection of garden design done by Penelop Hobhouse and her partner. It enlightens you and encourages you to look at a design issue at a detail scale. Very good images. It'll show you how brilliant human beings can be.
   
   Penelop Hobhouse is one of the best writers on gardening and garden design, her books always have great print quality and very nice color photos. No offence, she is also one of the great people that dare to call a garden a garden, not "landscape." She is actually talking about landscape design issues, but she prefers to use the term garden or gardens and make her book closer to ordinary people. As a design professional, I love her books also.
   
   Gang Chen, Author of "LEED AP Exam Guide" & "Planting Design Illustrated." LEED AP, AIA



2. I've had this book for several years now and keep coming back every year as an old faithful source of planning inspiration. Beautifully illustrated with plans for many scenarios. Many of the books written by or about English gardens are beatiful to look at but don't stand much of a chance at being reproduced in the typical suburban garden. Hobhouse has, in my opinion, shown us extraordinary gardens, gorgeously photographed, along with plans that can actually be implemented in your garden. I've got a library of garden books, some serving as inspiration and some serving as pure tools (almanacs, etc.) - this is by far the best inspirational garden book I own.



3. Hobhouse's book combines the look of a coffee table book with the practicality of a manual with her many varied garden design examples. Each design has an explanation followed with outstanding photos. However, the best part is that she illustrates in plan how her plants are grouped so that the beginning gardener can learn about spatial concepts while also about plant placement, color, texture, etc. This is a thorough, but not overwhelming design source and guide that is both useful and inspiring.

No comments about Garden at Buckingham Palace.

No comments about New Reading Landscape: Fieldwork in Landscape History (Landscape Studies).

No comments about Landscape Design: Theory and Application.

No comments about Guide to Site and Environmental Planning.

5 comments about The Garden Book (Mini Edition).

1. If you go to Phaidon's website, this book can be purchased for $9.95 plus shipping/handling. It's half as much to buy from them than through Amazon! I'm surprised, as Amazon usually has the best deals. Shame, shame.
   
   So, don't spend $21 on a book that should only cost you $10!!!



2. This is a gigantic and beautiful book, and I disagree with those who find no inspiration for the small home garden in these pages.
   
   Each incredible location receives only one photograph, and at first I wanted to see more of each garden. But as I turned the pages I began to enjoy the sheer creativity and incredible variety on each page.
   
   The photos are gorgeous and the text is intelligent.
   
   True, I can't replicate these gardens with my space and money, but I find inspiration here and can improvise and scale it to size. I have learned a great deal about the greatest gardens in the history of the world, some of which are now reduced to ruin or exist only in historical record.



3. THIS BOOK SURVEYS ELABORATE GARDENS FROM OVER THE WORLD AND THOSE FOR PARTICULAR ARCHITECTURAL SETINGS. I THINK IT ASSUMES MORE THAN A FAIR AMOUNT OF GARDENING KNNOWLEDGE ON THE PART OF THE READER. SEE A DIFFERENT APPROACH Zen of Watering Your Garden



4. This book was recommended by a Landscape Architect. There was not one garden in there for the home, unless, that is, you have a multi-million dollar estate and more than 3 acres. What a waste of money for the home gardener.



5. My heavens, what a lovely book! Although my creative cathexis is primarily focused on product design and architecture, mine eyes have beheld the glory of landscape architecture as a result of this inspiring tome (as well as the fascinating biannual of modern landscaping "'Scape," which is also available on Amazon). The pictures are lush, even in a little book like this. The alphabetical organization mixes thousands of years of masterpieces from around the world, giving a fabulous feel for the astounding diversity and creativity of landscaping. And the price simply can't be beat. I can't recommend this book highly enough -- I'd give it 10 stars if I could!

No comments about Town and Square: From the Agora to the Village Green.

No comments about Gardens and Gardening in the Chesapeake, 1700-1805.

1 comments about Nature's Design: A Practical Guide to Natural Landscaping.

1. From the very dawn of what we laughingly refer to as civilization, when knuckle-dragging Neanderthals gawked as ferns unfurled their fronds and begged the sun to pour its magic warmth upon them, dandelions (back then referred to as "dent-de-saber-tooth-tigers) exploded, and aquifer recharge areas gurgled far below unshod, hairy feet, mankind has regarded nature as a malleable source of inspiration easily bent to aesthetically pleasurable forms, as well as a walk-through self-service convenience store that miraculously restocks itself without the help of Pakistani clerks. No one knows this better than Ms. Smyser, the author of Nature's Design.
   
   At 1 cent, this content-rich tome is attractively priced and bound to add panache, esprit, and insouciance to even the most well-appointed library. Certainly there are those who will take issue with Ms. Smyser's theories concerning rhododendrons, and as to her thoughts on wildflowers, well, one must simply recall the words of Wittgenstein who observed, "Regarding those things we may never understand, let us pass over them in silence." The cool weather crop section, by contrast, is scintillating, passionate, effusive, and scented with just a whiff of je ne c'est quois (whatever that is).
   
   Published in 1982, (24 years ago), by Rodale Press, (located in Emmaus, PA), Nature's Design is 390 pages, (10 shy of 400).