No comments about Container Topiary.

No comments about Restorative Gardens: The Healing Landscape.

No comments about Garden and Grove: The Italian Renaissance Garden in the English Imagination, 1600-1750.

No comments about Making Spaces: Contemporary German Landscape Architecture.

1 comments about Seeing Gardens (New Millennium).

1. For more than thirty years Sam Abell traveled the world on assignment for National Geographic. In Seeing Gardens he has assembled 125 of his most exotic, beautiful, dazzling photographs of gardens ranging from the symmetrical, formal English garden to the haphazard, naturally harmonious rock pools, to a field of spring blossoms, to the floral design of a head scarf. Highly recommended for students of photography, gardening enthusiasts, and anyone who appreciates viewing the world through an artist's lens, Seeing Gardens is a vivid, personally intense, inspiring, visual celebration of the variety, spectrum and beauty of gardens.

1 comments about In the Japanese Garden.

1. This book is packed with breathtaking photos of beautiful Japanese gardens. The history and philosophy behind the elements in many varied types of gardens is well explained so the reader can understand the significance as well as the beauty.

   There are sections on the use of various materials including stone, sand, gravel, water and flora of many types. The meticulous design, planning and maintenance of these gardens down to the last stone or leaf is incredible.

   Among all of the other elements, what most impressed me throughout was the lush greenery. Carefully shaped trees and hedges, and rich beds of moss combine with water and stone to make unique and special places.

   Though not intended as a "how-to" book, the many examples here provide inspiration to incorporate features of Japanese design into other landscaping settings. These are wonderful places to nurture peace, serenity and contemplation.

1 comments about Moving Horizons: The Landscape Architecture of Kathryn Gustafson and Partners.

1. This book not only provides great photos of Kathryn's built works, but it describes and shows her design process, as well as the transitions her practice went through as it grew. Well worth the read and great to have in the design library.

2 comments about Outdoor Room, The.

1. This book shows many plans for dividing your property into outdoor "rooms" or areas for different purposes. What I like about the book is that details of the elements of good design are discussed, lots of plans for different yards are shown, and many different styles of gardens in different parts of the world are discussed. DIfferent aspects of constructing gardens are discussed in detail, and there is a good bibliography for more information. If you're interested in the concept of landscaping with different "rooms", this book's for you.



2. This book is filled with great ideas, insights and beautiful color photos that can help amateur to expert gardners create special garden rooms in their landscapes. A must for any gardener's librar

2 comments about The North American Railroad: Its Origin, Evolution, and Geography (Creating the North American Landscape).

1. This hefty tome falls under the topic of 'historic geography of transportation,' in which Vance addresses the question of why railroads were built where they were. He examines the 'big picture' of why, for instance, the first transcontinental passed through Cheyenne and Ogden, instead of further north or further south. He also takes a `micro' perspective and explains how a specific railroad route was planned to reach a given mountain pass, while keeping gradients, overall length, and tunnels to an absolute minimum. The reader gains a new appreciation of how difficult it was to plan railroads before the era of aerial surveys, since even a tenth of a percentage point in gradient (an additional rise of a few yards over a mile) can make the difference between profit and financial disaster. The book focuses solely on the planning issues -- look elsewhere for descriptions of operating practices or rolling stock.

   Three-fourths of the book cover the US, while one-fourth addresses Canada. Northern Alberta and northern British Columbia receive disproportionately heavy attention, undoubtedly because the author has a summer cabin there. There are over a hundred b&w photos and fifty maps. However, when the author engages in a mile-by-mile description of why a certain route was laid out as it was, the book cries out for even more detailed maps so that the reader can follow the author's description of topography.




2. James Vance's knowledge of his subject matter is staggeringly obvious. This thick, academic work proves it. I should recommend this as a useful library addition. However, for the average reader, Vance has made a grevious, common error. His book is simply tiresome to read; Filled with typical university verbage, making it nearly impossible to read more than a few pages at a sitting. Take this example on page 4 in the Introduction: "It is from looking at geographical aspects of railroading that we ultimately become aware of perhaps the most significant of all dichotomies associated with railroad history, that between the spatial aspects of the railway as it emerged in England and Wales in the first quarter of the ninteenth century and those of the railroad as it emerged less than a decade later in North America, particularly the United States." That was one sentence. There are an endless number of those in this book of over 300 pages. At the end of all that, the reader is left with essentially one point. The U. S. did not follow the British is developing its railroads, the U. S. did its own thing! Certainly this is simplistic. If one needs to know how and why this continent built its railroads the way it did, one need look no farther than this book. Just be prepared to take a while reading it

4 comments about The Essential Garden Book.

1. This is, without a doubt, one of the finest gardening design books I have come across. It shows many different styles of gardens with distinct flair. If you want to be inspired by innovative ideas, buy it. It is one of my two favorite gardening books---and I have many.



2. This book is a beautifully photographed, well written book about landscaping. It is like owning a pictoral encyclopedia for gardeners.



3. One of the most useful and innovative garden books. If you are looking for inspiration, this is a good one to buy.



4. The pictures are inspirational and the advise is practical and lyrical. The authors write well and LOVE gardens of all kinds. Everything is covered from balconys to estates, minimal to extravagant, and covered thoughly with many idea engendering photos.