5 comments about Water Features for Small Gardens: From Concept to Construction.

1. This was mostly a book discussing what not to do and naturalizing your water feature. This is not a good how-to type book.



2. Keith Davitt takes water features to the next (natural)level with careful scrutiny of stone shapes, colors, sizes, placement. With the same attention to detail, he has an uncanny feel for scale (how large to make the feature given the amount of space there is to work with). I really like the photos that demonstrate his points. The ponds and growth really look like they belong there. Great work!!



3. This is a gorgeous book! The pictures (by the author) are luscious, the gardens are inspiring: it does the heart good just to look at them, even if you haven't got a garden, or have one but can't afford to remake it. He doesn't just rate his own gardens, he also commends other well-made water gardens, so the scope is wider than might be expected. The writing is clear, friendly, and concise. Even the book design is inviting and elegant. Very highly recommended for gardeners of all skill levels--and wistful nongardeners, too. I loved it!



4. Excellent book! I found a ton of great ideas to use on my new property. Well worth the price.



5. Water Features for Small Gardens is a wonderful book.
   Most books of this sort show incredible water features only for the very wealthy but this book not only shows beautiful, attainable water features but explains, with photos and diagrams, how to build them. Mr. Davitt includes virtually every type of water feature from tub gardens to streams and shows a wide range of styles, many of his own creations and many from other designers. For anyone wanting a comprehensive,
   beautifully illustrated book on water features, this is a must.

5 comments about Green Roofs: Ecological Design And Construction.

1. Perhaps some of the previous reviewers liked it because they use it for inspiration when designing at the very high visual level -- because really, this book is about pictures.
   
   There is no useful information in the book about the design or construction of green roofs (except a couple of pages in passing).
   
   Want to know more about how to design and construct using membranes, insulation, drainage, soil and gravel? Then look elsewhere.
   
   Want to know more about how to design and construct a green roof on a new versus and existing building? Then look elsewhere.
   
   How about planning the maintenance needed for a green roof whilst at the design and construction phase? Again look elsewhere.



2. Compared to the wealth of books on the subject in German and Japanese, there has yet to be a single good book in English. This book has nice pictures, but it doesn't even attempt to touch on the detail required to fully understand this subject adequately to qualify people to specify and actually implement Green Roofs. [...].



3. GREEN ROOFS: ECOLOGICAL DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION advocates the construction of 'green roofs' which can reduce energy demand and protect wildlife, packing in a survey of buildings and communities already using such roofs to their advantage. Some forty case studies of these projects pair color photos of roofs around the world with discussions of sustainable development and project management: thus practical applications appear alongside environmental advocacy. Experts also discuss technical requirements and history, which will please working architects. An excellent survey of working green roofs and their appeal.



4. As a very vocal proponet of green or living roofs I love this book. I believe that Mr Collum, previous reviewer must have just looked at the pictures. Pages 9 through 23 tell very well why we should have green roofs. If you are already an advocate or a newbe to green roofs, this book is for you. There is not a lot of technical information here but it gives the bare bones. If everything you needed to know about green roofs was here you couldn't lift the book. This book is ment to inspire you to get behind green roofs and advocate them in your neighborhood.



5. This book has lots of nice photographs. That is all. The technical section consists of two pages which state that a waterproof membrane is needed between the roof structure and the soil. There is no information of a technical nature in the book. I wonder why use up the earth's resources for no value. An absolute waste.

5 comments about Sun-Drenched Gardens: The Mediterranean Style.

1. Lots of pictures with captions, not too much text. Good ideas to fit any garden.



2. Having bought an olive grove in greece, we are now setting about making a garden and found that this book gave us lots of ideas and enjoyed it thoroughly. It will be read a lot.



3. Sunshine is the most defining element of a mediterranean garden. Pliny the Younger (AD 61-113) wrote of the detached room in his own garden with its cool marble floors. It was open on all sides and covered with vines. He loved to rest in the airy green shade.
   
   In a bright and arid climate, the contrasts provide a breathtaking visual and sensory experience that this book passionately and successfully conveys.
   
   It features ideas such as those based on a French tese with a shady tunnel of green clipped shrubs that function as doorways to sequential rooms, - Italian gardens sliced out of terracing and covered with alluring ancient pietra dura, - niches with terra-cotta figures, grottos, and Southern Californian water features.
   
   The lavishly, and skillfully photographed book is divided into chapters that demonstrate how to achieve the mediterranean look in plantings, introduce shade and water features, create structure with various types of enclosures, design with clipped and pruned greenery, and adroitly use gravel, stone, and other paving materials instead of lawns.
   
   The book is an inspiration and sensory delight.



4. This book is serving as a good reference material for me. Living in the a sub-tropical region, where water is short and the hot/dry season is similar to a mediterrean climate I have been successfully using some of the garden ideas to landscape my own garden. I would recommend this book for the garden enthusiast who wants to start a garden where the soil is not idea and water is scarce, or just for some
   one who wishes to grow plants which will thrive in subtropical regions.



5. Living in Colorado, sun-drenched, low-water gardens are pretty much required (at least in my yard: I have about 10 sq. ft. of shade). This book provides an attractive overview of the Mediterranean garden style using some textual descriptions and many photos, with an emphasis on pics of Italian and southern California gardens. Even though many of the classic Mediterranean garden plants are not hardy for me, this book is still useful for studying the structure and design elements of a Mediterranean garden. My only complaint is that the photos appear washed out. I'm sure this was deliberate --- these are "sun-drenched" gardens, after all --- but it makes the detailed structure and the individual plants difficult to discern.

5 comments about Home Landscaping: Northeast Region: Including Southeast Canada (Home Landscaping) (Home Landscaping).

1. I have so many landscaping books that I never opened again after the first week I bought them. This is not one of those books. It's by far so much better than most of the other ones out there. It's well organized for info, and the plans are numerous and easy to follow. Not just for beginners. a really great book!



2. It's great the way these books are customized for each individual climate area here in the U.S. Saves a lot of wasted planning with the wrong plants and materials.



3. I recently became interested in gardening (now that I have a yard in which I can plant). This is one of my favorite books on gardening and landscaping. Great resource for those of us living in the northeast. Full of wonderful photos, explanations and illustrations. It gives many ideas for addressing certain areas of your yard (i.e. front entryway, patio, rock wall). Explanations are excellent; I learned a great deal from this book. Very well written. Highly recommended.



4. A neighbor showed me her copy and I had to get one for myself. Great layouts, great plant selections, this book offers great ideas and variations and is FULL of information! I showed another neighbor the garden I am planning and now I'm buying her a copy as well. We are going to have a GREAT looking street!!



5. Home Landscaping: Northeast Region is a very informative book filled with beautiful photos. I don't think I will need another book while doing our landscape planning. Landscaping designs, expected sizes of plants and trees and shrubs, different colors and species, how to's, this book will cover all your landscaping needs if you live in new england.

4 comments about Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing the American Landscape.

1. This book is beautifully photographed and shows a range of Olmsted's work, from Central Park and other parks, to Biltmore and other homes. It even includes photos of Olmsteds own garden. Highly recommended!



2. Really a nice book on the work of the singular Frederick Law Olmsted. The book has well presented images and the text is highly informative. Olmsted was a pioneer in the field of landscape architecture and people in this profession today own him a huge debt of gratitude, as do we all, because he popularized the idea of the great urban neighborhood of the automobile age with it's windening streets and statigically planted trees and shrubs. Olmsted really understood the concept of vista's and how people interact with nature, all you need to do is walk through his Central Park in New York, or one the neighborhood designs he influenced, like Beverly Hills, River Oaks, Grosse Pointe, or Highland Park, these are some of the most saught after neighborhoods in America. His influence is shown in the park designs of Hermann Park in Houston, Audubon Park and City Park in New Orleans, and Golden Gate Park in San Fransisco, just to name of a few, his importance to the field of landscape architecture cannot be overstated. This book does a fine job of illustrating this and I highly recommend it.



3. Frederick Law Olmstead (1822 - 1903) ranks among the most important landscape architects of his time, and indeed of history. His most famous accomplishment was his design and execution of the multifaceted magnificence of New York City's Central Park, presented here in this fine book with many of the details that today go unnoticed.
   
   Charles Beveridge has written extensively about Olmstead but here his knowledge of Olmstead's genius is enhanced by numerous drawings and maps of layout as well as the beautiful photography by Paul Rocheleau. The entire volume is edited and designed by David Larkin in a manner that not only brings out the scholarly aspects of this book but lays out the various areas in both Central Park and in some of the other Olmstead works (Brooklyn's Prospect Park, the U.S. Capitol grounds, the Biltmore Estate among others) in a fashion that makes this a true art book.
   
   There may be many reasons to place this book in the library, but one that is certain to appeal to everyone is the importance of the myriad details of the great Central Park presented here with more majesty than in any other volume. Recommended. Grady Harp, May 06



4. I have been a great fan of Olmstead's design and outlook. This book provides a wonderful overview of his style, his vision and his ideas about how to create beauty out of the natural enivironment. Architects will benefit from his approach to design and construction and his ideas should be a model for those of us new to the field.

No comments about CENTER, Volume 14: On Landscape Urbanism.

5 comments about Site Engineering for Landscape Architects.

1. I am a first-year BLA student, and this text is required for an introductory course in site grading and drainage. This book is very difficult for me to read and understand. Descriptions of calculations are very poorly presented in paragraph narrative, which is mind-numbing to read and comprehend. If the calculations were presented in a step-by-step format, like a math text, they would be dramatically more clear and understandable. I agree with a previous reviewer, as well, that the layout is dysfunctional because the text and corresponding graphics are not on facing pages. This problem is particularly annoying, considering that landscape architecture is a design profession that emphasizes legibility in graphics and presentation material. I would welcome anyone's recommendations for a text that explains this subject in a more helpful way.



2. Site Engineering is a difficult subject for many landscape students and designers, yet it is a very important aspect of landscape architecture. As a landscape architect, you probably do not have to produce a grading plan (it can be done by a civil engineer), but you do need to have some basic site engineering knowledge to be able to coordinate your work with civil and other consultants. You do need to be able to read and visualize an ALTA survey map, or a grading plan; you do need to be able to understand what a concave or convex landform is, what a swale or ridge is, how to read contour or spot elevations, etc.
   
   "Site Engineering for Landscape Architects" will give you a very comprehensive knowledge of site engineering. It covers contours and form (constructing a section, contour signature and landform, characteristic of contour lines), interpolation and slope, grading constraints, grading design and process, earthwork, grading landform and architecture, storm water management, the methods to determine the rates and volumes of storm water runoff, natural resources conservation services, required detention storage, designing and sizing storm water management system, horizontal road alignment, vertical road alignment, and various case studies. It is so comprehensive that you can probably do a civil engineer's work after your read it. My suggestion is to buy this book, and look through it to have a general idea of what it covers and know where to find the information when you need it later. You can also look through the portions that you already know and focus on reading the portions that you are not very familiar with and improve your site engineering knowledge.
   
   "Site Engineering for Landscape Architects" has 352 pages and many line drawings and interior black-and-white photos. It is a great site engineering reference book for architects, landscape architects, urban planners, and engineers.



3. I was a bit tentative when I started to use this text. The book has some minor editing problems, but if your desire is to really understand site design with an emphasis on drainage and grading plan design this text does the trick and does it well. I would recommend this book to any Jr. land development designer/engineer as a must have reference.



4. This is a great book to have on your shelf. Kept referring to it for my Site Technology classes and I know I'll be referring to it in the future. I found it very helpful and clearly written. Would highly recommend it.



5. Puchased this text to help review for the LARE exam. The text has all of the necessary information but is not layed out well. Illustrations are not located on pages where they are referenced in the text making it so that you have to flip back and forth across several pages to understand the text in relation to the examples.

   The larger problem with the book is that the answers to Exercises are not given. You will have no way to determine if you are completing the problems correctly or not. The only way to find out will be to have them reviewed by another Landscape Architect or Engineer.

   The text functions well as a reference for Landscape Architects to review formulas or storm water calculation techniques but if you are trying to use it for developing skills or for exam preperation I would not recommend it.

1 comments about Pamphlet Architecture 28: Augmented Landscapes (Pamphlet Architecture).

1. I am pleased I added this title to my growing Pamphlet Architecture collection.
   
   In the best of meanings - this book is one that must be read from cover to cover to gain a very precious in-sight to the work of Laura Allen and Mark Smout. Immaculate drawings with detailed modelling combine with clear informative text that describes propositions that are at once both architectonic in mechanised terms whilst exhibiting kinetic and static sculptural intensities.
   
   Another small book that will give plentiful food for thought.

4 comments about The Chinese Garden: History, Art and Architecture, Third Edition.

1. I've been a garden designer in Portland Oregon for twenty years and have spent over a year in China visiting gardens . This book is a very good place to begin if you want to understand , on a basic level, Chinese gardens . It is however, not the place to stop if you really seek to understand them . To do that you have to try to understand the culture and times which produced them. Fruitful Sites by Craig Clunas is the best work which I have found so far as it analyzes the gardens at Suzhou over the course of several dynasties. Chinese Classical Gardens of Suzhou (Hardcover)
   by Tun-Chen Liu, Joseph C. Wang is also a very good book . It is a critique of most of the principal gardens in Suzhou and it punctures the illusion the every Chinese garden is equally great and every feature wonderful. And if you are actually going to travel to China to see gardens you really should read both of Peter Valders books . They will help you understand Chinese plants and to find gardens in many Chinese cities. I don't always agree with Valder's assessments . He is quite restrained at times . And if you are planning to travel to Suzhou consider visiting Tongli as well. I also consider the gardens of The Slender West Lake in Yangzhou and other gardens there to be equal to many of the gardens in Suzhou. And if you are going to go to China I recommend you start reading The Orientalist online and purchase Beijing by Peter Neville Hadley so that you will not be shocked when you travel China . It is by no means an easy process if you want to travel beyond some air-con rip-off tour.



2. While the attitudes and examples of Japanese gardens abound in books and in cities around the world, very little has been written or photographs of the unique concepts found in the Chinese gardens. Maggie Keswick repairs that paucity of information with this very beautifully designed, photographed and written monograph on the spirit of the subtle beauties that abound in the Chinese garden.
   
   Keswick offers an in depth analysis of the history of gardens in China and even if the reader is not an avid horticulturist, just the amount of information about China alone is reason to read this book carefully. But in addition to the history and the architectural elements of these gardens here considered, there are many graceful photographs and accompanying illustrations that keep pace with the narrative while providing an encouragement to return to the book purely for the art of it.
   
   Keswick has found the middle ground in creating a volume about the elements of the Chinese garden and a volume that stands strongly as simply an art book. Highly recommended for repeated readings. Grady Harp, April 05



3. How great Chinese garden are!From north to south ,east to west,royal to normal,fancy to simple,you could see all of the best gardens in China.Especially two cities that must visit:Beijing,my hometown,and Suzhou,a wonderful small town built beside the river.The spirits of Chinese gardens were focused on how to combine nature and humanity together.The gardens in Suzhou absolutely rendered an ideal level without artificial fixing,you might called it "Eastern Venice".On the oher hand,Beijing seems much more luxurious since it used to be the capital of China for 5 dynasties.The best known garden named Summer Palace ,which settled in Western part of Beijing,belong to the royal family. A fire desaster ruined most valuable garden named Yuan Ming Yuan,if it still being there,Yuan Ming YUan might be the most gorgeous garden in the world.However we pitifully left a waste garden,morely a Country's shame.You luckily better read this book before you visit China.<>is a helpful tourguide take you a preview.



4. A superb study that is as engrossing as it is elegantly written and lavishly illustrated, and a sensitive inquiry into the aesthetics, the history and the philosophy that underpin an ancient and majestic civilization's view of mankinds's place within the cosmos. Both unique and profound. An essential work.

5 comments about Outside the Not So Big House: Creating the Landscape of Home.

1. It is a beautiful book that is well written and illustrated. So I'll give it 3 stars. But I don't believe it belongs in the Not So Big series. It feels like false advertising or misrepresentation. I appreciate the concept of connecting the outside and inside, but I expected to see ideas for small gardens/yards in small lots, not small planting areas within large lots and acreage attached to large houses.



2. I agree with many of the poor reviews by fellow "Not So Big House" thinkers. I was very, very disappointed by the lack of practical information and very few useful principles for "creating the landscape of home".
   While I agree with and have used so many of the principles in her other books, this one left me with nothing I can use to landscape my property.
   While some of the examples are quite interesting, most are also quite unusual and there is not much to take away for those of us with average-sized, rectangular-shaped lots living in subdivisions filled with tract homes.



3. Prerequisites: You have a house with some space for plants.
   Pros: if you wanna block your not so eye-entertaining neighborhood.
   Cons: French (glass) windows/doors may have security concerns.
   
   You don't have to have a million-dollar house and 10 acres to have a nice view. The point of this book is "a look from inside out."
   
   Your windows and doors can be a frame looking through your garden, hence the garden/landscape is designed from an inside view of your house, as far as your eyes can reach.
   
   It teaches you how to create a relaxing enjoyment by using your current limited space, landscape, or even a slope with proper plant arrangements.
   
   It greens your house from inside out!!



4. A house and its garden are different parts of the same overall design. Bestselling author Sarah Susanka and acclaimed landscape designer and award-winning writer Julie Moir Messervy understand this concept. They describe it as "opening up the relationship of indoors and out" and demonstrate it with actual case studies in "Outside the Not So Big House: Creating the Landscape of Home."
   
   "Outside the Not So Big House: Creating the Landscape of Home" covers the landscape of home, embracing the habit of home (playing up the corners, borrowing the landscape, the attraction of opposites, a stream of one's own, shelter and embrace), composing journeys (variations on a theme, Japanese journey, parallel paths, the territory of home, the world behind the walls), linking the inside with the out (living lightly on the land, easy living, a landscape of stone, good fences, rooms inside and out), and crafting the elements of nature (gardens of earthly delight, three cabins in a forest, at home on the range, terraces of grass, a cottage in the city). This book does show the influence of Julie Moir Messervy's training with the well-known Japanese garden master Kinsaku Nakane as a Henry Luce Scholar.
   
   "Outside the Not So Big House: Creating the Landscape of Home" has 216 pages and many dazzling color interior photos and plans. It is a good gardening ideas book for both design professionals and ordinary gardeners.



5. I come away with the feeling that Sarah was lead astray when this book was in development.
   
   Many of the houses in previous books in the 'Not So Big' series have been rather expensive even if they have not been that big. At least these books have provided me with ideas in redoing our moderate sized/priced house.
   
   In this book I find a 'Not So Big' house with a library, a sitting room, and a sunroom on the first floor in addition to a mudroom, kitchen with eating area, formal dining room and living room. The next house in the book sits on a 4 acre lot. Almost every house in the book has grounds that require hired maintenance professionals.
   
   I would imagine that one of the first chapters in Sarah's new book, 'The Not So Big Life', will recommend reducing the square footage of your house and the maintenance required for your grounds. Reducing the square footage of your house will substantially reduce the work needed for upkeep. The 'grounds' could be turned into a native prairie for which God will provide the maintenance. Half of our 1.3 acre lot is native forest looked after by God.
   
   The subtitle of the new book is 'Making Room For What Matters'. One of the things that matters for me is making time for things I enjoy by spending as little time as possible 'mowing the lawn'.