1 comments about Planting Design.

1. "Plants have been a part of our earth for a very long time and are a source of oxygen, food, fuel and building materials for the benefit of humanity. Besides these functional uses they also add much to the aesthetic appearance of our natural environment..." Theodore D. Walker wrote, "Anyone who designs a landscape using plants applies some basic principles of design, which are common to all design professions, including architecture, interior design and other arts..."
   
   "Planting Design" covers design principles (line, form, texture, color, variety, repetition, balance, emphasis, perception, plant masses, scale), functional uses of plants (visual control, physical barriers, climate control, noise control, erosion control), aesthetic values (the inherent beauty of plants expressed by their leaves, bark, branching, reflections and shadows), process of planting design (site analysis, plat hardiness zones, plant selection, plant characteristics, spacing, using flowers, design process, typical design projects and plant use, references for selecting plants), preparing planting plans (principles and techniques, cost estimating, graphic symbols, sample plans, plant lists and details), and preparing specifications (using a word process, sample specifications from a private office and a state agency).
   
   "Planting Design" has 196 pages and many fine black-and-white interior photos. It also has a lot of great samples of planting plans and landscape sections done by professional firms and sample landscape specifications at the end. It is a classic on the difficult subject of Planting Design.
   
   Gang Chen, Author of "LEED AP Exam Guide" & "Planting Design Illustrated." LEED AP, AIA
   
   

No comments about Thomas Jefferson, Landscape Architect.

1 comments about Pleasure Pavilions and Follies: In the Gardens of the Ancien Regime.

1. Bernd H. Dams researched the architectural and garden history, and Andrew Zega produced the fifty watercolors illustrating the pavilions and follies of this book which accompanied a pair of exhibitions in New York City and Paris in the mid 1990s. Each chapter is devoted to folly in chronological order and also includes period engravings and paintings, original architectural plans, and portraits of the architects and patrons. Also, there is a Visitor's Guide which lists the 18 surviving, or partially surviving, follies both public and private, and when they can be visited. This is a book that is as informative as it is beautiful -- a must for all admirers of the decorative arts of the Ancien Regime.

No comments about Habitat Creation and Repair.

4 comments about Native Landscaping From El Paso to L.A..

1. If you don't know the first thing about native landscaping or habitat gardening, this is a great book to start with. It is so complete, it may be the only book you need. It has gorgeous pictures of attractive native gardens, garden plans, and a lengthy plant reference. Even as a Northern Californian, I found a surprising amount of information that was relevant to me.



2. I really enjoyed this book. It helped me design and implement a hummingbird garden area. I now have a seating spot in the garden to enjoy the many H that come. I am buying another one of these great books for a friend who admired my garden. Thank you author Sally Wasowski



3. I have the hardcover version (Native Gardens for Dry Climates) and I highly recommend this book. The Wasowski's do an admirable job of showing off the best of each plant - you get the idea that ALL these plants are worth having, and so we covered the book in post-it notes...

   The information is detailed enough in terms of native habitat, water, and sun/shade requirements and growing habits that we could build a great "hit list" of plants that we took to the local native nurseries. We found almost everything on our list, so the plants covered seem easy enough to find, at least in Los Angeles.

   The best feature of this book can be found under the "Other Value" subhead for each plant listing: whether the flowers are used by hummingbirds or bees; whether it's a larval plant for butterflies or moths; and whether the seed or fruit is eaten by birds. I wish all books had this essential information for the wildlife gardener.




4. Native Gardening from El Paso to L.A. is actually the Wasowskis' previous book, Native Gardens for Dry Climates published under a new name. The only differences I noted were a change in the format of the introduction and new photographs substituted for a couple of the plants. Nevertheless, as I did not own the previous version, I found this edition very helpful in deciding what type of desert trees, cactus, shrubs and plants to include in a desert landscape. The authors provide full color photographs of the entire plant or tree plus pertinent details such as water needs, amount of sun, type of soil, maximum height and width, native habitat and the desert regions it will grow in. A map included in the book outlines seven distinct regions covering California, Southern Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and a portion of Texas. A general description and landscaping tips for each of the 146 plants are also provided. Tables are included which outline the color and bloom time for each plant. Several sample gardens plans are reviewed providing the reader with landscaping ideas. I found this book to be an extremely helpful resource.

2 comments about GIS for Landscape Architects.

1. describe los tipos de proyectos con respectoa a la utilizaciopn del SIG como herramienta para diseñar paisajes



2. While somewhat biased towards ESRI software, this book still managed to capture the essence of what real LAs are doing with GIS. What it lacks in technical detail, it more than makes up for with its very nice graphics and maps.

2 comments about Delta Primer: A Field Guide to the California Delta.

1. I was reading part of Kevin Starr's preface to Delta Primer aloud to one of my kids tonight, and thought I'd check in on Jane Wolff--didn't know she taught at Washington University. Clicked through to here and couldn't believe there was only one review. I just bought a second copy (used, for $15? on Amazon) as my first copy has become part of the lending library of life. I know it was loved by two architects and a carpooling advocate here in the Bay Area. . . .
   
   I've only been here for 10 years, and certainly didn't GET the delta until reading this book. But you don't really read it. You immerse yourself in it, you get absorbed by it. You wallow around in it. You let it bang around in your head--in my case for a couple of years, in great detail.
   
   The multi-layered sophistication of the graphics is amazing. The way Wolff conveys fundamental concepts is wonderful. If he doesn't already, Edward Tufte should raise the book up in his hands every time he conducts a high priced workshop.



2. Washington Univ. Prof. Jane Wolff's "Delta Primer" explores the California Delta, both a natural and man-made phenomenon just east of the Bay Area which today is being used or fought over by a diverse constituency, including developers intent on paving it over. Her wonderful, beautifully illustrated book addresses these different dimensions, making the point that the Delta's future has become like a game of chance in which all of us hold the cards. You can see recent reviews of the book by landscape architect Barbara Stauffacher Solomon in the Winter 04 issue of _line (www.linemag.org) and by SF Chronicle urban design writer John King (www.sfgate.com). It's also available in paperback, published by San Francisco's William Stout. A work of art and dedicated scholarship, it's highly recommended. And after you read it, get to work saving the Delta! - John Parman

1 comments about Canyon Gardens: The Ancient Pueblo Landscapes of the American Southwest.

1. I'm a trained archaeologist and worked in the field for many years. I learned much from this book, including some things that I had never even imagined. Well done -- easy to read.

4 comments about Great Streets.

1. i love the drawing styles and methods presented in this book. i recommend it for anybody who loves buildings and great streets of our world.



2. This wonderful book consideres the civic street from many perspecitives and describes it with poetic attention. The author has spent days on these great streets and brings careful measurement and observation to his carefully crafted text. If everyone planning streets and highways in America read this book and visited one of two of these great streets, it would enable a huge improvement.

   This book studies the street not from the simple American perspecitve of high velocity traffic sewar, but from the realities of a place to hang out. eat lunch, shop, socialize, people watch, court, celebrate and be. The read how these places work in this book is to realize how much our desperate focus on the automobile costs us.

   Buy this book and photocopy some of its illustrations for your next public hearing on town planning.




3. This is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in the study of urbanism.



4. ...this is a reference book in the sense that it mentions so many important and peculiar streets in the world, many of which, I'm sure, you've heard about or possibly even visited. Mr. Jacobs' accounts of his own travels and his feelings while strolling down those streets could even put this book in the travel journal caegory, complete with beautiful sketches by the author himself. Not only the sketches, but the technical and historical information, (like street dimensions, the schematic comparison of several different city plans worlwide and the decline of once great streets) establish this book as a constant source of information for Architects and Urban Planners, as well as students.

   I could clearly recognize the Traveler, the Urban Scholar and the Artist in Mr. Jacobs as I took a stroll down these great streets through the drawings and heartfelt passages of his book.

5 comments about Golf by Design: How to Lower Your Score by Reading the Features of a Course.

1. Robert Trent Jones Jr. is a master Golf Course Architect - as anyone who has played one of his designs can attest first hand. This book gives strong insight into his thinking - and the thinking of course designers around the planet - on the subject of constructing every part of a golf course such that the golf course offers both enjoyment and challenge to all who experience the great game. But more than that - Robert Trent Jones Jr. offers his thoughts on recognising and reading the features of a course and the intention of its designer/architect - and how features give players clues on how the designer/architect intended a particular hole should be played. This information alone will lower your golf handicap.
   
   Including details on everything from the peculiarities of different types of grasses and how best to play from each, thru the different types of sand and their characteristics; and even discussing the advantages of carrying 3 wedges rather than two - this book is another Robert Trent Jones Jr. masterpiece. It should be required reading and a part of the library of every golfer who has ever loved the worlds greatest game, or anyone who is its student.



2. For whatever reason, there are only a handful of books available that address the problems of golf strategy specifically. Many of those turn out to be little more than lessons on how to hit a draw or fade, or to play out of rough. Only a few actually deal with the problem of hole designs and everything that comes with them.
   
   In this light, Golf by Design is a raging success. It offers a look into the thinking of the architect and sheds light on a great many areas of play that usually get swept under the carpet in favor of learning to hit 300 yard drives. What do different bunker placements and shapes do to define a course? What effect can grass types have on how a shot rolls? Where should a person be looking to find the best angle to attack a fairway or green?
   
   Since the time of this work's publishing, several similar volumes have come out, not the least those dealing specifically with architecture itself. Others, including Butch Harmon's Playing Lessons, mix in swing tips with strategies for golfers of differing calibers. It is possible, though, that a good overall book on golf, such as Golf Magazine's Complete Book of Golf Instruction, will include a great deal of information located here.
   
   Three things you will not find in other volumes, however, are details on the visual illusions used by an architect, the diagrams, illustrations, and photos found in this volume that do the best job of demonstrating a point of any book around, and lastly an insight into the RT Jones philosophy of course design. This last point may be of particular importance to a number of golfers, as their favorite courses may be a RTJ work.
   
   In the end, however, the fact that a working architect with his own interests at heart is the author keeps the book from having the impact that it could. Several jabs are taken at other architects here and there, some probably deservingly, but still making for an ugly display. The fact that the author is a skilled golfer himself comes out in one passage too many, where we see a guiding hand from the enlightened being offered to the poor initiate. However, Although many of the examples given do come from RTJ courses, this is nothing to fault the author for. Readily available material is the boon of any writer.
   
   If you have not read anything on golf architecture, and want to get an idea of what it is all about and how it affects your game, Golf by Design might be the right place to start. Anyone with some education in course design might be best served by saving up for a trip to a famous layout, as the hands-on experience will probably be more worthwhile.



3. RTJ II's Golf By Design provides a number of insights into the mind of the designer and how they view the elements that go into the design of a golf hole. I found the book to be more descriptive of how designers think and less prescriptive about what the player should do in terms of dealing with the various design elements (Butch Harmon's Playing Lessons is a much more strategic approach to playing individual holes). Many of the leading architects of this day and age have written similar books (Trent Jones Sr., Pete Dye, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Fazio ....) - consider this book RTJ II's contribution to this genre .....



4. I found this book playing a beautiful local Robt. Trent Jones, Jr. course that's in this book, The Orchards. He shows you the clues the designer has placed their to steer you to a respectable round.

   From the tee box to the fairway routing and bunker construction, to the style of course, i.e. links, prairie, desert, etc., this master architect using examples of his existing designs shows the risks and rewards of different strategies.

   I found that not only did this help me to play Robt. Trent Jones, Jr. courses, but other good architects layouts as well.

   Well worth the investment!




5. I play many different public courses and often times have trouble reading new courses, resulting in several shots wasted until I become familiar with the course.

   I found Golf by Design to be really helpful in giving me the insight to read a course right off the bat and often saving me the wasted shots. It has also helped me appreciate the design and layout of the course that much more.

   I would also recommend it to beginners as a great introduction into 'course management'