Exploring Garden Style

This is a guide to creating gardens based on a theme, a style, a personality or a functional need.

In this eloquent plea for compassion and respect for all species, journalist and gardener Nancy Lawson describes why and how to welcome wildlife to our backyards. Through engaging anecdotes and inspired advice, profiles of home gardeners throughout the country, and interviews with scientists and horticulturalists, Lawson applies the broader lessons of ecology to our own outdoor spaces. Detailed chapters address planting for wildlife by choosing native species; providing habitats that shelter baby animals, as well as birds, bees, and butterflies; creating safe zones in the garden; cohabiting with creatures often regarded as pests; letting nature be your garden designer; and encouraging natural processes and evolution in the garden. The Humane Gardener fills a unique niche in describing simple principles for both attracting wildlife and peacefully resolving conflicts with all the creatures that share our world.

*** 'A beautifully curated sourcebook of garden styles, with stunning images of gardens around the world from an internationally acclaimed photographer ... Whether purchased as an indulgent coffee-table book or an inspirational sourcebook, Garden Style could be equally useful to designers, landscapers and architects as a mood board to illustrate styles and help clients visualise their thoughts. I recommend reading this book several times: once for the pure indulgence of the glorious photography, again to absorb the description of each style, and yet to enjoy the inspirational ideas.' Gardens Illustrated 'With such a huge range of material, it far outweighs anything you'd get online. Plus, like all good books, it's wrapped up in a lovely package that's eminently dip-in-and-out-able. The curation of the content is on trend, consistent and inspiring ... Whether you're a lover of gardens, a style-hungry consumer or a professional designer, the book is full of inspiration. The numerous photos, great breadth of gardens and succinct writing all contribute to letting us work out what we like - and to finding our own garden style.' RHS The Garden Gardens have never been as important as they are today. The breadth of styles and types is hugely varied. Everything goes, whether inspired by the past or looking towards the future, from traditional vegetable plots to vertical gardens and from nature-filled designs to sleek, modernist creations. Choosing what suits your space can be a daunting prospect and everyone, even the professionals, needs help to realize opportunities and create outdoor spaces in tune with their personal needs and dreams. A garden is what we make it: there is no right or wrong way and each is unique. Richly illustrated by the photos of award-winning photographer Marianne Majerus and with illuminating text by landscape architect Heidi Howcroft, this book shows what is possible for every type of garden, from challenging small spaces to expansive plots. Design tools are explained, planting styles explored, and inspiration is drawn from a wide variety of locations and climates to appeal to garden owners and designers everywhere. The book is not only a companion to Garden Design: A Book of Ideas but is also a valuable style catalogue and sourcebook in its own right, encouraging and inspiring readers to discover their own garden style - be it contemporary or traditional, cottage-style or urban minimalist.

In contemporary American garden design, beauty for beauty’s sake is making a comeback. The sixty gardens featured here trace current planting trends across the country, showcasing the best designs of recent years from the verdant Pacific Northwest to the tailored Eastern Seaboard, as well as prairies in Denver and Texas and exquisitely detailed private gardens in the Southwest that create a sense of lushness even while working exclusively within the vocabulary of cactuses and succulents. Plants are used to reinforce meaningful content, ecological strategies, and, most importantly, to create immersive and emotional experiences. As the movements of architectural, naturalistic, meadow, matrix, graphic, and ecological planting design have been adopted in such notable incarnations as the High Line in New York and Citygarden in St. Louis, they have rekindled interest in using plants that suit a given site’s ecology—and in letting plants, rather than hardscape elements, lead design. Residential as well as public gardens are featured, and all are united by an immediately perceptible, intelligent selection of plants that create an enthralling, memorable, and fitting sense of place: this is what makes a garden truly authentic. Over 250 full-color images reveal gardens created by the top American firms working today, including Andrea Cochran, Jack deLashmet, Doyle Herman, Elysian Landscapes, Gustafson Guthrie Nichol, Hoerr Schaudt, Ron Lutsko, Steve Martino, Nelson Byrd Woltz, Nievera Williams, Oehme van Sweden, OLIN, Raymond Jungles, Christine Ten Eyck, Bernard Trainor, and Michael Vergason, as well as beautiful gems of gardens by lesser known regional firms. Detail as well as overview images of gardens throughout the seasons and abundant plant identifications make this volume a valuable reference for all home gardeners as well as landscape design professionals interested in tracing the themes prevalent in contemporary American gardens.

In a time of climate change and mass extinction, how we garden matters more than ever: “An outstanding and deeply passionate book.” —Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals Plenty of books tell home gardeners and professional landscape designers how to garden sustainably, what plants to use, and what resources to explore. Yet few examine why our urban wildlife gardens matter so much—not just for ourselves, but for the larger human and animal communities. Our landscapes push aside wildlife and in turn diminish our genetically programmed love for wildness. How can we get ourselves back into balance through gardens, to speak life's language and learn from other species? Benjamin Vogt addresses why we need a new garden ethic, and why we urgently need wildness in our daily lives—lives sequestered in buildings surrounded by monocultures of lawn and concrete that significantly harm our physical and mental health. He examines the psychological issues around climate change and mass extinction as a way to understand how we are short-circuiting our response to global crises, especially by not growing native plants in our gardens. Simply put, environmentalism is not political; it's social justice for all species marginalized today and for those facing extinction tomorrow. By thinking deeply and honestly about our built landscapes, we can create a compassionate activism that connects us more profoundly to nature and to one another.

Creative Garden Design: Patterns is a unique and practical reference for creating mood, proportion and scale in the garden. Its more than 500 photographs reveal the hidden patterns in plants, gardens and the wider landscape to inspire plans for gardens of all sizes and illustrate how to appreciate the styles of design in larger gardens andparks. Explore the influences of pattern in design and thepeople who made them and gain a greater understanding of the roles of color, texture, shape and perspective in the garden. Each chapter explores a different theme of garden pattern, including: • Plants with Pattern: Leaf Shape and Texture • Patterns within Layouts: Symmetrical and Formal • Patterns with Plants: Borders and Bedding • Patterns in Landscape: Paving and Walls • Water Patterns: Pools and Streams Additional features include profiles of patterns ingarden design history from abstract to Islamic gardens. A complete visual delight, Creative Garden Design:Patterns is a classic work that deserves pride of place on every garden designer’s bookshelf.

With a keen eye for aesthetics matched by a strong concern for the environment, garden expert Stephen Orr has developed a sense of what a modern garden should be: small, visually pleasing, and responsible. In Tomorrow's Garden, he presents gardens in 14 American cities that have been scaled back and simplified without sacrificing beauty or innovative design. A devoted supporter of the organic gardening movement, Orr advises gardeners to think about their gardens as part of an interconnected whole with the surrounding environment--with an eye to water usage, local ecology, and preservation of resources. However, for those who are afraid that a sustainable garden means a lack of flora and fauna, Orr believes that a garden, first and foremost, should be a thing of beauty. He encourages flower lovers to plant flowers, and he showcases gardens filled with traditional and exotic plants that are designed with both visual appeal and the environment in mind. With detailed case studies, stunning photographs, and an appendix of resources and information to help gardeners achieve their ecological best, Tomorrow's Garden will teach you the true definition of sustainability and show you how to create beauty without excess in the 21st century and beyond.

“Big ideas for your small garden.” —Garden Design When it comes to gardens, bigger isn’t always better, and The Less Is More Garden shows you how to take advantage of every square foot of space. Designer Susan Morrison offers savvy tips to match your landscape to your lifestyle, draws on years of experience to recommend smart plants with seasonal interest, and suggests hardscape materials to personalize your space. Inspiring photographs highlight a variety of inspiring small-space designs from around the country. With The Less Is More Garden, you’ll see how limited space can mean unlimited opportunities for gorgeous garden design.