Product Description

Garden planners, home gardeners, and landscape designers will be turning to this exceptional book for expert advice from the world’s leading garden makers including Beth Chatto, Piet Oudolf, James Van Sweden, and Julie Mois Messervy. In this beautifully illustrated collection, Noël Kingsbury gathers their ideas on the entire design process—from choosing a garden style through planning its layout to maintaining its look over time. Encouraging a fluid approach to creativity, Gardens by Design will assist designers at all levels to understand the mechanics of plant combinations, to seek out cutting-edge and exquisite plants, and to nurture their garden’s development, growth, and maintenance over time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #278979 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-01
• Released on: 2005-08-15
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

From Booklist
Gardeners looking for advice from a who's who of top designers will revel in the insights Kingsbury has collected. Having put together a circle of creative thinkers, Kingsbury draws out from each individual a rich dialogue filled with ideas and concepts that will have readers thinking about exactly what it is they want in a garden. To personalize and give character to a space, either with the help of a hired professional or on your own, one must not only look at practical considerations, but also clarify needs and desires. This guide should help in understanding the relationships between house, grounds, and garden style. The aesthetic notion of a formal approach versus a naturalistic asymmetry is illuminated, and such elements as paths and borders, plant choices, and water features are discussed; and all suggestions are shown in a profusion of color photographs. A great sourcebook that promises to inspire budding green thumbs while stimulating those with experience. Alice Joyce
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"A refreshing and illuminating change from the usual garden design book which is the voice of just one person, Noel Kingsbury's Gardens by Design has tips, insight, and wisdom from some of the most respected and creative garden designers in the English-speaking world."—Catriona Tudor Erler, American Gardener, June 2006 (Catriona Tudor Erler American Gardener )

"The photographs are not only beautiful but serve to illustrate the ideas, as do all the others throughout this handsome, well-designed book."—Michael Cunningham, Horticulture, July 2006 (Michael Cunningham Horticulture )

"This book will be one you will keep on the shelf and refer to often." Debra Teachout-Teashon, Rainy Side Gardeners, July 19, 2006 (Debra Teachout-Teashon Rainy Side Gardeners )

A refreshing and illuminating change from the usual garden design book which is the voice of just one person, Noel Kingsbury's Gardens by Design has tips, insight, and wisdom from some of the most respected and creative garden designers in the English-speaking world.Catriona Tudor Erler, American Gardener, June 2006 (American Gardener )

The photographs are not only beautiful but serve to illustrate the ideas, as do all the others throughout this handsome, well-designed book.Michael Cunningham, Horticulture, July 2006 (Horticulture )

This book will be one you will keep on the shelf and refer to often. Debra Teachout-Teashon, Rainy Side Gardeners, July 19, 2006 (Rainy Side Gardeners )

From the Publisher
Offers tips and ideas from some of the world’s top garden designers such as Beth Chatto, Piet Oudolf, Isabelle Greene, James Van Sweden, John Brookes, and Julie Moir Messervy. Photographs and garden plans will inspire the reader to create their own garden oasis.

Customer Reviews

very basic
Althought the photos are beautiful and the book does give some overview of the work of some prominent designers in the field today, the advice given is very basic. It's sort of on the line of "create an axis" kind of advice. Still, it's a pretty coffee table book, and something to look at when inspiration is lacking, or a winter dreaming book.