Product Description

In Timeless Landscape Design: The Four-Part Master Plan, renowned landscape architects Hugh and Mary Palmer Dargan share the secret to creating an unforgettable landscape with the "Four-Part Master Plan" -- a unique method they've perfected over the past two-and-a-half decades of creating award-winning gardens and yards for clients.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #106542 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

Mississippi Gardener, March 2007
The scope of their designs ranges from intimate courtyards that evoke European classics, to their interpretation of manicured lawns, stunning perennial borders and framed views.

From the Inside Flap
Timeless Landscape Design
The Four-Part Master Plan
Hugh Dargan, ASLA and Mary Palmer Dargan, ASLA
In Timeless Landscape Design: The Four-Part Master Plan, renowned landscape architects Hugh and Mary Palmer Dargan share the secret to creating an unforgettable landscape with the "Four-Part Master Plan"-a unique method they've perfected over the past two-and-a-half decades of creating award-winning gardens and landscapes for clients. The Dargans share a blend of specific design techniques and practical advice on how to achieve the sophisticated look of a professionally designed landscape on any size and type of property.
The four-part plan includes:
The approach and arrival sequence
The hub
The perimeter
Passages to destinations
Examples of specific design treatments are beautifully illustrated with scores of color photographs taken from their own archives, plus landscape plans from historic gardens around the world that have provided inspiration to the authors, and before and after examples of the authors' award-winning work.
Learn how to apply this unique master plan that gives homeowners a simple and systematic means of planning their gardens.
The most important ingredients of a powerful landscape are usually not plants, flowers, buildings, or trees. The key to success lies in the basic tools of visual art: the four art elements (line, color, form, and texture) and the broader principles of design such as proportion, scale, and focalization. All gardens that have stood the test of time convey the power these tools hold over the human imagination. Crafting a four-part master plan depends on their skillful application-a lifelong pursuit. The following is a small taste of what these tools are and how they work on the land.

Customer Reviews

DO NOT look at this book before bedtime...
or your eyes will not close! You'll be replanning your garden all night long. Excellent resource book for all levels of gardeners. One of the best books on my "garden shelf".

A disappointing read . . . .
Make no mistake about it, this is definitely a coffee table book, with all the baggage that that moniker bestows. If you have no interest in gardening and are looking for a quick read to pick up a few landscape architect terms (like "genius loci") to kick around willy-nilly at cocktail parties, this book is for you! On the other hand, if you are a serious gardener looking for a concrete introduction to classic landscape design . . . you will need to look elsewhere.

I will allow, the photographs are glorious (SOMETHING had to fill the 200 pages of this tome; it certainly isn't inciteful text), as they should be in all coffee table books. However, one would at the very least hope for a few inspiring pictures; unfortunately the photos chosen clearly lean to spare, colorless landscapes employing lots of expensive hardscaping and precious little pizazz. And don't look for any recommendations on plant material; the photo captions often detail the architect of the house, but mention plant material only in the broadest strokes.

So, fellow gardeners, save the $29 bucks and head off to your local nursery and select a pretty perennial for your garden. I can assure you it will be more inspiring than this disappointing book.

Timeless Landscape is a timeless classic
Mary Palmer and Hugh Dargan have designed some of the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen in Georgia, North Carolina and California (I am sure there are more gardens in other locations - I just haven't had the priviledge of viewing them). One of our homes has a Hugh Dargan designed landscape and it is the primary reason we bought the property. Their book Timeless Landscape is an uncommonly fine work that is a testament to their deep bench of knowledge and inspired vision. Every page offers an opportunity to learn from a master and every photo is an inspiration.