Product Description

Russell Page, one of the legendary gardeners and landscapers of the twentieth century, designed gardens great and small for clients throughout the world. His memoirs, born of a lifetime of sketching, designing, and working on site, are a mixture of engaging personal reminiscence, keen critical intelligence, and practical know-how. They are not only essential reading for today’s gardeners, but a master’s compelling reflection on the deep sources and informing principles of his art. 

The Education of a Gardener offers charming, sometimes pointed anecdotes about patrons, colleagues, and, of course, gardens, together with lucid advice for the gardener. Page discusses how to plan a garden that draws on the energies of the surrounding landscape, determine which plants will do best in which setting, plant for the seasons, handle color, and combine trees, shrubs, and water features to rich and enduring effect. To read The Education of a Gardener is to wander happily through a variety of gardens in the company of a wise, witty, and knowledgeable friend. It will provide pleasure and insight not only to the dedicated gardener, but to anyone with an interest in abiding questions of design and aesthetics, or who simply enjoys an unusually well-written and thoughtful book.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #325720 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-03
• Released on: 2007-07-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

From Library Journal
Page, one of the great landscape gardeners, covers a lot of ground-literally and figuratively-as he shares his knowledge and experience in this heavily illustrated volume. First published in 1962, this edition contains more photos than the original, many from Page's private files.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Europe's most eminent garden designer shares his philosophy, his theory and much of his practice in landscape design, as he has developed it over the years. There's much of practical value for the informed reader- but it must be extracted from the personal record, from regional and historical background, from his honest sharing of prejudices and opinion. His experience ranges from the cottage garden to the Festival Gardens of Battersea. He developed the beautiful plantings at Longlent- he writes of the various phases of planning at Stour, at Windsor. He is acknowledged master in his field but does not hesitate to share laurels with those designers of the past who have influenced him. He discusses basic principles of taste and style and harmony of house and garden, and he goes into specific details of trees and shrubs, and the raw materials of his art.?? (Kirkus Reviews)

Review
"Page was one of the 20th century's legendary landscape gardeners. This classic memoir, first published in 1962, is filled with charming anecdotes and timeless gardening advice." -Library Journal

“A classic of garden literature.” —The Los Angeles Times

“Page is one of the most respected gardening experts in the world.” —The Washington Post

“It is beyond dispute that Russell Page, an Englishman now in his 77th year, has designed more gardens for more people in more parts of the world than anyone in history…He has moreover had for many years an underground celebrity as a master of English prose, on the strength of his book The Education of a Gardener.” —The New York Times (John Russell)

“Russell Page was one of the most gifted landscape architects in history…Page’s erudition also extended to writing, as this book demonstrates. Three hundred and sixty three pages of design advice can be reduced to this: Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder; it is a quality based on sound artistic and aesthetic principles. Applying those principles–now that’s the hard part, even in Page, in his genius, makes it look easy.” —The Washington Post Book World

“One of the most eloquent of all horticultural testaments. —The Sunday Telegraph (London)

“Literary types will enjoy The Education of a Gardener by Russell Page…a landmark exposition, first published in 1962, of garden design principles by one of the 20th century’s leading landscape designers.” —The Toronto Star

“Something of a classic, a manual on the art of the garden by a man who designed them for over 50 years, but also much more…” —The Times (London) (Sean French)

“I never travel far without Russell Page’s Education of a Gardener, one of the most thoughtful and civilized gardening books ever written, by a master designer.” —The Daily Telegraph (London)

“Russell Page was one of the great English landscape architects of this century…His book The Education of a Gardener remains, in my view, the best combined guide to planting and designing a garden ever written, with inspiration for every sort of gardener, wherever they are placed. The last chapter on his own dream garden is brilliant.” —The Independent (London)

“Whatever has happened to garden writing? By that I mean literature, books that one picks up in the same way that one would a novel or biography for a good read, confident of the quality of its prose…Going to my bookshelves, I pull down Russell Page’s The Education of a Gardener or Vita Sackville-West’s In Your Garden…Virtually no pictures in any of them. We recognize all of these as somehow belonging to a golden age of garden writing.” —The Times (London) (Roy Strong)

“Page had a great talent and a sensitivity not only to different types of flora and to different climates, but also to the architectural requirements of gardens, both large and small…Combining a painter’s eye (his only formal training was in art) with a pragmatic and encyclopedic knowledge of horticulture, he produced gardens that were–are–extraordinarily lovely.” —New York Times (Witold Rybczynski)

“From garden design to individual plants, he invests everything with beauty and wonder.” —The Sunday Times (London)

Customer Reviews

Essential
There's been no better book written about the art of designing a beautiful landscape, IMO. While few of us can relate to mansions on the Riveria or expansive town gardens in Paris, the principles Mr. Page talks about are an accessible distillation of a lifetime of intense planting, looking and thinking. If nothing else, experiencing this rigorous and disciplined artist is an incredible inspiration.

the education of a gardener
this book is a cultural treasure, but then i am a long-time admirer of russell page, his sensitivity to site and his knowledge as a plantsman. while he tried to make good garden design accessible to more people conceptually, aesthetically, and financially, there remain some recommendations that are clearly out of reach of the ordinary person. however, his approach can be adapted to any any size of garden and any budget. recommended for its beautiful prose alone, i will read this book again and again for its depth of understanding of all aspects of garden design.

Thoughtful, well written prose on one man's life and love of Garden Design and Nature
From back cover:

"Russell Page was one of the most famous landscape gardeners in Europe. This is his classic text describing his training and the making of his many and celebrated gardens. Written in clear, elegant prose, illustrated with a substantial photographic sections, this edition boasts pictures by Marina Schinz of Russell Page's gardens in a more mature form and hitherto unpublished photographs from the author's files with a foreword and captions by Fred Whitsey, gardening correspondent of the 'Daily Telegraph.'"


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Contents:


* Introduction: The Education of a Gardener

Part One

1 - In Search of Style
2 - Notes on Composition and Design
3 - Sites and Themes
4 - Near the House
5 - On Planting: Trees
6 - On Planting: Shrubs
7 - On Planting: Flowers
8 - Water in the Garden

Part Two

9 - Town Gardens and Others
10 - Switzerland and Italy
11 - The South of France
12 - For the Public Eye
13 - My Garden