Product Description

A well-designed garden provides pleasure to owner and visitor alike but often eludes even the most experienced gardener. Encompassing many different disciplines, garden design is one of the most challenging art forms but, with time and practice, everyone can develop the necessary skills. The Essential Garden Design Workbook guides you through every stage of designing a garden from site assessment through to drawing up plans and selecting suitable hard landscaping and plants. By working through the book from start to finish, a designer garden is within everyone’s reach.

This practical workbook goes right back to basics and pinpoints the key practical essentials for a successful design. Here you will learn how to assess your site and experiment with design ideas that fit well with the garden’s surroundings. You will find easy ways to measure large spaces, estimate the height of a tree, and advice on the right proportions for a deck, pathway or steps. The book includes clear instructions for drawing up plans from initial site survey through to final design, complete with tips on drawing and rendering detail to give a professional touch.

This book is tailormade for hands-on gardeners who want to rework their gardens to achieve that sought-after ‘designer finish’. Hundreds of explanatory drawings and quick-reference diagrams provide ‘facts at your fingertips’ making this workbook a vital addition to the bookshelves of every gardener, design student and newly qualified professional.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #531575 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-01
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Turtleback
• 292 pages

Review
"Alexander presents an excellent, comprehensive overview of a complicated subject, with many excellent examples."—Better Homes and Gardens, May 2005 (Better Homes and Gardens )

"Highly recommended as a detailed instructional for learning to blend individually creative instincts with practical necessities to create truly memorable gardens." James A. Cox, Bookwatch, March 2005 (James A. Cox Bookwatch )

"This is a comprehensive, almost scholarly guide to the secrets of good garden design."—Amy Stewart, American Gardener, March/April 2005 (Amy Stewart American Gardener )

Alexander presents an excellent, comprehensive overview of a complicated subject, with many excellent examples.Better Homes and Gardens, May 2005 (Better Homes and Gardens )

Highly recommended as a detailed instructional for learning to blend individually creative instincts with practical necessities to create truly memorable gardens. James A. Cox, Bookwatch, March 2005 (Bookwatch )

This is a comprehensive, almost scholarly guide to the secrets of good garden design.Amy Stewart, American Gardener, March/April 2005 (American Gardener )

Review

Alexander writes with a rare understanding for all of the living organisms -- humans, plants and wild creatures -- who will occupy and benefit from the garden that is under design.

"I especially like the book's 400 line drawings. Most are helpful, some humorous."

From the Author
Rosemary Alexander is Founder and Principal of The English Gardening School at the Chelsea Physic Garden, London.

Customer Reviews

A highly detailed design workbook
The Essential Garden Design Workbook is a highly detailed design workbook especially intended for serious home gardeners, students of design, and professionals. Expertly written by Rosemary Alexander (the founder and principal of The English Gardening School), The Essential Garden Design Workbook is illustrated cover-to-cover with simple diagrams and sections of full color photographs. Individual chapters deftly cover necessary research and preparations, how to develop the initial design, what to take into account when finalizing the garden layout plan, creating a planting plan, visualizing and constructing the design, and a host of minor details. The Essential Garden Design Workbook is highly recommended as a detailed instructional for learning to blend individually creative instincts with practical necessities to create truly memorable gardens.

Excellent for even experienced landscape professionals
I am using this book as a textbook for a Garden Design class. I have several years of garden design experience and have many more years of gardening experience. This book explains the design process in an easy to understand and inspiring way. I have found that it addresses planting and design in subtley different ways that jog my mind to be more creative. It is well written, well designed and very informative.

Great for Beginners
I moved into a new house and needed to do something with the landscaping. It is a mess. I cannot afford to hire a professional, so I bought this book hoping it would help me come up with a plan on my own. I haven't finished the book yet, but am finding it very helpful. It is more like a text book on how to draw up a garden plan, aimed at professionals, but it isn't overly technical and is fairly informative. I would have given it 5 five stars except that I am not very artistic, and I wish the book had more info to help me in that regard.