Bold Visions for the Garden: Basics, Magic & Inspiration [Paperback]

Richard Hartlage (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2001

In his stunning debut book, Bold Visions for the Garden, Richard W. Hartlage encourages readers to embrace gardening as the best of all the creative arts-an endeavor that includes color, form, texture, sound, sequence, and place. Sympathetic to the limitations of time, space, and budget that most gardeners face, Hartlage explains how planning and planting well, together with the willingness to be daring, helps the gardener to achieve great drama in the garden. For example, one doesn't need a big-budget garden sculpture to make a statement. Instead, painting exterior walls cobalt can mirror the sky, or an ochre color will provide welcoming warmth-a strategy that requires only a willingness to be bold and to use a little elbow grease. Or, think big-instead of planting small plants in a small space, plant giant reed grass to tower overhead, making your visitors feel pleasantly dwarfed by such fanfare. Like an artist sharing his secrets for painting a dramatic scene on a small canvas, Hartlage offers gardeners tips on the use of contrast, scale, and light. His inspiring insights and suggestions, together with his beautiful photographs, will provide both beginning and seasoned gardeners with the resolve and the tools they need to achieve new visions of their own.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

As one of the most assured garden designers on the contemporary scene, Hartlage follows in the tradition of influential figures in the "Hort" world who have penned their guiding principles. Like Gertrude Jekyll and Thomas Church before him, Hartlage contributes to an ongoing dialogue among garden makers. Entrusting a vision where artistry together with a sense of adventure result in uniquely personal garden spaces, Hartlage assumes the role of guide to budding green thumbs and mentor to ambitious horticulturists who could benefit from a jump start. A range of possibilities must be reckoned with before setting out to create a garden. But boundless prospects can be overwhelming, so Hartlage breaks it down. How is the garden to be used? Moreover, what myriad ways can setting and architecture, scale and plantings, color, light, and special features contribute to the achievement of an individualized sanctuary? To his credit, Hartlage sets forth a refreshingly catholic stance rather than mandating a specific style. An invigorating effort, brimming with the author's striking photographs. Alice Joyce
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

One of the most extraordinary books of recent years to help us understand the new...direction American gardeners are taking. -- Gordon Hayward, Horticulture Magazine

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing (October 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555913164
• ISBN-13: 978-1555913168
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 10.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,659,896 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bold Visions for the Garden, November 27, 2001

By 

Rebecca (Maple Valley, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bold Visions for the Garden: Basics, Magic & Inspiration (Paperback)

Fabulous and fun! Also practical for those who aren't already pros. Mr. Hartlage uses beautiful pictures to show how anyone can creat a spectacular garden of their own. This is not just a pretty coffee table book but also very useful for every gardener.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bold Visions, Bold Artists, January 19, 2009

By 

gojobooks (Louisiana, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bold Visions for the Garden: Basics, Magic & Inspiration (Paperback)

I LOVE THIS BOOK! My brother had borrowed this book from his local library and after viewing it, I knew I had to have it. It is full of wonderful pictures of artists' visions come to life. The use of color in plantings and the use of sculpture to show it off (and used in the sculpture in some instances) are a wonder to behold. You can't help but enjoy both the writing and the photography in this book. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it.