Breaking Ground: Portraits of 10 Garden Designers [Hardcover]

Page Dickey (Author), Erica Lennard (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 10, 1997

Not since Martha Schinz's masterful Visions of Paradise, published in 1984, has there been such an important survey of garden design and style as Breaking Ground. Whereas Visions of Paradise featured classic European garden design, Breaking Ground takes an in-depth look at the work of ten contemporary garden designers living and working in America and Europe today.

The two hundred glorious full-color photographs by Erica Lennard and the lucid text by garden writer and designer Page Dickey capture the spirit and genius of the ten designers. A chapter is devoted to each designer--his or her sources of inspiration, style, philosophy, and method of creation. From the bold Southern California designs of Nancy Power to the urban geometries of Madison Cox to the updated French formal style of Louis Benech to the romantic country gardens of Nancy McCabe, Breaking Ground profiles the artists who are redefining garden design categories.

Inspirational, informative, contemporary, and beautiful, Breaking Ground is a spectacularly crafted object in itself--sure to be one of the major garden gift books of the season.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This lush book features 10 dynamic modern garden designers who have exploded the boundaries of formal garden design. Some--such as Southern Californian Nancy Power, who designs gardens for Los Angeles architect Frank Gehry, and desert dweller Steve Martino, whose gardens often include large monuments and earthworks--start from a tradition that is less formal and rigid, and it is entirely natural for them to design with bold strokes and startling shapes and colors. Others, including Dutch designer Piet Oudolf, whose gardens often contain very structured hedges and topiaries; French designer Louis Benech, who helped update the garden at the Tuileries; and New Englander Patrick Chassé, who blends Oriental aesthetics with Maine practicality, have found ways to twist formality to their liking and combine it with natural plants and landscapes. The text explores each designer's philosophy, background, techniques, and major commissions with a sense of excitement, and Erica Lennard's photography catches each garden in the perfect light, so that it almost seems to shimmer with dew.

From Library Journal

These profiles of ten international contemporary garden designers reflect ten individual approaches to gardening that coexist to some extent in all gardeners. The designers are each portrayed as distinct individuals, with unique ways of speaking and of shaping gardens, from the bold California designs of Nancy Powers to the urban geometries of Madison Cox to the updated French formal style of Louis Benech. But they also represent current trends in garden design: using bright colors and native plants, especially in xeriscaping; planting in containers; and striving for simplicity. Dickey's detailed descriptions of their gardens and Lennard's sympathetic photographs make each designer's approach so attractive that the reader may be tempted to create ten separate gardens. Dickey, a lecturer and teacher at the New York Botanical Garden and the Horticultural Society of New York, anticipates this with a concluding chapter describing her own reactions. The only flaw here is the lack of a bibliography and index. Recommended for all gardening collections.?Daniel Starr, Museum of Modern Art, New York
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Artisan (January 10, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885183372
• ISBN-13: 978-1885183378
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 9.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #356,103 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable for the garden enthusiast, December 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Breaking Ground: Portraits of 10 Garden Designers (Hardcover)

I enjoyed reading about the different styles of garden designers. It broadens the possibilities in your own garden. Beautiful pictures. It's not for the beginner gardener.