Classic Garden Plans [Hardcover]

David Stuart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2004

Offers a store of garden plans inspired by some of the bewitching and famous gardens in the world. Each graden is given a historical context and its best qualities, best seasons and times of day are explained. Planting plans given for each scheme with shopping list and suggestions for adapting each plan to limitations of given space.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"With such vivid inspiration, creating an intimate version of any of these classic gardens falls into the range of possibility."—Lili Singer, Los Angeles Times, March 4, 2005 (Lili Singer Los Angeles Times )

"Introduces 16 classically-inspired garden plans scaled for smaller home gardens ... Includes historical context, color plans and photos, and a flexible plant shopping list."—Reference and Research Book News, August 2005 (Reference and Research Book News )

"Stuart's elegant study of historic garden plans balances clear explanation with explicit diagrams listing walkway materials and plants by their Latin names."—Mary Ellen Snodgrass, American Reference Books Annual, 2005 (Mary Ellen Snodgrass American Reference Books Annual ) --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Book Description

For any gardener who is unsure of what to grow or how to put plants together in coherent planting schemes, this book provides answers. Many of the garden plans and plantings included are simplified versions of those created by great gardeners such as Vita Sackville-West, Margery Fish, and Piet Oudolf. The author's extensive knowledge of period plants, and how they were put together to look beautiful, has enabled him to re-create historical classics, like the Renaissance parterre or the Monet water garden, from contemporary planting lists and plans. Planting plans are given for each design, with a shopping list that can be taken to a nursery. The book includes suggestions for adapting each plan to the limitations of a given space, and how to adapt the shopping list, as well. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Frances Lincoln (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0711223866
• ISBN-13: 978-0711223868
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,055,258 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mists of time: tiny boy buys his first cactus plant from a local florist, and is entranced. Becomes botanist. Becomes gardener. Becomes nurseryman, specialising in old fashioned flowers. Becomes garden writer. Becomes newspaper columnist. Lived in sequence of houses dating from 1450 to 1824, currently in a charmer of 1795. Also gardens in London, Lincolnshire, and the Scottish borders. Busy republishing some out-of-print book amongst the 15 he's written. New books on the stocks too. Also tried novel writing - see Lobster Fever for results. An active and reasonably popular blog.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars plans for all types of gardens with accompanying photos, October 28, 2004

By 

Henry Berry "Henry Berry" (Southport, CT) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Classic Garden Plans (Hardcover)

Color plans of 16 noteworthy and in some cases famous gardens from around the world are filled in with the plants in particular spots, and in many cases the pools, stonework, and other features of them. These plans are complemented by luxurious color photos of the plants in bloom. Stuart's work is not only to highlight the classic gardens, but to aid gardeners in recreating them. Most of the gardens are seen as meeting some purpose of their creators. A Japanese garden is meant to offer surroundings for meditation; an Indian garden is for the concubines of a Hindu emperor; Monet's water garden in France was a place for him to paint and to find inspiration and solace toward the end of his life. A herb garden and an orchard are also included. The oversize "Classic Garden Plans" serves as a guide for garden design or a gift to a garden enthusiast. Stuart is a Scotman with a background in botany and writing who has done previous books on plants in history.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good addition to any gardening library, May 4, 2007

By 

I. A. Mills "theplantmommy" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Classic Garden Plans (Hardcover)

As a professional garden consultant and designer, I frequently refer to this book and often show it to clients to help visualize and clarify what they are after for their own gardens. The classic gardens are mostly grand in size, and the plans based on them are not copies, or even miniatures, but interpretations--all scaled to a level site about 40 x 60 feet in size, in a "cool temperate" climate. The descriptions of the original gardens explain important elements without going into exhaustive detail: for example, the description of the Chinese Scholar's Garden mentions architectural elements and traditional plant combinations that are significant to the Chinese. Sometimes a client expresses the wish for a "Japanese" or "English" or other kind of garden, and what they really want is the idea, not a slavish copy. Anything that helps locate the core of the idea is invaluable, and "Classic Garden Plans" has been one of my best resources.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paradise, complete with apples, June 14, 2007

By 

Knot Hole Book Review (Santa Barbara, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Classic Garden Plans (Hardcover)

I think it was the apples that did it for me. There are 48 types of roses, 12 types of irises, 11 types of magnolias, 11 types of waterlilies and 9 types of tulips in Stuart's "shopping lists." But the apples? "Beauty of Bath," "Lord Derby," "Cox's Orange Pippin," and "Stirling Castle" are just too delicious to pass up. And what about classic garden plans? If Hidcote Manor, Sissinghurst Castle, Barnsley House and Ashton Wold are not enough, Stuart takes us on a grand tour of everything from the Nanzenji Garden in Japan to a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Pasadena, California, stopping along the way at Giverny, France, for a look at Monet's water garden. He also examines the works of some individual garden makers like Gertrude Jekyll and William Robinson. Richly illustrated with crystal-clear photographs and luscious watercolor sketches, Stuart's book is a welcome addition to any garden-lover's collection.