Customer Reviews

Designing with Plants

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is not a reference book for active, summer gardening. This is an inspiring book for winter gardening by the fireside, a book from which to dream, plan and design and to gain a liberating aspect of gardening.

This book presents a peerless horticultural perspective on natural habitats and how these might be brought to gardens, delivering unique ways of planting and seeing by shape, form, color, size, texture and, singularly, by light. In this the author awes the reader with the beauty of plants affected by the seasons and their elements: light, fog, dew; rain, frost and snow. As a practical tool to aid the shaping of these gardens, he includes an unconventional index that lists the characteristics, cultural requirements and companions for selected plants.

The photography is stunning, enlightening and informative in its content--and valuable. Through their exemplary quality, serious gardeners and professionals will discover a freer and more natural mode of horticultural expression. This is one of the few gardening books that both stimulates and satisfies the spiritual and aesthetic quests of many gardeners.

A good resource for the personal landscape and a even better one for the professional. The two authors did a wonderful job laying out the many ways in which plants can be used to create the outdoor room and place. Their bold approach is reinforced beautifully in the full color photographs that are abundtly found on the pages of the book. Not a lot of additional information, but there are numerous lists and tables to help guide in ones plant selection. More slanted towards the professional, yet for the true gardener, a wonderful addition to your library.

Even if the book has designs that seem more than you can handle now, the book is so breathtakingly beautiful that its inspirational value alone make it one of the best I've ever read. In the process of stretching your imagination in just one or two areas, a great deal of result may be seen in your garden, and you will have pulled the target for your creativity up several notches.

Piet Oudolf is one of today's garden design geniuses. He gives us a book that is both inspiration and implementation. He inspires readers to design gardens that are carefully crafted but appear utterly natural. Then he gives us new, creative tools to make these garden designs. Oudolf focuses on plant structures and gives us easy categories for the forms of herbaceous garden plants. He emphasizes mood, light, movement, and rhythm in garden design. Always thinking outside the box, he even champions spent perennials at season's end. Gorgeous color photos illustrate all points. A must-have for both dreamers and gardeners with dirty hands.

The gardens in this book are amazing. As a landscape design student, the designs in this book give me something to aspire to.

The authors do a good job of providing most of the plants names for what you see in the pictures. The individual information about the plants is beneficial to determining their use.

I just love looking through this book and just enjoying the beauty of these perennials.

There are few plant design books that cover mysticism in the garden, but Piet Oudolf manages to tap into every aspect of designing with plants. Piet's harmonious plant compositions will dazzle, envigorate, and alternatively, calm any gardener who follows his lead with garden design. This plant-happy book has loads of photos to demonstrate Piet's naturalistic plans. I recommend this perennial plant book heartily for anyone interested in plant designs "101."

I got this more for the plan lists and photos than the design concepts therein.

The photography is tops, and it really shows what a good plant selection could look like. the one thing that I wish it had (and other landscape design books) is the stages of planting. Like what it will look like the day it is planted, and what it will look like in a year or two. You get the full, mature version of the designs discussed, which one will only see in their own plantings after many years.

The plant lists were very helpful in narrowing down the options I had for my space.

It's always good to get a new perspective from a gifted designer. The pictures were inspirational.