The Garden Design Book [Hardcover]

Staff Gardendesign (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 12, 1997

For years Garden Design magazine has been bringing its unique vision of the garden to a smart, savvy readership through its lush, arrestingly beautiful photography and thought-provoking, informative articles. Now Garden Design captures this wisdom and style in a book that delights the senses and enriches the mind. This book of visions for the new gardener. The man or woman who -- like most of us -- longs to create a special place within the world of nature.

Step-by-step, from essential design elements to offbeat flourishes, from the all-important conception of an overarching design plan (the hallmark of a successful garden, be it minimal and Japanese in style or an exuberant English countryside profusion of color and shape) to the basics of planting and cultivating, from the habits and personalities of both rare and common plants to suggestions on the best ways to make the most of limited growing space (crucial to land-deprived city dwellers). Cheryl Merser and the editors of Garden Design magazine explain the new garden: What is it, exactly? And what makes it grow?

From first seed to first frost -- season after season -- The Garden Design Book takes us through the sometimes complex, sometimes blessedly simple, but always rewarding experience that is gardening.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Cheryl Merser and the editors of Garden Design magazine have produced a zaftig beauty of a garden book. The emphasis here is on "new gardening," with a nod to the traditional elements of garden design. New gardening combines a sophisticated treatment of the five senses and a natural style with a no-fuss approach to garden care. The book is marvelously organized, with rich sections that consider design elements such as boundaries, structures, pathways, and water, and a separate "Plants as Design Tools" section that considers plant color, texture, and form. Anyone designing a garden of any size from scratch will want to consult this book to clarify the planning steps, but also just to revel in its sheer gloriousness. With its exuberant, light-filled photos, this is the best possible coffee-table reading for rainy days; on sunny days, use it as a textbook in the garden.

Review

The book is as useful and intelligent as the magazine, and just as calculated.... a valuable and potentially important book that manages to demystify and democratize the esthetics of garden design. The Garden Design Book brims with inventive solutions and inspiring case studies that, taken together, go a long way toward proposing a specifically American vision of a garden. -- The New York Times Book Review, Michael Pollan

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Regan Books; 1 edition (November 12, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 006039207X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060392079
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 11.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,396,593 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A coffee table book worth browsing, February 15, 2000

By 

Dan Hooper - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Garden Design Book (Hardcover)

Definitely worth looking at but maybe not as compelling as a "reading book" if you don't have much interest in Ms. Merser's own garden dilemmas and adventures.

Massive and clean photographs bring a variety of styles and landscape features to life. For it's ease in thumbing through and printed excellence, it qualifies as an amazingly well designed book; it meets and exceeds the challenge for a book based on the subject of design. The content structure, illustrative artwork and captions are outstanding, too.

If a subsequent publishing were to be printed, I might suggest a little less base editorial and more photographic and illustrative artwork, with each given more insight and history in the caption. Hardly a criticism though, this book certainly could excite even the casual gardener. This is a very worthy book to either borrow or own.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Subscribers of the mag. Garden Design will be disappointed., May 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Garden Design Book (Hardcover)

Unfortunately, too many of the photos in this book are from the magazine issues over the last year or 2. That was a disappointment because I was really hoping for hundreds of new stuff.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty pictures but not very helpful, March 11, 2001

By 

Yours truly, "Sheri" (A Small Town in the Sierras, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Garden Design Book (Hardcover)

I was disappointed with this book because I was hoping to get information that I could apply to my own garden. The author shared her enthusiam for gardening and much of the book seemed to encourage us to be creative and follow our heart. I was hoping for some practical information about garden design.