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Living with Japanese Gardens
 
 
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Living with Japanese Gardens [Hardcover]

Lisa Parramore (Author), Chadine Flood Gong (Author), Svein Olslund (Photographer)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)


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Book Description

July 17, 2006
Living with Japanese Gardens shows how to capture and integrate an authentic Japanese aesthetic into any landscape plan. Japanese gardens affirm our connection with the natural world through the integration of the garden with the home, enriching the total living space. From the artistry with which the gardener places plants, rocks, and water with the viewer's perspective in mind, to the way in which a Japanese garden can make one feel safe and sheltered, their mystery and appeal are now wildly popular.
From the hundreds of public Japanese gardens around the world, to common garden shops and nurseries that now regularly stock stone lanterns, bamboo plants, water basins, and koi pond accessories, its easy to see how a Japanese garden will inspire and nurture. Gong and Parramore show how anyone can create a beautiful Japanese garden, whether they have a flat suburban lot, a small balcony, a rolling hillside, or a few small pots.
Chapters cover these topics and more:
Creating a reflecting pool
Ikebana-inspired gardens
Interior rooms that invite nature inside
Creating a low-maintenance Japanese garden in a courtyard
Using the principle of wabi sabi in the landscape
A backyard that highlights the changing of the seasons
Front door gardens


Editorial Reviews

Review

The photos and text in this lovely book will inspire anyone who aspires to such beauty in their garden. -- San Jose Mercury News, February 24, 2007

This book emphasizes the connection in Japanese gardens "between humanity and nature, and the peace that ensues from the relationship." -- Moutain View Voice, September 2006

This elegant little book points the way toward greater appreciation of the Japanese tradition in gardening. -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch

This is a small but thoughtful book on the philosophy, poetry and beauty of designing a Japanese-style garden. The authors have written for homeowners who want to improve their outdoor space by creating soothing views and bringing more of the indoors out by using covered areas and private sanctuaries, even if the property is quite small. You'll find more inspiration than detailed maintenance or plant lists in this book, but the design elements are beautifully illustrated with photographs from home gardens. Other topics include dry landscaping for modern minimalism, pools of reflection and a garden for ikebana, which is the art of Japanese flower arranging. If you own a low-roofed rambler and would like to give it a landscape that meshes well with the style of the home, consider a Japanese garden design influenced by this book. -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 14, 2007

About the Author

Lisa Parramore lived and worked in Japan for several years in the 1990s on the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program. Lisa divides her time between writing about Japanese culture and designing Japanese-style gardens in the San Francisco Bay area

Chadine Flood Gong is a former professor of Asian history who has taught in universities in California as well as in Japan. An award-winning designer of interiors and Japanese gardens in California and many other states for the past twenty-five years, Chadine's designs have appeared in numerous publications, including Sunset Magazine, The Japanese Bath (Gibbs Smith, Publisher), and Nature on View. She lives in Los Gatos, CA.

Svein Olslund, Lisa's husband, is an accomplished photographer who enjoys backpacking. They live in Mountain View, California, with their two children.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 96 pages
  • Publisher: Gibbs Smith; 1 edition (July 17, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1586858181
  • ISBN-13: 978-1586858186
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 8.2 x 0.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #560,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book! Instructive, inspirational and helpful., September 2, 2008
By 
This review is from: Living with Japanese Gardens (Hardcover)
I'm glad I found this book. The authors show an array of Japanese design motifs that can easily be recreated whether you have a large courtyard garden, or a narrow pathway available to landscape. There's a lot you can learn in this book just looking at the many photographs that are offered. For example, I learned that you can create a Japanese garden without a single plant and that even looking at a photograph of a Japanese garden can be a relaxing experience! I particularly recommend this book for anyone who is considering a Japanese Garden but doesn't know where to start.
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14 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Japanese Poetry, Gardens and Traditions, July 27, 2006
This review is from: Living with Japanese Gardens (Hardcover)
Aching nostalgia -
As evening darkens
and every moment
grows
Longer and longer,
I feel
ageless as the
thousand year pine."
~Kenneth Rexroth, One Hundred More
Poems from the Japanese

One of the ideas I love from Japanese design books is the luxury of a deep soaking tub. One of the baths in this book is in an open room with glass windows and walls. Of course taking a bath outside seems a dream, but now and then you find those pictures too.

Throughout this lovely book you will find quaint bridges, bamboo gardens, Japanese maple trees, waterfalls, sand and stone gardens and romantic stone paths wandering through trees. Inside, you can see how to place a bed near an antique paneled screen or how to bring stone fountains indoors.

"An ideal Japanese garden is viewed through a window while on relaxes inside, sipping tea at the kitchen table; soaking in a hot bath; or sitting on a bench on a covered veranda." ~ pg. 11

One of the brilliant ideas is a courtyard garden with a retractable roof. The ponds are especially artistic with lots of lantern designs. There is a teahouse in a forest and a home you can only access if you walk over the pond on a slab stone bridge.

~The Rebecca Review
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4 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Uninspring gardens, March 21, 2008
By 
This review is from: Living with Japanese Gardens (Hardcover)
The gardens portrayed in the book are of little inspiration and quite surprised they are published.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
For the person who prefers stillness of water to koi and pond plants, a reflecting pool can enhance the impact of carefully chosen land plants and ornaments nearby. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
stone water basin, stone lantern
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Chadine Flood Gong, United States
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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