Small Buildings, Small Gardens: Creating Gardens Around Structures [Hardcover]

Gordon Hayward (Author), Peter Harrison (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 4, 2007

Small Buildings, Small Gardens
Creating Gardens Around Structures
Gordon Hayward
Illustrations by Peter Joel Harrison
In his eighth book on practical garden design, renowned gardener Gordon Hayward explores the idea that existing or newly built structures in a garden-sheds, pergolas, fences, arbors, gazeboes, pools, and so on-can be used to answer most questions about how to develop an engaging and user-friendly garden plan.
Important tips:
A small structure such as a shed suggests the dimensions, style, line and purpose of the garden adjacent to it.
Gazeboes, arbors and other open structures frame garden views.
Fences, pergolas and walls provide structure, background, edges and places for people to sit, have a meal or gather.
Gates and breaks in walls and fencing create thresholds, points of entry and transitions from one garden area to the next.
Trellises and other vertical built structures attached to the sides of buildings provide places for vines or espaliers.
Gordon Hayward is the author of several books, including The Welcoming Garden, The Intimate Garden: Twenty Years and Four Seasons in Our Garden, Garden Paths: Inspiring Designs and Practical Projects, and Your House, Your Garden: A Foolproof Approach to Garden Design, as well as a variety of articles for Horticulture Magazine. He lives in Westminster West, Vermont.
"Hayward has shown himself to be not only a talented landscape designer but also a gifted teacher."
-Publishers Weekly
"Gordon Hayward shows you how to get beyond lawn and standard shrubs . . ."
-Chicago Tribune

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Sitting in a vine-covered gazebo framing a lakeside view, walking under a pergola connecting an orchard and pool garden, having lunch in a summerhouse with lavender blooms in the foreground while roses scramble over the roof-variety is what engages visitors to a garden, and once you understand that garden design gathers around making places for people, then you begin to find just the right places for plants that will engage those people.
Built structures in a garden provide anchors, centers and starting places for good garden design. Features such as garden sheds, arbors, pergolas, gazeboes, trellises, fences, gates, bridges, decks, arches and small buildings-playhouses, summerhouses and pool houses-provide valuable clues as to how to develop gardens around them, and how using a variety of these structures can solve many design problems.
In Small Buildings Small Gardens, author Gordon Hayward teaches you his design process, which will help answer many questions about how to develop a design for your new or existing garden:
. Where should I put a new bed?
. How big should it be?
. What shape should it be?
. How does it relate to existing beds?
. How should I plant this new garden so it fits in with those that already exist yet adds to the overall experience of my garden?
Packed with case studies of private gardens from around the world, Small Buildings Small Gardens offers practical, essential advice on siting built structures to help you gain the confidence in designing your own garden masterpieces.
Gordon Hayward is the author of several books, including The Welcoming Garden, The Intimate Garden: Twenty Years and Four Seasons in Our Garden, Garden Paths: Inspiring Designs and Practical Projects, and Your House, Your Garden: A Foolproof Approach to Garden Design, as well as a variety of articles for Horticulture Magazine. He lives in Westminster West, Vermont.

About the Author

Gordon Hayward holds degrees from Wesleyan University and began gardening in the 1970s. In 1984, he turned to the work of garden design, lecturing, and writing full time. He consults throughout the Northeast for residential clients, their architects, and builders. He is the author of several books, including The Intimate Garden: Twenty Years and Four Seasons in Our Garden, Garden Paths: Inspiring Designs and Practical Projects, and Your House, Your Garden: A Foolproof Approach to Garden Design, as well as a variety of articles for Horticulture Magazine. Hayward is a certified member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 152 pages
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith (January 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586857053
• ISBN-13: 978-1586857059
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,110,872 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book, February 4, 2008

By 

Texan Hsing Mother - See all my reviews

This review is from: Small Buildings, Small Gardens: Creating Gardens Around Structures (Hardcover)

I borrowed this book from our library and wow, what a great read! Not only are the photographs beautiful, the text actually says something! So many garden books have great photographs but limited or no text of meaning.

Mr. Hayward does an excellent job of guiding the reader through this book. There are 11 chapters, each approximately 8-12 pages, covering a major type of garden "building" such as: Arbors, Decks, Gazeboes, Sheds, Pergolas, Playhouses, Fences and Gates, Trellises and Bridges.

One of my favorite features is a small box in each chapter entitled "Where to Site a ____" (Garden Shed, Pergola, etc.). The example of a rowboat turned into a garden shed illustrates the whimsy that can be found in some of Hayward's suggestions. It's obvious that he has fun in his garden, and this attitude carries over into this book.

Put your feet up, sit back and enjoy!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book-crummy provider, June 20, 2010

By 

bill manary "bill the gardener" (springfield, mo.) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Small Buildings, Small Gardens: Creating Gardens Around Structures (Hardcover)

I enjoy looking through this book for inspiration and i would reccomend it for any landscape collection in any library-i wish my copy was "like new" as advertised but once in a while a poor vendor slips by even amazon. my copy was really damaged but worth the effort and expense to repair because of the quality of content. the provider was backpack books--"you can send it back at your own expense but we won't guarantee we'll receive it." ????? good book, rare bad experience.