The Vertical Garden: From Nature to the City (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Veronique Lalot (Photographer), Gregory Bruhn (Translator), Jean Nouvel (Introduction)
Key Phrases: Hervé Chandès, irrigation cloth, karstic outcrops, Southeast Asia, French Guiana, Cartier Foundation (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Besides charm, Blanc infuses The Vertical Garden with generosity. He reveals his methods for creating vertical gardens, from building the armature…to his selection and arrangement of plant species….Blanc attempts a critical eye, elucidating the poetry of his work and his oeuvre’s prospects for changing architectural vocabulary. (David Sokol - GreenSource )

This book is fascinating….[T]here should be a vertical garden on every block of every city in the world. (Dominique Browning - The New York Times )

[A] must for anyone who wants to create a magnificent arrangement of plant life… (The Midwest Book Review )

[B]eautifully conveys and illustrates the fruits of Blanc’s lifelong passion. (Landscape Architecture Australia )

[D]ream-like constructions of a modern-day Henri Rousseau, whose single-minded botanical pursuit has become an art form. (The New York Times )

[E]xquisite….filled with gorgeous photos and plenty of practical insights, and is recommended both for general-interest libraries strong in home and garden design and for college-level art collections strong in architecture. (Bookwatch )

[O]f equal value and interest to the serious horticulturist and botanist, artist, landscape and garden designer, architect and engineer…beautifully produced. (BBC Gardens Illustrated )

Product Description

The secrets of plants that cling, grip, and climb, from the inventor of the vertical garden.

Patrick Blanc, an artist with a green thumb, has created dozens of his admired botanical tapestries in public and private spaces around the world, including the Marithé & François Girbaud boutique in Manhattan; the Jean Nouvel-designed Quai Branly Museum in Paris; the aquarium in Genoa; the Siam Paragon mall in Bangkok; and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan. In this luscious, oversize, all-color book, he explains how to create plant walls using more than one thousand plants, drawing on his observation of natural milieus, his technique of growing on vertical surfaces, his savoir faire, and his passion for plants.

300 color.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. (August 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393732592
• ISBN-13: 978-0393732597
• Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 10.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #104,514 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #77 in	Books > Arts & Photography > Architecture > Landscape
  #86 in	Books > Home & Garden > Gardening & Horticulture > Garden Design

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The green man's the dude, October 12, 2008

By	Smarty "Marty pants" (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

Saw him live. Funny man and a genius in his own rights. The book is a bit of a dry read and the design is disappointing. Not user friendly in regards to extract the "know how" to create your own vertical garden. If you're patient, it's content heavy. I would've liked more technical information on how to make it myself.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for anyone who wants to create a magnificent arrangement of plant life , September 5, 2008

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

A different type of garden, designed for an area where real estate is invaluable, "The Vertical Garden: The Nature of the City" is Patrick Blanc's look at these creations that can be created in almost any urban setting. To the city they bring a visually pleasing image in an area where people only ever see is asphalt and concrete. The gardens can range from any height, from half a story tall to slowly growing up the sides of skyscrapers. Covering the history and skills involved in creating such gardens, "The Vertical Garden" is a must for anyone who wants to create a magnificent arrangement of plant life and doesn't have much horizontal to work with.

5.0 out of 5 stars Green growing buildngs, September 21, 2009

By	Norma G. Leistiko (Oregon) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

I viewed by chance the book "The Vertical Garden: From Nature to the City." I was stunned at the beauty of the buildings shown with entire green growing floors and growing plants creeping up the entire side of the building. Details of how to construct the ladder up which these plants grow and how they can receive water even during dry weather is simple yet profound. The effect of seeing these buildings, all over the world, is stunning. The concrete jungle can disappear and the increase in oxygen and decrease in carbon dioxide can be extremely affected with these techniques. Of course that is to say nothing about the beauty of the building. The growing plants up the side of a building or throughout an entire floor or even roof top has got to be the best idea for city dwellers and workers to breathe easier! Imagine a city covered in plants instead of cement!