World of Garden Design: Inspiring Ideas from Around the Globe to Your Backyard [Hardcover]

Susan Dooley (Author), Editors of Garden Design Magazine (Author), Susan Doodley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 2000

The creators of Garden Design magazine, the most luxurious and informative of gardening pulications, are ready to whisk readers away on a journey throught the world's most astounding gardens and shwo how these international ideas can take root in hoem soil. An inspiring dream book as well as an impressive compendium of gardening history and inforamtion, The World of Garden Design offeres the superlative photography that is the award-winning magazine's trademark, beautifully illustrated maps and plans, and a section called "Bringing It Home" which adapts the finest elements of the world's garden styles to home gardens. From the sweeping pastoral landscapes of England and Ireland to the exotic walled gardens of the Mediterranean, from the hot color f the tropics to the venerable aesthetic of the Far East, The World of Garden Design plumbs the fascinating origins of gardening's most essential principles. With its sumptuous photography, garden history, and practical information, The World of Garden Design is the ultimate guide for the true garden-lover.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

You'll find it hard to tear yourself away from the gorgeous world tour of garden photos of this colorful book. More inspiration than practical guide, there's plenty to admire no matter what your style preference. Choose from among stately formal gardens, shady riverbanks, tidy herb beds, or complex succulent showcases, all presented with stunning depth of color on pleasingly glossy paper. Each photo has accompanying suggestions and design hints from the gardeners responsible for such glory. The text is scant, but what there is makes for interesting reading.

Design histories, the practical needs for each environment that resulted in creative and stunning plant choices, important elements of each type of design--these are all included as the sidelines to the incredible pictures. In the section entitled "Bringing It Home," the text expands to practical tips to help you duplicate the looks you've admired on previous pages--each style is covered in slightly greater depth, but the focus is on design, rather than plant care or environmental suitability. The perfect book to pore over on a cold and rainy day, The World of Garden Design is fabulous fodder for brainstorming sessions in developing fresh ideas for your own gardens. For those lucky enough to travel the world seeing various gardens in person, this book will give you ideas for new places to visit, or lovely reminders of the places you've been. --Jill Lightner

About the Author

Susan Dooley lives and gardens off the coast of Maine. A former editor of the Washington Post Magazine, she writes about gardens for Garden Design, Architectural Digest, and other publications.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (April 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811826562
• ISBN-13: 978-0811826563
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 9.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,537,812 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Global Gardening Inspirations, March 28, 2000

By 

JoAnn Greco (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: World of Garden Design: Inspiring Ideas from Around the Globe to Your Backyard (Hardcover)

Take a meadow's worth of gorgeous photos, throw in more than a potful of great gardening tips, and finish with an abundance of historic and artistic context and you get "World of Garden Design," from the creators of Garden Design Magazine. Enticing images and stellar ideas notwithstanding, I most valued the latter component. Through a thorough tour of history's major gardening styles-- including Italian, English, French, Caribbean and Asian-- and an examination of their signature elements, "World" nicely gathers a number of my passions-- art, design, gardens, history-- into one bountiful eyeful and one great read. Its focus on design, though, is what stands out-- a refreshing antidote to the dozens of gardening books that emphasize the practical at the expense of the magical.

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful photos from around the world, June 13, 2000

By 

Angel Lee "Liocorno Amethyst Moonstone" (Cleveland, OH United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: World of Garden Design: Inspiring Ideas from Around the Globe to Your Backyard (Hardcover)

This wonderful book takes you on a tour of some of the world's most beautiful gardens and shows you how to bring ideas from them home to your own space. It is divided into geographic areas including Italy, Britain, France, Japan and the tropics. In each section the unique style and methods of the area are explored in detail with page after page of vibrant color photos.

The adaptation of the garden ideas to the American scene is presented in the "Bringing it Home" section that is part of each regional overview. Here we see how the classical principles of each world region have been applied to a number of noteworthy American gardens. There is also a more in depth look at one special garden, including a complete garden plan in the "Garden Tour" part of each "Bringing it Home" section.

I like the organization of this book, the history, and the personal touch of the many gardeners and designers that it provides. The book is of excellent quality with outstanding photography. I recommend it to anyone interested in an overview of the fine gardens of the world or in finding exciting ideas for their own garden.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, but...?, March 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: World of Garden Design: Inspiring Ideas from Around the Globe to Your Backyard (Hardcover)

I am a recent subscriber to the magazine, so I was drawn to the book by it's truly AMAZING photos. The garden definitions at the beginning of each section were a nice addition, too. I do wish, however, it had just a BIT more content. It is inspiring to leaf through, and dream!