Icons of Garden Design (Hardcover)

by Caroline Holmes (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
Part of a series that recognizes influential examples of excellence in the worlds of film, architecture, fashion, and photography, this lavishly photographed volume traces the history of gardens back to 300 B.C., and in doing so presents an ode to the eons-long marriage between horticulture and hardscape. If garden design is arguably enjoying its heyday at present, then the format here is particularly fitting. Equal treatment--a two-page spread--is given to every sort of earthly paradise, with an international team of garden historians coming together to provide the appropriate context for each individual monument. Spanning everything from an ancient Buddhist monastery in Sri Lanka to Florentine villas, Japanese temples, glorious English landscapes, and modern settings created by Luis Barragan in Mexico and Thomas Church in California, the book emphasizes an encompassing perspective that promises to entrance devotees of garden art. Alice Joyce
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Description
'Gardening' declared the London Times recently, 'is the new sex', and certainly interest in horticulture has never been more fervered. The latest in Prestel's highly successful "Icons" series looks at the masterpieces of garden design and how they have influenced our understading of this ancient and complex art.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Prestel (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3791324624
• ISBN-13: 978-3791324623
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 9.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #434,696 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Source of Ideas for Gardens to Tour World Wide!, May 15, 2001

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

In the introduction by Ms. Caroline Holmes, you will learn that a garden has always been viewed as a "sanctuary" and that gardens offer "a promise of inspiration." The book captures the "elements of garden design . . . architecture, water, plants and rocks, as well as religion and philosophy . . . ." You are reminded that "evocative sounds and movement, such as birdsong or the effects of wind and waves, are a vital design element." This excellent book captures the evolution of the garden from Babylonian times through China, Rome, Japan, and the European Renaissance into our own times and styles. Ninety gardens are featured in 300 illustrations (usually 3-4 per garden) along with a brief essay by one of many contributors. The book's strength is that it will introduce you to gardens you have never known about before. Its weakness is that many of the photographs fail to do justice to the gardens presented.

The book is organized historically by the century in which the garden was established. Each garden gets two pages of attention, with the bulk going for illustrations. The first garden thus is Sigiriya in Sri Lanka from 300 B.C. The second is Byodo-in in Japan from 1000 A.D. The third is from the Alhambra, in Grenada from 1300 A.D.

Most of the gardens are in Europe. They are not all gardens on a grand scale. Private gardens are included as well.

To give you a flavor of what was selected the gardens in the United States (in order of appearance) are: the Governor's Palace at Williamsburg, Monticello, Naumkeag (in Stockbridge, Massachusetts), Biltmore (in Asheville, North Carolina), Dumbarton Oaks, Fallingwater, El Novillero (in Sonoma, California) and J. Irwin Miller Garden (in Columbus, Indiana).

As you can see from this list, the scale and historical significance of the gardens vary a lot. I've never thought of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater as a garden, but rather as architecture integrated into the landscape. About one-third of the photographs emphasize architecture rather than gardens. The book is highly unusual in that sense.

In general, the Japanese gardens come out looking the best. Less formal gardens are largely ignored in the selection process.

The essays were uniformly well done and provide historical and cultural perspectives that will add to your understanding and enjoyment of the gardens.

My main complaint about the book is that the photographs did not capture the essence of the gardens in many cases. I certainly have not been to most of the gardens, but anyone who has even seen postcards of Versailles would realize that these images are not representative of the gardens there, for example.

It also would have been nice to have had more pages devoted to each garden for photographs. I would have preferred to have had fewer gardens to make that possible.

The book also would have benefited from a somewhat larger page size. Some of the smaller images are a little cramped so the details are hard to discern.

I do recommend that you purchase this book, because it will serve as a source of inspiration for you when you cannot be in a world-class garden.

After you have finished enjoying the book for many times, think about how you could create a small garden that would bring tremendous inspiration into your life. When you build the garden, be sure to include a bench that allows you to enjoy the perspective you like.

Surround yourself with natural beauty!