GardenDesignOnline

Books: Sustainable Design

Sustainability is now all the rage, and a lot of people think it means some very simple things: planting more natives, taking care of water runoff, eliminating lawns and avoiding all use of chemicals in the garden.

In their just-out book Sustainable Site Design: Criteria, Process, and Case Studies for Integrating Site and Region in Landscape Design (John Wiley & Sons Inc 2010) authors Claudia Dinep and Kristin Schwab, ASLA, take readers well beyond simplistic notions about sustainable landscapes. 

Instead, they focus on the essential elements for successful sustainable design: defining the criteria for sustainability and a process to fulfill them. The authors state that landscape design plays a critical role in sustaining the environment ... "in uniting fragmented places, healing degraded systems, and engaging people in healthy relationships with nature." And they note that culture and ecology are important as well, where "a site boundary acts as a filter rather than a wall, and design holds the potential to draw and propel positive influences to and from the site."

In the first section of the book, Schwab and Dinep outline the main principles of sustainable design, and then discuss several case studies that give the reader a thorough understanding of what goes into the best of sustainable designs.  Among the projects in the book are the Menomonee Valley Industrial Center in Milwaukee designed by Wenk Associates Inc of Denver, CO;a residence in Paradise Valley, AZ by landscape architect Steve Martino of Phoenix, AZ; and Tanner Springs Park in Portland, OR by Greenworks PC of Portland.

For each case study, the authors give a short overview of the project, tell readers how it came about, describe the basic design concept along with the philosophy and approach to the site design.  There are photos and "plans" that accompany each one; descriptions of the local landscape, including natural patterns and development over the years; materials used and final outcome.

If some residential landscape designers may think this book a bit technical for their purposes, they should reconsider.  It offers valuable advice and sets out criteria that every designer should be using, no matter how small the project.  Any really successful landscape design incorporates most, if not all of the concepts contained in this book.  It belongs in every designer's library.

Garden Books 2010: Veggies Only

Blame the economy or blame a new generation of gardeners who are into the "green" movement, but publishers of garden books are going whole hog in one direction:  books on vegetable gardening.  Books on design and books on blooms are simply not in fashion this year.

The latest survey from Publishers Weekly on garden books includes interviews with principals at more than 10 publishing houses, and nearly all of them are putting their efforts into books on veggies. Editorial director Deborah Balmuth at Storey told PW that many people are so new to gardening that they don't even consider themselves gardeners. "Growing food is an extension of their efforts to be more independent and self-sufficient," she said. 

At Gibbs Smith, gardening category manager Madge Baird said the economy has definitely boosted vegetable gardening. "If they [people] hadn't previously been gardeners," she said, "they're at least nursing a couple of tomato plants and maybe a cucumber in the flower garden or on the patio." 

And at Reader's Digest, how about a title like Grow Your Own Drugs? Actually, it's a book by ethnobotanist James Wong, and it includes recipes you can make yourself -- natural remedies and beauty aids. 

But maybe not all is lost for those of us who prefer books on design and horticulture in general. Storey COO Dan Reynolds told PW that people whose first gardens are vegetable gardens eventually shift their focus to flower and perennial gardens.  And at Mitchell Beazley/Octopus Books, associate publisher Jonathan Stolper predicts that in future years, "a full range of gardening titles (everything from planning, creating, and maintaining all types of gardens) will be critical as this category's popularity continues to grow."  And that's good news. 

Books: Color Choices - Flowers

The easiest way to get color in the garden is with flowers ... and this new book,The Gardeners Color Palette: Paint Your Garden with 100 Extraordinary Flower Choices (Timber Press, 2010) makes it even easier.  By Timber Press editor-in-chief Tom Fischer, the book profiles 100 different flowers in an array of colors that will accent gardens of any style.

The entries are arranged by color, with two pages devoted to each one ... a written description with cultural requirements, bloom time, hardiness zone, and the height and spread of each plant, and on the opposite page, a beautiful color photo of the bloom.

Most of the selections are perennials, alrhough Fischer does include some bulbs, climbers (and one of my favorites, Clematis 'Comtesse de Bouchard' which has a place in my own garden), sub-shrubs and annuals.  Fischer also recommends companion plants for each flower, such as gold-variegated hostas or variegated hakone grass to go along with Yunnan meadow rue (Thalictrum delavayi). It's a handy little reference book and it will certainly get you in the mood for spring and a new gardening season.  I particularly appreciated the section on the unusual bronze, brown, and copper plants ... and can't wait to try the 'Autumn Colors' black-eyed Susan, a seed strain that bears flowers of different colors, including red, orange, maroon, gold, and deep brown.  In the right garden spot, what a late summer display that would be.

Christmas Books II

Here are some of my favorite gardening and design books from the past year, in no particular order.  Any of them would make a gardener or landscape designer very happy on Christmas morning.  If you click on the title link, you can buy the book, or click on "here" to read the review.

Understanding Perennials: A New Look at an Old Favorite, by William Cullina.  Review here.

The New Low-Maintenance Garden: How to Have a Beautiful, Productive Garden and the Time to Enjoy It  by Valerie Easton.  Review here.

Sibley Guide to Trees by David Allen Sibley.  Review here.

A Clearing in the Woods: Creating Contemporary Gardens by Roger Foley.  Review here.

Beatrix Farrand: Private Gardens, Public Landscapes by Judith Tankard. Review here.

Fragrant Designs (Brooklyn Botanic Garden All-Region Guide) Review here.

And finally, for those gardeners who really love old, beautiful photographs:

Italian Gardens: Romantic Splendor in the Edwardian Age by Helena Attlee. Review here.

09 Christmas Garden Books - I

The following are some great new titles in paperback that any gardener would love to have:

From celebrated landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy, a lovely little volume, The Toronto Music Garden: Inspired By Bach (Julie Moir Messervy Design Studio, Inc 2009), which she designed in collaboration with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. It includes landscape plans, plant lists, and beautiful photos of the garden's main music landscapes: Allemande, Prelude, Sarabande, Courante, Gigue, and Menuett.  Intro by Yo-Yo Ma, who calls the garden "a piece of music joyously and meticulously brought to life in glorious plants and pathways to be savored and enjoyed by all."

 

If you've ever wondered what powdery mildew looks like, or what kind of damage is done by earwigs or whiteflies, then this is the book for you.  In What's Wrong With My Plant? (And How Do I Fix It?): A Visual Guide to Easy Diagnosis and Organic Remedies (Timber Press, 2009) Botanist David Deardorff and naturalist Kathryn Wadsworth offer a comprehensive survey of diseases and pests that cause plant problems, along with detailed drawings and photos that will actually let you distinguish exactly what is ailing your plants. Whether it's deer damage, too much or too little water, the authors offer natural remedies to correct almost any problem.  An essential book for anyone who gardens.

Know a high school or college student who loves the outdoors and is not sure what they want to do with their life?  Then this new book from landscape architect Kelleann Foster, Becoming a Landscape Architect: A Guide to Careers in Design (John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2010) might be just the solution.  Foster profiles dozens of people and projects across the country to provide a wide ranging view of the possiblities:  design of residential properties and everything from parklands to resorts to playgrounds and more.  Many others in the profession are now involved in the sustainability movement and are engaged in projects using environmentally sound techniques. You can't find a more comprehensive view of the profession and its grand opportunities.

Books: Landscapes You'll Never Forget

If there's one thing for certain about the gardens designed by landscape architect Ken Smith, it's that you'll never forget the ones you've experienced, whether in person or on the printed page.

A new book, Ken Smith: Landscape Architect (Monacelli Press, 2009) surveys Smith's most important works to date, from huge public projects to small private gardens. Some are natural, some are artificial, some serious and some quite humorous.  Some of the installations are temporary and others permanent.  All of them have a lasting impact.  

In the introduction to the book, John Beardsley, a senior lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and director of garden and landscape studies at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, DC, says of Smith:

"Is he a landscape architect or an installation artist? A public servant or a provocateur? An elite gardener or a populist? A careful site sculptor or an in-your-face simulator? The perplexing truth is that Ken Smith is unapologetically all of these things -- and others as well."

If you haven't seen one of Smith's projects, this book will introduce you to the plastic rocks and boxwoods and black Mexican beach pebbles made of rubber ... and the other lightweight materials that made the roof "garden" atop the MOMA in New York possible. For a private residence on Long Island, Smith crafted a bridge of wooden planks to connect long views; and an arbor made of wood, aluminum and frosted acrylic.  Perennials, including sage, yarrow, lavender and daisies are planted in drifts to reflect the dune-like setting and Hollywood junipers are randomly placed for color and texture throughout all four seasons.

The book also includes profiles of many other Smith landscapes, including the Santa Fe Railyard Park, 7 World Trade Center in New York City, and Orange Country Great Park in California.

I recently attended a lecture Smith gave at Dumbarton Oaks, entitled "Big Little Skip the Middle." Smith explained that he likes to work on big ideas that are brought to fruition by working on the little details.  He added that the lecture title also reflects his current thinking about the practice of landscape architecture:  that there's "too much in the middle and a lack of critical thinking."

After reading this book, you'll realize that Ken Smith certainly isn't in the "middle" of landscape architecture. As Beardsley puts it, "Ken Smith injects an element of experimentation into a profession that all too often can seem all too conventionalized.  For this, ladies and gentlemen, hats off to him -- whatever fashion you profess." 

This large format book (9"x 10.5") includes more than 200 color images (some of them Ken's "plans") in beautiful detail. 

A great Christmas present for anyone interested in gardens, landscapes, or modern art.

Books: Low Maintenance Gardening

In my years as a landscape designer, I’ve only had a couple of clients who were interested in high-maintenance gardens, and they’re just alike:  They love to spend time working outdoors in the garden, favor unusual and hard-to-find plants, and are passionate about the way their garden looks.

 But the vast majority of my clients don’t know a lot about plants and design, and they tend to want just one thing: low-maintenance.  Now, there’s a beautiful guidebook to tell them exactly how to get what they want.

 In her latest book,The New Low-Maintenance Garden: How to Have a Beautiful, Productive Garden and the Time to Enjoy It (Timber Press, 2009) author Valerie Easton reveals the secrets to modern and stylish gardens that won’t require all of your weekend down time.  And even if you’re a high-maintenance plant freak, you’ll learn many tricks and techniques from Easton that will give you more time to enjoy your creation.

Easton profiles gardens around the country that perfectly illustrate her low-maintenance concepts.  Virginia landscape designer Tom Mannion lists several tips for easy-care gardening: eliminate lawns and plants that need staking or spraying; forgo hedges that require tight trimming; repeat plantings; and use hardscape structure for winter interest.

 In San Francisco, designer Shirley Watts mixes new and old materials; re-purposes items like old metal letters to create unusual paving designs; fills an urn with recycled glass to create a striking water feature. On Vashon Island, southwest of Seattle, landscape architect David Pfeiffer grows edibles: chives under peach trees; raised beds with fruit trees under-planted with lettuces; colorful perennials planted under a currant hedge.

 Scattered throughout the book are valuable insights: the top 10 gardening tips to save the planet; how to get rid of and stay rid of weeds; modest yet reliable self-seeders that won’t overtake the entire landscape; designing and maintaining a sustainable garden; plus lists of  books, blogs, and organizations that will give you additional information you might need.

 As Easton puts it in her low-maintenance “manifesto”:  “A simplified garden, thoughtfully planned, can be just as rewarding as a more complicated, labor-intensive one …. Careful, considered choices and editing ensure that every inch of ground and hour of work is as rewarding as possible.  Most of all, they [low maintenance gardens] don’t awaken dread in their owners at the thought of caring for them.”

 The book contains scores of lovely photographs by Jacqueline M. Koch that highlight all of Easton’s main ideas.  This book is an invaluable addition to the garden library – destined to be a classic for many years to come.

And one disclaimer: I and this blog are mentioned in the book on pages 40 and 83.

Books: Meadow Gardens

There's a big move afoot among many gardeners to get rid of lawns, and here's the book that will tell you just how to do that.

In his new book, The American Meadow Garden: Creating a Natural Alternative to the Traditional Lawn (Timber Press, 2009), nurseryman, designer and author John Greenlee summarizes the main argument against the lawn:  they are environmentally unsustainable.

In the introduction, Greenlee explains that meadows, like lawns, can be "a calming place for the eye to rest, yet with the richness and complexity of a border."  Moreover, meadows provide habitat for beneficial insects and pollinators, and they attract a diversity of life itself.

Greenlee's epiphany about using large sweeps of meadow grasses in urban and suburban landscapes came in 1984 while on a visit to Kurt Bluemel's nursery in Maryland. "That day in Kurt's nursery," he writes, "my love affair with meadows was sealed."

In the succeeding chapters, Greenlee tells you about the lure of the meadow; how and where grasses grow; design principles for meadows; and how to make, establish, and maintain a meadow garden.  Throughout the book,  there are terrific takeout boxes like "Grasses for fall and winter color," "Grasses for tropical effects," as well as daisies, poppies, and ferns for meadows, and many more.

Greenlee's portfolio of meadow gardens shows you exactly and in stunning detail just how lovely a meadow garden can be. And there's a very comprehensive catalogue of grasses, with a brief description of each one, including its native range, size and color, and growing conditions.

Images by well-known garden photographer Saxon Holt accompany the text, and they beautifully illustrate the appeal of a meadow garden.  After you read this book, you'll wonder why you ever entertained the idea of a lawn.

Books: Black for Halloween

How about a little black plant to go with that little black dress?  Or a bouquet of black flowers to add a sense of mystery to that Halloween table or a sinister boutonniere in the lapel of that costume?

In his first book, Black Plants: 75 Striking Choices for the Garden, author and nursery owner Paul Bonine profiles all the great black candidates that would be a striking addition in any garden.

Some of them -- black mondo grass, 'Queen of Night' tulip, 'Black Lace' elderberry, 'Diablo' common ninebark -- are quite familiar to most designers, but others are quite exotic and unknown (at least to me).  They include 'Night Wings' daylily, the Persian fritillary, the Vampire's dracula orchid, and a 'Karma Chocolate' dahlia, just to name a few.

Each of the 75 entries in this small volume includes a full-page photograph of the plant (leaves or flowers, whichever is black) and on the opposite page a brief description of the plant, along with its hardiness zone and cultural requirements.

There's not a plant among them that doesn't have a real 'wow' factor ... and this lovely little book would not only make a gardener happy at Halloween, it would also make a great Christmas stocking stuffer.

(click on link to purchase book from Amazon)

Books: Beatrix, Again

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Beatrix Farrand's death ... so it's certainly appropriate to have another volume on the life and work of America's first female landscape architect and a founding member of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA).

In her new book, Beatrix Farrand: Private Gardens, Public Landscapes, landscape historian Judith B. Tankard takes us again through the familiar Farrand territory:  her privileged childhood in a prominent upper-class New York family (she was the niece of author Edith Wharton); her fascination with plants and landscapes; her early tutelage under Charles Sprague Sargent of Boston's Arnold Arboretum; and her many commissions that stemmed from her personal acquaintances among the well to do in high society.

Tankard takes the reader briefly through Farrand's childhood, then quickly moves on to her decision to pursue a career as a "landscape gardener," and her early commissions for clients in Newport, Providence, Maine, and Long Island.

 

Farrand's most famous garden, which still survives today, is Dumbarton Oaks in Washington DC, pictured above.  Tankard calls it "her most challenging yet rewarding project and the one for which she is most remembered today."  While the lower part of the garden is now overgrown and unused, the "designed" parts of it are still as lovely as they were in their original state, although many plantings have been replaced. 

Tankard concentrates on Farrand's gardens that are still intact throughout the country.  They include gardens at The Mount, Edith Wharton's home in Lenox, MA; Hill-Stead, the home of architect Theodate Pope Riddle in Farmington, CT; several college campuses, including Vassar, Princeton, Oberlin, and Yale; and also The Huntington in San Marino, CA  and Farrand's own garden on Mount Desert Island, Maine.

The book includes a number of Farrand drawings and photos of many gardens.

If, however, you already have the Diana Balmori book, Beatrix Farrand's American Landscapes: Her Gardens and Campuses (Sagapress, 1985) or British author Jane Brown's book Beatrix: The Gardening Life of Beatrix Jones Farrand 1872-1959 (Viking, 1995), you many not feel the need for another book on Beatrix Farrand which covers much of the same ground.

If, however, you missed those two volumes, you certainly won't be disappointed with the new book by Judith Tankard.  It's a welcome addition to the genre, written in a easy to read style, and it covers all the important facts and facets in the life of a most fascinating woman.

(photo of Dumbarton Oaks ©Jane Berger)