A New Take on Old Ideas
A revolution is taking place these days in garden design. Outdoor designs should be artworks in and of themselves ... not just plants and materials and time-tested design concepts. In his new book, Making the Modern Garden
And that's exactly what you get in the simple and serene amphitheatre designed by Stephen Stimson Associates of Falmouth MA. It's levels are defined by concentric arcs of grass and stone and punctuated by an irregular planting of trees that echo the natural plantings in the adjacent woods.
Bradley-Hole's own striking designs are scattered throughout the book, along with small axonometric drawings that illustrate exactly how these new gardens are put together. There are stunning photographs of almost unimaginable new design concepts, from the dancing water jets of Andrew Ewing at the Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden in Surrey, UK to a Texas wildflower meadow planted by Neil Diboll of the Prairie Nursery in Wisconsin to the ultra-modern landscape designed by Andrea Cochran and Topher Delaney for the Portland, OR Art Museum.
In every chapter, Bradley Hole connects the old to the new and demonstrates how any designer can meld the traditional with the bold and new in gardens that are definitely 21st century.
(click on image or text link to purchase book)
A New Take on Planting Design
At times, one of the most arcane concepts in landscape design concerns plants. Learning how and when to use them (not to mention the differences between countries, areas,weather conditions, zones and the like) sounds easy, but there are very many things to consider.
In Planting Design Illustrated
This is a book that you have to read, and it is more than well worth your time. Gang Chen takes you well beyond what you'll learn in other books about basic principles like color, texture, and mass. For example, he notes what each color symbolizes (yellow: wisdom and power; green: abundance and fertility); how texture is influenced by light and shadow; and how mass affects scale and balance.
The book has a number of drawings that illustrate basic concepts like formal and informal plantings, symmetry, movement, and spatial relationships.
Chen also compares Chinese and Japanese gardens, and it is the clearest explanation I have ever read about the differences between the two styles. And I loved the discussion of designing for the five senses. Sound effects can be created in the garden by water, wind, and rain. Certain plants in full sunlight create the illusion of gold. Fragrance can ease the mind and soothe the spirit.
Finally, Chen has a wonderful appendix of Asian garden plants that lists what each plant symbolizes (Banana : the tree of self-improvement; Tree Peony: nobility, wealth, honor; pines: social hierarchy). There's also a list of the plants most commonly found in Chinese gardens, a list you're unlikely to find anywhere else.
(click on image or text link to purchase book)
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