Books: French & British Inspirations

You might want to have this book just so you can put it on display on your coffee table ... a beautiful hint of what's inside.  In Claude Monet's Gardens at Giverny (Abrams, 2013), author Dominique Lobstein introduces the reader to many prominent people who played an important role in Giverny during Monet's lifetime and afterwards.

Lobstein is the head of the library at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and is an expert on mid to late 19th century art.  Based on historical references, Lobstein has written a series of texts that bring alive the voices of those who knew Monet at Giverny and those who worked to save the gardens from ruin.  In all, the ficitional texts tell the story of the gardens at Giverny, from their creation and near loss to their restoration.  The text is accompanied by dazzling photographs by Jean-Pierre Gilson, throughout the seasons at the garden.  

This book would be an exceptional gift for anyone who loves gardens, France, Impressionist Art.

Why is it that so many Americans are still so enthralled with "English" gardens?  You may find the answer in America's Romance with the English Garden (Ohio University Press, 2013) by garden columnist and author Thomas J. Mickey, who is also a graduate of the Landscape Institute in Boston and a professor emeritus of Communications Studies at Bridgewater State University.

Mickey has done a tremendous amount of research to tell us the story of the spreading popularlity of English garden style in America during the 19th century.  Nurserymen and seed merchants sold the English style to America in their publications. and many sold the idea of the English-style garden as a form of art.

It's an engaging story that will delight almost any avid gardener, and it makes great summer reading.