Born in Florence in 1910, Pietro Porcinai grew up on the classic grounds of the Villa Gamberaia in Settignano where his father served as head gardener. Although he studied agriculture in college, Porcinai's true interest lay in the landscape architecture practice he founded in 1938. Early projects centered in the area of Arezzo, whose style reflected modernA ized traditional models. In the postwar era the office flourished, producing modern gardens of remarkable design and use of plants. In these works, Porcinai convincingly demonstrated the affinity between historical architecture and landscapes unA compromisingly modern. During his long and productive career he also consulted on autostrada planning, and designed public parks, memorials, and even a Pinocchio theme park-at times collaborating with noted architects such as Renzo Piano, Carlo Scarpa and Oscar Niemeyer. This book, the first English-language study on Pietro Porcinai provides a comprehensive and richly illustrated overview of his life and remarkable achievements.

Michael Littlewood's Landscape Detailing is now well established as a valuable source of reference for architects, landscape architects, other professionals and students designing external works. For this third edition it has been split into three volumes to give a greater depth of coverage than ever before. Volume 3 covers pergolas, arbours, arches, gazebos, summer houses, sheds, shelters, decks, footbridges, furniture and roofs. Each section begins with technical guidance notes on design and construction. This is followed by a set of drawn-to-scale detail sheets. These details can be traced for direct incorporation into the set of contract drawings. A list of relevant references, bibliography and a list of association and institutions indicate where further guidance can be obtained. A ready reference for landscape designers and an indispensable time-saving tool, Landscape Detailing is an essential for the design office.

American Roots is a lushly photographed, truly inspiring celebration of the wide-ranging styles that define the modern American garden, as revealed through the home gardens of twenty of the most important designers and creatives working today. In recent years, bold designers have begun championing an American design aesthetic that embraces regional cultures, plants, and growing conditions. In American Roots, Nick McCullough, Allison McCullough, and Teresa Woodard highlight designers and creatives with exceptional home gardens, focused on those who push the boundaries, trial extraordinary plants, embrace a regional ethos, and express their talents in highly personal ways. Covering all the regions of the country, the profiles dive into design influences, share the back stories of the gardens and their creators, and include design tips and plant suggestions. American Roots is a beautiful invitation to reconsider how we define the American garden, filled with guidance and encouragement for anyone looking to dig more deeply into their own home garden.

Straw bale gardening is an inexpensive, low-maintenance way to grow a bounty of food in a small space. All you need is a bale of straw, some fertilizer, and your favorite vegetable seeds! Craig LeHoullier's step-by-step instructions show you how to do everything from sourcing the straw and setting up your bale to planting, dealing with weeds and pests, and harvesting.

A step-by-step guide that gives any gardener all the information needed to make garden furnishings that are both simple and beautiful. This book includes 50 complete plans for trellises, raised beds, planters, window boxes, and just about any imaginable project you can make to train and display plants in your garden and around your home. Featured projects are created using a host of easily found materials, including wood, metal, hypertufa, upcycled barrels, clay pots, sticks, latticework, copper tubing, re-rod, wire, landscape timbers, retaining wall block, and natural stone. Each plan includes photographs, a scaled plan drawing, cutting and shopping lists, and thorough step-by-step instructions.

In the new edition of the bestselling indoor styling book Green, Jason Chongue explains and simplifies how to curate and look after plants in small urban spaces.

In this practical and personal guide, Chongue shows us how to create urban gardens and how to style with plants, inside or out. From balconies, porches, courtyards and small backyards to entryways, offices and living spaces, this ‘how to’ guide is an approachable resource for gardeners of all types. Now in hardback with a fresh new look.

Chapters are filled with quick tips for styling and plant care and cover everything from understanding your climate, to creating a plant maintenance calendar, to curating a range of spaces and appreciating plants in public spaces. Jason also invites ‘Plant People’ across the globe to share how they are inspired by nature.

Green is the perfect guide to small-space gardening, beautifully photographed and illustrated, and will help you transform your indoor and outdoor spaces into a lush, healthy oasis in no time.

Essays and stories to inspire us to nurture diverse, meaningful relationships with gardens and landscapes. The garden is a powerful, generous way of looking at the world. As beautiful spaces, gardens fill us with hope and wonder. As gathering places, they nurture friendships and communities. Thoughtfully crafted, they make us pause and appreciate our surroundings. Full of edible plants, they nourish us. Full of diversity - human and non-human - they connect us with the polychromatic world in which we live. They make us feel at home in our own bodies, in our cities, and on our planet. Through stories and essays, The Calming Garden invites readers on a journey to understand gardens as places where we build mutually beneficial relationships with the living world around us. Each chapter in the book is dedicated to a specific idea or element of the garden, from places where gardens grow (i.e. a driveway in San Francisco, a bathtub as a planter, etc.) to garden management (why some lawns need watering every few days, and some gardens can go almost a full year without irrigation), to color and texture (i.e. how fine-textured plants like grasses can be used to unify a space), and everything in between. Perfect for home gardeners, landscape designers, or as a gift for the gardener in your life, The Calming Garden is an ode to the wonders, designs, and habitats that live within a garden, and an inspiration to nurture diverse, meaningful relationships with the gardens and landscapes around us.

From Rosalind Creasy--a name synonymous with California's garden-to-table movement--comes an accessible guide to cultivating and preparing herbs. If you buy only one herb gardening book, this should be it. Creasy takes you from seeds to stove top, from preparing the soil to elegant dining suggestions, with easy-to-follow instructions and inspirational ideas every step of the way. Each section of this book presents vivid photos and practical information, including: How to design and grow an herb garden in just about any space--from a spacious plot to a tiny balcony--and in just about any climate A tour through many beautiful private herb gardens, including some of Creasy's own, as well as the garden of herb luminary Carole Saville and others A fully illustrated encyclopedia of edible herbs--from old favorites like basil, rosemary and sage to more exotic herbs such as lemon verbena and Mexican tarragon A savory selection of healthy herb recipes for side dishes, such as blends, butters and vinegars, main dishes from around the world and even cocktails and desserts Maintenance and organic pest control methods A list of resources for seeds and supplies A guide to growing, cultivating and preparing hops This herb guide is full of practical tips and tricks presented in a beautiful format--perfect for the gardener, aspiring gardener or home chef.

Celebrated landscape designer Terry Wallace guides you in the creation of the landscape of your dreams in the Mid-Atlantic United States. Discover the joy and satisfaction to be found in creating a garden that complements and enhances your lifestyle. Wallace takes you step-by-step through the process of creating a beautiful and sustainable garden. She offers a host of practical tips about basic design, planning, and maintenance specific to this climate. Most importantly, the beautiful images will inspire you to transform your garden home into an amazing botanical retreat.

A modern approach to traditional Japanese floral design. Award-winning flower designer Shinichi Nagatsuka explains how anyone can create beautiful arrangements using his signature N Style method. Easy to follow, it is based on accent lines rather than the complex system of rules used for traditional Ikebana. Accent lines are the natural shapes of the flowers themselves--which means vertical arrangements require a different eye than horizontal or round ones, for example. By understanding how the shapes of flowers and plants affect your design, you'll learn to choose just the right ones to achieve your desired look and feel. With over 280 color photos and 42 projects, Modern Japanese Ikebana unlocks the mysteries of the art of Ikebana. By following the N Style method, you can bring a natural flow to your arrangements, achieving balance and an overall harmony of design.

Contemplative landscape and contemplative space are familiar terms in the areas of design, landscape architecture and architecture. Krinke and her highly regarded contributors set out to explore definitions, theories, and case studies of contemplative landscapes and to secure the subject as a scholarly interest. The contributors, Marc Treib, John Beardsley, Michael Singer, Lance Neckar, Heinrich Hermann and Rebecca Krinke have spent their careers researching, critiquing, and making landscapes. Here they investigate the role of contemplative space in a post-modern world and examine the impact of nature and culture on the design or interpretation of contemplative landscapes. The authors investigate principles and strategies often used as guidance for creating contemplative landscapes, as well as the relationships and differences between contemplative and commemorative space. The essays, drawn from both scholarship and personal experience explore the links between spaces designed to provide health benefits and contemplative space.

Leer hoe om standbeelde, beeldhouwerk, vaste strukture, waterverfraaiings, fokusplante en veel meer te gebruik om jou tuin pragtig af te rond. Manjifieke foto's van tuine regdeur die land, wat spesiaal vir die boek geneem is, se uitgebreide byskrifte verduidelik hoe jy die geillustreerde effek in jou eie tuin kan verkry. Daar is hope wenke en aanbevelings, dus is die boek nie net 'n visuele inspirasie nie, maar het dit ook 'n skatkis van beproefde, praktiese raad. Die inhoud sluit die volgende in: Paadjies en plaveisel; houers; kleur en die effek wat dit gee; randjies en afwerking; standbeelde en beelhouwerk; oorspronklike idees; ligte en beligting; plante as fokuspunte.

This groundbreaking guide presents a powerful alternative to traditional horticulture - designed plantings that function like naturally occurring plant communities. Thomas Rainer and Claudia West, two leading voices in ecological landscape design, reveal how plants fit together in nature and how to use this knowledge to create landscapes that are resilient, beautiful, and diverse. As practical as it is inspiring, Planting in a Post-Wild World is an optimistic manifesto pointing the way to the future of planting design.

This book provides an overview of the extent to which the 18th-century English Landscape Garden spread through Europe and Russia. While this type of garden acted widely as an inspiration, it was not slavishly copied but adapted to local conditions, circumstances and agendas. A garden 'in the English style' is commonly used to denote a landscape garden in Europe, while the term 'landscape garden' is used for layouts that are naturalistic in plan and resemble natural scenery, though they might be highly contrived and usually large in scale. The landscape garden took hold in mainland Europe from about 1760. Due to the differing geopolitical character of several of the countries, and a distinct division between Catholic and Protestant, the notion of the landscape garden held different significance and was interpreted and applied variously in those countries: in other words, they found it a very flexible medium. Each country is considered individually, with a special chapter devoted to 'Le Jardin Anglo-Chinois', since that constitutes a major issue of its own. The gardens have been chosen to illustrate the range and variety of applications of the landscape garden, though they are also those about which most is known in English.

On April 28, 1858, municipal officials announced the winner of the design contest for a great new park for the people of New York City--Plan no. 33, "Greensward" by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. Though the appropriated ground for what was to become Central Park was nothing more than a barren expanse occupied by squatters, in a matter of a few years, Olmsted turned the wasteland into a landscape of coherence, elegance, and beauty. It not only surpassed the design ingenuity of its existing European counterparts but gained the designer national acclaim in a profession that still lacked a name.
Olmsted was an American visionary. He foresaw the day when New York and many other growing cities of the mid-nineteenth century would be plagued by what we presently term "urban sprawl." And he was convinced of the critical importance of adapting land for the recreational and contemplative needs of city dwellers before the last remnants of natural terrain were engulfed by "monotonous, straight streets and piles of erect, angular buildings." As a result of his early efforts to revolutionize the design of public parks, many cities today are able to preserve the recreational space and greenery within their urban limits. In addition, his thoughts and words on wilderness areas still echo across a century of preservation in the wild.
This lively and insightful account of his prodigious life features many of his outstanding landscape projects, including the Biltmore Estate, Prospect Park (Brooklyn), the capitol grounds in Washington, DC, the Boston Park System, the Chicago parks and the Chicago World Fair, as well as measures to preserve the natural settings at Niagara Falls, Yosemite, and the Adirondacks. It traces his early years and describes events that were to form his artistic, intellectual, and deeply humanistic sensibilities. And it restores this lost American hero to his prominent place in history. In addition to being the acknowledged father of American landscape architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted helped shape the political and philosophical climate of America in his own time and today.
"Elizabeth Stevenson" is the author of the Bancroft Award-winning "Henry Adams: A Biography; The Glass Lark, a biography of Lafcadio Hearn; and Babbitts and Bohemians: From the Great War to the Great Depression, all available from Transaction.

Dry weather defines the southwest, and it's getting dryer. A water becomes more precious, our gardens suffer. If we want to keep gardening, we need to revolutionize our plant choices and garden practices. Hot Colour, Dry Garden provides home gardeners with a joyful, colour-filled way to exuberantly garden in low-water conditions. Garden expert Nan Sterman highlights inspiring examples of brilliant gardens filled with water-smart plants. Gardeners will find advice for adding colour to the garden, information about designing for structure and texture, and a plant directory that features drought-tolerant plants that dazzle. Hot Colour, Garden is a must-have guide for gardeners in the Southwest and other areas affected by drought and low-water conditions.

This manual is intended for all who are involved in the landscape industry: landscape architects, local and county authority parks directors and managers, landscape contractors, and the nurserymen who supply them. Most will know their own duties and responsibilities but few will know in equal detail the duties and responsibilities of those with whom they come in daily contact. By explaining the best practice and procedures of all the parties concerned in the satisfactory completion of landscape contracts - large and small, in public and in private sectors - each will be enabled to play his or her own part as effectively as possible. This manual is particularly intended to ensure that plants which are tended so carefully over several years in the nursery are handled with equal care in transit to their new location, and are then planted and looked after in such a way that they thrive and grow unhindered in the years to come. It constitutes an invaluable aid to students, practitioners and contractors, being written in a readable, unstuffy style, while achieving the author's stated aim of highlighting the main elements of landscape contractual procedures. This book should be of interes

Most gardens have shady spots, but some gardens have a real shade ‘problem’. Whether it is caused by large or overhanging trees, tall buildings, or just being on the ‘wrong side of the street’, fi nding the best plants for a shady area can be challenging, particularly if the rest of your garden basks in sunshine all year round. Shade plants are not necessarily tropical, although many tropical plants thrive in shade. Some delicate leafy plants will scorch and burn in hot sun, some plants like shady conditions but not damp soil, while others grow happily in damp, boggy ground that receives minimum sunlight. Gardening in the Shade examines the different types of shade and the effect it has on plant growth.

It presents solutions to common problems such as feeding, watering and mulching shade plants, and how to deal with exacerbating factors such as wind, frost and soil type. Popular shade plants, like clivias, bromeliads, fuchsias and ferns are given special features, and a directory of species lists plants under headings like ground covers, tropical-looking perennials, and succulents.

This title offers stylish ideas for decorating your outside space with over 400 stunning photographs and 25 step-by-step projects. You can transform an outdoor space with inspirational mosaic designs from leading contemporary designers; illustrated with 400 step-by-step photographs and artworks. It features 25 original projects, graded by difficulty, which can be completed in several hours or a over a weekend. It combines practical chapters on making mosaics with detailed instructions on the tools needed, materials, techniques, grouting and finishing, together with design tips and information on planning and siting your work. It includes decorative new ideas for the patio and garden, including urns, bird bowls, number plaques, boules, tables as well as large-scale mosaic installations. Easy-to-follow instructions show how to produce stunning visual effects by mixing glass, mosaic tesserae, tiles, broken crockery and pebbles. The principles of mosaic making are easy to master and this book gives you all the practical advice you will need on the basic techniques and materials, including concise information on the adhesives and tools required. Adding a mosaic will add life and interest to a garden path, transform a patio or cheer up dull old walls. The book contains over 25 exciting projects to create, graded by level of difficulty, and including jazzy china tiles, bright flower pots, cheery wall motifs, an elegant urn in classical style, a stunning glass garden table and a striking metal and tile pond. Each project details the tools and materials needed, with comprehensive instructions, step-by-step photographs and templates where required. This beautiful book will enable the reader to design and make your own mosaic projects to enhance any outdoor space.

Anyone who loves their garden knows that there's something happening in nature every day of the year. Whether it's the first crocus of spring, summer's explosion of colors, fall's abundant harvest, or the renewing dormancy of winter these outdoor sanctuaries offer daily opportunities for investigation, contemplation, and appreciation. This stunning daybook offers 365 elegant photos of some of the world's most exquisite gardens, following the yearly cycle of growth and rebirth. Each photo is accompanied by engaging texts such as planting tips, design techniques, natural history, and botanical facts that provide both ideas and helpful information. In addition, there is room on each spread for gardeners to record and preserve their own daily observations and reflections. The perfect keepsake for gardeners of all levels of expertise, this beautiful daybook deepens the rewards of gardening all year round.

Legendary gardener and plantswoman Beth Chatto describes how she transformed a piece of wasteland into a lush and blooming garden in this beautiful book, filled with helpful tips and practical advice. The story of how Beth Chatto created her gravel garden on 'possibly the driest, and the most windswept, piece of soil in England' has a message of hope for gardeners everywhere. At the outset she promised herself: 'This garden was not to be irrigated in times of drought. Once established the plants must fend for themselves or die.' The results, eloquently described by the author and beautifully portrayed in Steven Wooster's specially commissioned photographs taken through the seasons, testify to the triumphant outcome of the adventure. Showing how her principles can be applied on any scale, this book is an essential read for any gardener facing water shortages and poor soil. Rich with hard-won tips and expressed in Beth Chatto's matchless style, this is a gardening classic.

Interior decorating just got a green thumb! Harness the beauty of plants, leaves and foliage--green decor--in this unique collection of 40 nature projects that are fun, easy and inexpensive to make. Six of Japan's leading floral and plant designers offer a range of ideas to turn found and foraged materials into stunning arrangements and displays. With these visionary stylists as your guides, a few materials you already have at home and easy-to-obtain tools, you'll be able to: Create charming glass-encased air plants and spoon-based succulents Weave, bend and stack leaves and fronds into eye-catching arrangements Style your own one-of-a-kind leaf fashion accessories, from corsages to bracelets Create living jewelry and one-of-a-kind plant handbags Make a signature leaf tapestry and leaf wrapping paper And much, much more! This book features over 250 gorgeous photographs and straightforward, step-by-step instructions that show you how to turn your surroundings into a verdant showcase for nature's beauty.