Access to technology has created a generation of children who are more plugged in than ever before - often with negative consequences. Unrestricted outdoor play reduces stress, improves health, and enhances creativity, learning, and attention span. In Nature Play at Home, Nancy Striniste gives caregivers the tools they need to make outdoor adventures possible in their homes, schools, and neighbourhoods. With hundreds of inspiring ideas and 12 illustrated, step-by-step projects, this hardworking book details how to create playspaces that use natural materials - like logs, boulders, sand, water, and plants of all kinds. Projects include hillside slides, seating circles, sand pits, and more. Accessible, research-based, and timely, Nature Play at Home is a must-have for modern parents and caregivers.

The 18th-century phenomenon of the English Landscape Garden was so widespread that even today, when so much has been built over or otherwise changed, one is never far from an example throughout England. Although seemingly natural, the English Landscape Garden was generally the result of considerable contrivance, effort and design skill, the result of `the art that conceals art'. It might involve digging lakes, raising or levelling hills, and planting trees, sometimes in vast numbers. Nature was arranged and shown to best advantage. The English landscape garden took many forms, and the variety of manifestations was and remains remarkable. A great number survive, if sometimes in modified form, and can be visited and appreciated. The book is structured so as to give the background to, and motivation for, creating the landscape garden; to summarise the chronology of its development; to chart the most significant writers and theorists; and to consider the range of the many forms it took. The story of the landscape garden is complex, multi-layered and constantly changing in emphasis for such an apparently simple and straightforward construct. This book will help to uncover some of the richness that lies behind a meaningful part of the environment. The book can be regarded as a companion to the volume already published by Historic England, The English Landscape Garden in Europe.

Landscapes of material are also landscapes of meaning: praxis is itself symbolic, and all landscapes are symbolic in practice. Ideology and Landscape in Historical Perspective draws together fifteen historical geographers to examine landscapes as messages to be decoded, as signs to be deciphered. The range of examples is wide in terms of period, from the medieval to the modern, and of place, embracing the USA, Canada, Palestine, Israel, South Africa, India, Singapore, France and Germany. Each essay addresses a specific problem, but collectively they are principally concerned with the ideologies of religion and of politics, of Church and state, and their historical impress upon landscapes. The book is introduced by an essay which explores the dialectical understanding of landscapes, and landscapes as expressions of the connection of an ideology to a quest for order, to an assertion of authority and to a project of totalization. The issues raised by landscapes and their meanings - issues of individual and collective action, of objective knowing, of materialist and idealist explanation - are fundamental not only to historical geography but to any humanistic study, and render the geographical study of landscapes of interest to scholars in many disciplines.

The Iconography of Landscape draws together fourteen scholars from diverse disciplines to explore the status of landscape as a cultural image. By applying the art-historical method of iconography--interpreting levels of meaning in human artifacts--to landscapes on paper or canvas, in literary form or on the ground, its contributors show how landscape is an important mode of human signification, informed by, and itself informing social, cultural and political issues. The range of examples is wide in terms of medium, period and place. It covers poetry and promotional literature, architectural design and urban ceremonial maps and paintings; the historical periods discussed range from sixteenth-century Italy to twentieth-century Canada. The book is introduced by the editors' discussion of the meanings of landscape and of the iconographic method in the context of contemporary theoretical and methodological debate on culture and society.

The definitive guide to hundreds of Britain's most outstanding gardens, in the care of the National Trust The National Trust has the finest collection of gardens in the United Kingdom. In this book, Stephen Lacey paints a vivid picture of the individual gardens, and places each one in its context within British horticultural history. All the major periods and styles of garden design are represented, from the formality of early gardens such as Hanbury Hall and Ham House, magnificent 18th-century landscapes like Stowe and Croome Park and the heady Victorian creations of Biddulph Grange and Waddesdon Manor to the famous plantsmen's gardens of the last century, such as Nymans, Hidcote Manor and Sissinghurst Castle. The text and pictures have been fully updated, with new entries including Allan Bank, High Close Arboretum and Wentworth Castle. Several gardens have undergone major redevelopment since the previous edition, while others have colourfully expanded the acreage open to visitors. Extensive tree planting, including reinstating a lost eighteenth-century avenue at Dyrham Park and recreating the pear tree arch at Rudyard Kipling's home, Bateman's, are just a few of the new and exciting additions to this classic guide to Britain's most outstanding gardens.

Monty Don made a triumphant return to our screens as presenter of Gardeners' World. A firm favourite with viewers, Monty's infectious enthusiasm for plants, attention to the finer details of gardening technique and easy charm have seen the ratings soar. Here Monty invites us into the garden at Longmeadow, to show us how he created this beautiful garden, and how we can do the same in our own. Following the cycle of the seasons, Gardening at Longmeadow will introduce readers to the garden from the earliest snowdrops of January through the first splashes of colour in the Spring Garden, the electric summer displays of the Jewel Garden, the autumn harvest in the orchard, and on to a Christmas feast sourced from the vegetable gardens. Describing the magic of each area at different times of the year, Monty will explain the basics of what to do when and how to get the most from each plant. He'll talk through the essential techniques and more complex processes, accompanied by easy-to-follow, step-by-step photography. Longmeadow is a gardeners' garden, but this will be a book for gardening enthusiasts of all skill levels who have been inspired by what they've seen, and who would like to achieve something similar for themselves.

Traditional elements which are found in all gardens are considered, such as making fences and gates attractive boundaries, creating eye-catching decorative garden furniture as well as the paving surrounds for water features and seating areas. The book also includes a chapter on introducing contemporary metalwork into the garden using aluminium, copper and iron. Accompanied by a stunning collection of photos, the book is an inspirational aid for anyone who has ever intended to put in a pergola, stone statues or an area of paving.

When English Pleasure Gardens was first published a century ago, it was instantly acclaimed as a resource for gardeners, tourists, and history lovers alike. This new edition will introduce a new generation to the pageantry of Britains garden heritage and to the redoubtable Rose S. Nichols, who was among our earliest professional garden designers. Her gardens have disappeared but her legacy survives in her writings.

A truly imaginative and beautiful garden features more than flowers and shrubs: it has gorgeous ornamentation that enhances all of nature's glories. With these 52 lovely projects for every season and every style, it's simple to make just the right decorations for any outdoor area in just two hours. See what a difference a colourful, customized window shelf, heaped with potted plants, can make. Decorative yard displays include a charming, nostalgic lemonade stand or copper table. Patio sheers keep away the wind when you want to enjoy your winter garden. From mosaic stepping-stones to a sunny solarium to hanging crystal lamps, these ideas will turn your garden into a work of art.

Stefan Buczacki sets out a blueprint for commonsense down-to-earth gardening - an approach that is based on an understanding of the environment and also relates to gardeners and their lifestyle: what gardeners need and want from their gardens and how they can set about getting it. The author looks at the basics of gardening, examining such topics as soil, fertilizers, pesticides and pruning, revealing his knowledge derived from years of practical gardening experience. He then proceeds to a detailed discussion of the commonsense approach to tree and shrub gardening, kitchen gardening, gardening and ornamentals, water gardening and wildlife gardening, ending with a chapter on garden design.

A stunning guide for gardeners keen to transform small and awkward outdoor spaces into beautiful and practical escapes. From courtyards to rooftops, Kate Gould draws on her experience as an award-winning garden designer to provide tailored solutions and inspirational ideas. Covering topics such as how to design and measure the perfect garden, choose and use the best materials and maintain a lush garden all year round, Urban Garden Design includes detailed advice for gardeners undeterred by limited space. This carefully illustrated guide ensures gardeners of all abilities achieve the best results outdoors. Creating a personal and unique space is also at the heart of each project and Kate makes sure to discuss how to tie each design back to the interior of the home.

Korean gardens strive to be in harmony with nature and to encourage the quiet contemplation of the natural world. They are intentionally humble in their conception and very different from Japanese and Chinese gardens. Korean gardens deserve to be more widely appreciated in the West as a separate, distinctive, venerable and continuing garden tradition, capable of wide appeal if better known. This book introduces, describes and explains traditional Korean gardens to Western readers. It contains more than one hundred photos and maps and details of 20 notable gardens.

Are you anxious to create a green, restful outside space, but waiting until you move into "the perfect place" and not so sure when that will happen? Do you long for a gardening life that brings together your friends and family, but you honestly don't know where to start? Marianne Willburn doesn't want you to wait a minute longer. In Big Dreams, Small Garden this popular garden columnist and blogger helps you to change your perspective, pack away feelings of envy and inadequacy, and build the skills you need to start creating the space you've always dreamed of. An ideal guide for those who struggle with limited resources, Big Dreams, Small Garden leads you through the process of visualizing, achieving, maintaining, and enjoying your unfolding garden. It gives you tips for making a sanctuary in less-than-ideal situations and profiles real-life gardeners who have done just that-including the author herself.

Transform small spaces to make a big difference.

Join activist Tayshan Hayden-Smith on his mission to turn grey, concrete jungles into green sanctuaries – planting seeds not only in the ground but also in minds to bring joy to people, places, and planet.

Small Space Revolution shares the amazing work of individuals and organizations around the world to inspire you to:

• RECONNECT with community and the natural world
• RETHINK how we teach the next generation and ourselves
• REGENERATE the complex ecosystem beneath our feet
• REWILD urban spaces and make way for nature to thrive
• REPURPOSE materials for a waste-free world
• RECHARGE to tune in to yourself, others, and your surroundings
• REVOLUTIONIZE the way we live – action the change you want to see

This title is a practical guide to designing and planting your garden, with 15 plans and over 200 inspirational pictures. It helps how to successfully plan a garden, from a large family space to patios, balconies and even roof gardens. It contains advice, tips and great ideas on the basics of good garden design, as well as how to create a style that suits your needs. It offers over 15 plans for well-planned gardens, with stunning photographs showing them in all their glory. It gives step-by-step guidance on a range of hands-on projects, including constructing a trellis, building overheads, creating shade, and installing garden lights. It is an inspirational and practical book that will guide you from drawing your first plans through to planting preferences and adding the finishing touches. Often gardening is about maintaining the status quo, but sometimes it is about new plans and a change of design. This book will guide you through such exciting opportunities, offering help and advice on how to make the most of your garden shape and size, planning the different areas and elements, and filling the new spaces with exactly the right planting schemes for you. Divided into three sections, the book first takes you through initial surveying, basic patterns and different kinds of design. The next chapter gives guidance on boundaries, walling, creating shape and focal points and other practicalities. The last chapter offers ideas and projects to follow for gardens, patios, balconies and roof gardens, ranging from entertaining areas to chill-out zones, and different styles from elegant formality to an enchanted jungle. Illustrated throughout with 200 images, this is an invaluable guide to garden planning.

Start a peaceful revolution by planting an edible ecosystem and sharing the experience with your neighbors Humans have always thrived in rich, diverse, edible ecosystems. Yet most cities and suburbs are blanketed by lawns, ornamentals, and a lack of biodiversity, let alone anything edible. It is within these sterile landscapes that seeds of an edible ecosystem lie. The Edible Ecosystem Solution is a comprehensive, practical guidebook that looks at underutilized spaces to reveal the many opportunities for landscape transformation that are both far-reaching and immediately beneficial and enjoyable. Contents include: Hundreds of full-color infographics, illustrations, and photographs that clearly outline the principles and concepts of edible landscape design and benefits How to get started with as little as 25 square feet of land How to transition a garden plot into a place of edible abundance and an edible biodiversity hot spot, living laboratory, and a source point for transitioning and transforming community and culture Choosing appropriate plants for insects, wildlife, and food production Scaling up and networking backyard edible ecosystems at the neighborhood level and beyond to build community food security and resilience. The Edible Ecosystem Solution is for everyone with access to a bit of yard, a desire for food security, biodiversity, and a beautiful and resilient community, and for anyone who wants to reclaim humanity's place in a rich, abundant, edible ecosystem.

Shunmyo Masuno, Japan's leading garden designer, is at once Japan's most highly acclaimed landscape architect and an 18th-generation Zen Buddhist priest, presiding over daily ceremonies at the Kenkoji Temple in Yokohama. He is celebrated for his unique ability to blend strikingly contemporary elements with the traditional design vernacular. He has worked in ultramodern urban hotels and in some of Japan's most famous classic gardens. In each project, his work as a designer is inseparable from his Buddhist practice. Each becomes a Zen garden, "a special spiritual place where the mind dwells."
This beautiful book, illustrated with more than 400 drawings and color photographs, is the first complete retrospective of Masuno's work to be published in English. It presents 37 major gardens around the world in a wide variety of types and settings: traditional and contemporary, urban and rural, public spaces and private residences, and including temple, office, hotel and campus venues. Masuno achieved fame for his work in Japan, but he is becoming increasingly known internationally, and in 2011 completed his first commission in the United States which is shown here.
The book, divided into three chapters, covers: "Traditional Zen Gardens," "Contemporary Zen Gardens" and "Zen Gardens outside Japan." Illustrated with photographs and architectural plans or sketches, each garden is described and analyzed by author Mira Locher, herself an architect and a scholar well versed in Japanese culture.
Celebrating the accomplishments of a major, world-class designer, "Zen Gardens" also serves as something of a master class in Japanese garden design and appreciation: how to perceive a Japanese garden, how to understand one, even how to make one yourself. Like one of Masuno's gardens, the book can be a place for contemplation and mindful repose.

Gardens have never been as important as they are today. The breadth of styles and types is hugely varied. Everything goes, whether inspired by the past or looking towards the future, from traditional vegetable plots to vertical gardens and from nature-filled designs to sleek, modernist creations. Choosing what suits your space can be a daunting prospect and everyone, even the professionals, needs help to realize opportunities and create outdoor spaces in tune with their personal needs and dreams. A garden is what we make it: there is no right or wrong way and each is unique. Richly illustrated by the photos of award-winning photographer Marianne Majerus and with illuminating text by landscape architect Heidi Howcroft, this book shows what is possible for every type of garden, from challenging small spaces to expansive plots. Design tools are explained, planting styles explored, and inspiration is drawn from a wide variety of locations and climates to appeal to garden owners and designers everywhere. The book is not only a companion to Garden Design: A Book of Ideas but is also a valuable style catalogue and sourcebook in its own right, encouraging and inspiring readers to discover their own garden style - be it contemporary or traditional, cottage-style or urban minimalist.

The Times Best Gardening Books of 2022 Ornamental plants are the cornerstone of our gardens and we are spoiled for choice with literally tens of thousands of hardy beauties from which to select. But we take them absolutely for granted, not for a moment realising that every plant has a fascinating tale to tell. Wild Edens sets the record straight. With global coverage, each of the nine richly illustrated chapters explores a plant biodiversity hotspot. The reader is transported on a visually stunning and fascinating voyage of discovery which reveals our garden favourites - as well as some species that should be more widely cultivated - in their natural habitats, from daffodils from Andalusia and tulips from the Tien Shan, to monkey puzzles from Chile and rhododendrons from the Himalayas, lilies from Japan and proteas from South Africa. Because the authors have been to the hotspots, each chapter opens with their personal reflections on the landscape and spirit of place, and closes with their selection of prime locations. In between, the informative yet approachable text tells of the plants' 'forgotten stories'. Of the landscapes which are their home, the adventures of how and when they were discovered and by whom, the reasons why they were collected, their impact on garden fashions and trends, etc. Wild Edens brings another dimension of interest and understanding to plants and gardens, as well as being a premium armchair traveller's guide to the natural world of garden plants.

Celebrate and recreate the beauty of The Ruth Bancroft Garden! Ruth Bancroft is a dry gardening pioneer. Her lifelong love of plants led to the creation of one of the most acclaimed public gardens, The Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California. The Bold Dry Garden offers unparalleled access to the garden and the extraordinary woman responsible for it. In its stunningly photographed pages, you'll discover the history of the garden and the design principles and plant palette that make it unique. Packed with growing and maintenance tips, profiles of signature plants for a dry garden, and innovative design techniques, The Bold Dry Garden has everything you need to create a garden that is lush, water wise, and welcoming.

Piet Oudolf, one of world's most visionary and influential landscape gardeners, is at the forefront of the New Perennial planting movement. This glorious full-colour volume features twenty-three of Oudolf's most beautiful public and private gardens. Noel Kingsbury's accessible text places Oudolf's work in context, and explains how each garden and the plants selected for it fit the specific environment, while Oudolf's detailed plans provide inspiration and insight for all those interested in small personal gardens and the design of large-scale public landscapes alike.

A showcase of Britain's most extraordinary gardens and landscapes from the twentieth century to present day. 100 20th-Century Gardens and Landscapes highlights the evolution of gardens and landscapes over the past century, tracing how these distinctive creations complemented buildings of their period. Entries in this book are grouped in chronological periods, documenting changing styles and techniques in a visual timeline. The examples chosen take the story from the Arts and Crafts garden and the garden city, through the landscapes created for mid-century housing and the new towns, to the low-maintenance gardens of the 1980s and contemporary trends for community and wildlife gardens. Designed landscapes were often integral to the conception of twentieth-century developments; the inclusion of a handful of particularly successful landscapes for memorial gardens, offices, industry, transport and parks demonstrate a changing attitude to public green space during the century and its increasing importance as private gardens have become ever smaller. Designers and architects such as Piet Oudolf, Charles Jencks, Frederick Gibberd, Geoffrey Jellicoe, Vita Sackville-West and Gertrude Jekyll are all featured, alongside more detailed essays on the history of gardens, planting styles, the importance of modern landscapes, and the career of Geoffrey Jellicoe. The text is written by architectural, landscape and garden historians including Elain Harwood, Barbara Simms and Alan Powers. Beautifully illustrated throughout with photography, illustrations and garden plans, this book is ideal for gardeners and landscape lovers alike.