This book tells the history of London's royal parks and how they have evolved from private hunting grounds and gardens into public spaces and venues for great events. In some cases, the parks were royally owned as long ago as the Norman conquest, and several of them were acquired by Henry VIII during the Reformation. At this time they were kept private and there was no public access, but during the eighteenth century most of the parks were opened to the public. Landscaping work was undertaken to keep up with trends, and the parks became fashionable places to be seen out and about - witness Rotten Row in Hyde Park. The parks, Hyde Park in particular, has been used to host major events such as the Great Exhibition and various jubilee and entertainment events. It tells the story of each of the nine royal parks from their acquisition by the monarchy through to the present day, outlining their use and management and the major historical moments associated with them.

As I step out of the conservatory facing North, supported by my pusher, the first that catches my eye is the dying Sycamore which escapes death every year by producing a healthy crop of leaves, but it looks so decrepit that surely it can't pull that trick yet again. -1 April, 2020 In his eighty-eighth year, John Boorman uses his time in lockdown to reflect on the splendour of the surrounding nature of County Wicklow. Coccooning with his daughter and son among the hills of Annamoe, Boorman chronicles his daily walks and observations of the trees on his estate, writing with heightened appreciation of the beauties of his eyrie using only one eye and one finger. Poetry flows from his pen as he sits chairbound among his trees and flora: sycamores, limes, beech, oak, redwood, shrubs and flowers, birdsong and shifting skies are luminously recorded as the world falls silent. With illustrations by Susan Morley, this slim but meditative volume is a remarkable narrative by the creator of The Emerald Forest, Excalibur and Deliverance - a swansong like no other.

The Sunday Times Gardening Book of the Year 2019 In Scent Magic, a book which is at once romantic and extremely practical, plantswoman, designer and garden-maker extraordinaire Isabel Bannerman immerses the reader in the luscious smells of the fragrant garden through a warmly written account of her year's gardening; and combines this with an encyclopaedic reference work of the best aromatic plants to grow throughout the seasons. Whether evoking the freshly baked sponge smell emanating from wisteria, describing 'Stanwell Perpetual' as "the kind of rose that would taste of apricot and raspberries swirled together", or championing the magic of the Himalayan cowslip, "scented profoundly and deliciously like the dark vault of a Damascus spice merchant'" the glorious poetry of her descriptions is here joined with personal memories and a lifetime's experience of gardening and plant cultivation.

In a compact garden, vertical and overhead spaces take on a different role. Trellises, pergolas, hanging baskets, window boxes, as well as all manner of tubs and containers, create opportunities that are often overlooked in more expansive gardens.

Small Gardens offers ideas for space-saving designs as well as suggestions for suitable plant combinations for patios, terraces, courtyards and other small areas. This book will show you how to transform almost any small space into a garden of delight.

An intriguing and richly illustrated analysis of the symbolic imagery found in gardens throughout history, this work features dedicated mailing to targeted art and gardening related media and organisations. This superbly illustrated volume presents readers with an intelligent and engaging analysis of the constituent elements of gardens - both real and imagined - that uncovers their often-hidden symbolic meanings. It uses over 380 paintings to provide a continuous visual record of the myriad and ephemeral form of the garden, with salient details being drawn to the reader's attention for closer examination. The first half of "Gardens in Art" examines the main types of garden throughout history, from the humble medieval enclosure for devotions, through the magnificent gardens celebrating the power of popes and kings, to the great public parks of the 19th century. The second half focuses on the decorative elements - including topiaries, statues, grottoes, and labyrinths - and discusses how they provide clues to their importance in particular cultures.

Compiling nine authoritative essays spanning an extensive academic career, author Kenneth R. Olwig presents explorations in landscape geography and architecture from an environmental humanities perspective. With influences from art, literature, theatre staging, architecture, and garden design, landscape has come to be viewed as a form of spatial scenery, but this reading captures only a narrow representation of landscape meaning today. This book positions landscape as a concept shaped through the centuries, evolving from place to place to provide nuanced interpretations of landscape meaning. The essays are woven together to gather an international approach to understanding the past and present importance of landscape as place and polity, as designed space, as nature, and as an influential factor in the shaping of ideas in a just social and physical environment. Aimed at students, scholars, and researchers in landscape and beyond, this illustrated volume traces the idea of landscape from the ancient polis and theatre through to the present day.

Explore the riches of London's historic gardens as well as the city's most exciting contemporary gardens and meet the people who tend them. Uncover a world of intrepid guerrilla gardeners and vibrant community initiatives, of soothing therapeutic gardens, and roof gardens that thrive high above street level. There's coverage of London's world-famous RHS flower shows too, as well as its ever-popular Open Garden Squares Weekend, and a hand-picked selection of remarkable private gardens that open for the National Gardens Scheme.

Humans have long turned to gardens--both real and imaginary--for sanctuary from the frenzy and tumult that surrounds them. Those gardens may be as far away from everyday reality as Gilgamesh's garden of the gods or as near as our own backyard, but in their very conception and the marks they bear of human care and cultivation, gardens stand as restorative, nourishing, necessary havens.

With "Gardens," Robert Pogue Harrison graces readers with a thoughtful, wide-ranging examination of the many ways gardens evoke the human condition. Moving from from the gardens of ancient philosophers to the gardens of homeless people in contemporary New York, he shows how, again and again, the garden has served as a check against the destruction and losses of history. The ancients, explains Harrison, viewed gardens as both a model and a location for the laborious self-cultivation and self-improvement that are essential to serenity and enlightenment, an association that has continued throughout the ages. The Bible and Qur'an; Plato's Academy and Epicurus's Garden School; Zen rock and Islamic carpet gardens; Boccaccio, Rihaku, Capek, Cao Xueqin, Italo Calvino, Ariosto, Michel Tournier, and Hannah Arendt--all come into play as this work explores the ways in which the concept and reality of the garden has informed human thinking about mortality, order, and power.

Alive with the echoes and arguments of Western thought, "Gardens" is a fitting continuation of the intellectual journeys of Harrison's earlier classics, "Forests" and "The Dominion of the Dead." Voltaire famously urged us to cultivate our gardens; with this compelling volume, Robert Pogue Harrison reminds us of the nature of that responsibility--and its enduring importance to humanity.

"I find myself completely besotted by a new book titled "Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition," by Robert Pogue Harrison. The author . . . is one of the very best cultural critics at work today. He is a man of deep learning, immense generosity of spirit, passionate curiosity and manifold rhetorical gifts."--Julia Keller, "Chicago"" Tribune"

"This book is about gardens as a metaphor for the human condition. . . . Harrison draws freely and with brilliance from 5,000 years of Western literature and criticism, including works on philosophy and garden history. . . . He is a careful as well as an inspiring scholar."--Tom Turner, "Times Higher Education"

"When I was a student, my Cambridge supervisor said, in the Olympian tone characteristic of his kind, that the only living literary critics for whom he would sell his shirt were William Empson and G. Wilson Knight. Having spent the subsequent 30 years in the febrile world of academic Lit. Crit. . . . I'm not sure that I'd sell my shirt for any living critic. But if there had to be one, it would unquestionably be Robert Pogue Harrison, whose study "Forests: The Shadow of Civilization," published in 1992, has the true quality of literature, not of criticism--it stays with you, like an amiable ghost, long after you read it.

"Though more modest in scope, this new book is similarly destined to become a classic. It has two principal heroes: the ancient philosopher Epicurus . . . and the wonderfully witty Czech writer Karel Capek, apropos of whom it is remarked that, whereas most people believe gardening to be a subset of life, 'gardeners, including Capek, understand that life is a subset of gardening.'"--Jonathan Bate, "The Spectator"

Updated to include changing garden exhibits, this interesting guide to Cape Town’s world-famous botanical garden traces the history and development of Kirstenbosch, from its establishment in 1913 to the spectacular showcase of indigenous flora it is today.

Prominent features of the garden are described, such as the protea, erica and restio gardens, the Dell, Conservatory and Camphor Avenue, as well as floral highlights of the four seasons. An updated layout map makes for easy navigating, and indicates walks and climbs that can be undertaken from the garden.

Colourful photographs portray the extraordinary beauty of the garden, both its spectacular flora and its setting against the backdrop of Table Mountain – and make this a worthy memento of a visit to Kirstenbosch.

Linda Rutenberg's images capture an astonishing world hidden from plain sight. By photographing public and botanical gardens at night, Rutenberg reveals a luminous landscape of plants, colours, shadows and light. Ten gardens throughout England are included, each with intimate portraits of their flowers and plants glowing in the blackness, revealing a secret nighttime world of subtle yet vibrant beauty, and illuminating the mystique of gardens. A perfect rose blooms at midnight. Leaves and flowers seem to glow in the darkness of the nocturnal world, and the peace of night affords these portraits an intimate quality. The English Garden at Night will enchant art-lovers and garden-lovers alike.

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is one of Scotland's most visited tourist attractions and has been cultivating and studying plants for over three centuries. Across its four garden sites, the Royal Botanic Garden's living plant collection contains over 13,500 species from 156 countries, including some that are extinct in the wild and others new to science. The ever-growing Herbarium currently contains over three million dried specimens and the Library houses Scotland's national collection of botanical and horticultural literature, including manuscripts dating back to the fifteenth century. The highlights illustrated in this book provide a personal insight into one of the world's greatest botanic gardens and reveals the invaluable contribution that it makes to the ongoing documentation and conservation of the world's diverse plant life.

"New York City looks nothing - nothing - like it did just a decade and a half ago. It's a place of newly gorgeous waterfront promenades, of trees, tall grasses and blooming flowers on patches of land and peninsulas of concrete and even stretches of rail tracks that were blighted or blank before." - Frank Bruni, The New York Times "Betsy Pinover Schiff's unerring eye and spectacular photographs tell the story of a city, and how its pre-Dorothy and Oz, colorless and downtrodden existence has been redone as if by wizardry in glorious Technicolor." - Adrian Benepe, former Parks Commissioner of New York City Betsy Pinover Schiff has been photographing urban plantings and chronicling the "greening" of the city for more than two decades. Once limited to private spaces and elite neighborhoods, these plantings now proliferate throughout the five boroughs. Sidewalk Gardens of New York reveals the transformation of the "city of concrete and glass" into one of the greenest and most richly planted urban centers in America. Nature and architecture combine in ways that will surprise even the most seasoned New Yorkers. Featured are tree beds, planters, hanging baskets, and medians that mitigate the frenzy of the street; plazas and pocket parks that offer respite to pedestrians, building plantings that create a welcoming transition between public and private; community gardens; and parks, both the iconic and the newly planted along the waterfront in Brooklyn, Queens, and Lower Manhattan.

A Modern Library Paperback Original

During the first years of the twentieth century, the British plant collector and explorer Frank Kingdon Ward went on twenty-four impossibly daring expeditions throughout Tibet, China, and Southeast Asia, in search of rare and elusive species of plants. He was responsible for the discovery of numerous varieties previously unknown in Europe and America, including the legendary Tibetan blue poppy, and the introduction of their seeds into the world’s gardens. Kingdon Ward’s accounts capture all the romance of his wildly adventurous expeditions, whether he was swinging across a bottomless gorge on a cable of twisted bamboo strands or clambering across a rocky scree in fear of an impending avalanche. Drawn from writings out of print for almost seventy-five years, this new collection, edited and introduced by professional horticulturalist and House & Garden columnist Tom Christopher, returns Kingdon Ward to his deserved place in the literature of discovery and the literature of the garden.

In the past two years Frederik Meijer and his curator Joe Becherer have assembled a significant private collection of large outdoor sculpture, which is available for public viewing at the Frederik Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids. This beautiful book presents more than 100 color illustrations, with details of many of the sculptures within the collection.

Recognized by both the art world and the general public, this garden has a diverse landscape of artwork from sculptors such as Rodin, Fredericks, Haring, di Suvero, Moore, Maillol, Hepworth, Dine, Haring, and others. Using more well known materials such as bronze and stainless steel as well as unusual materials like industrial porcelain, the artists provide the garden with many exciting visuals that the book will allow readers to bring home.

A brief history describes the development of the sculpture park. Biographies of the artists whose art grace this private collection are included, which serves to broaden the viewer's understanding of the pieces. Attention is given both to the artists' development of their craft and to the part each sculpture plays in the garden as a whole.

What makes a visually appealing landscape? How can the design and use of a landscape be harmonized? In this significantly revised and updated third edition of Simon Bell's seminal text, he further explores the answers to these questions by interrogating a range of design principles, applications and ideas. Written for students, instructors and professionals, the book unveils a visual design vocabulary for anyone involved with landscape aesthetics including landscape architects, architects, planners, urban designers, landscape managers, foresters, geographers and ecologists. Structured around key design terms, which are explained and illustrated using an extensive range of examples from around the world, including North America, Europe and Asia, this book enables you to describe, debate and design the visual landscape. It starts with basic elements, before moving onto variable design components, and then the ways these elements are organized into compositions, in order to demonstrate how landscapes are created and how meanings and patterns are perceived within them. This new full colour edition contains over 240 images; an updated introduction; examples from China, Vietnam and central Asia; a chapter on how to read and understand visual design elements in the landscape; a teaching model for instructors; and expanded appendix materials including a glossary, references and further reading.

In Gardens To Inspire, Keith Kirsten introduces 25 notable South African gardens, chosen for the ‘wow’ factor that sets them apart.

Great gardens are not simply an accumulation of plants. They are planned and nurtured over years, even decades, and they reflect the personality or intention of their creators. The selected gardens range from classic-traditional to quirky-eclectic to those that strive to meet the challenge of being environmentally sustainable. Some are grand estates, others are more modest, some are open to the public, others are not readily accessible. But whether they are private or public, big or small, exotic or indigenous, this book reveals something of the story behind each garden, introducing the owners or custodians and discussing the plants and landscaping that makes each one special.

Many of the featured gardens have been years in the making, others are more recent creations, but gardens are never static; man and nature are always reshaping them, and this book presents a moment in the life of each of these inspirational gardens.

This is a compelling story about the decline and rebirth of a 100 year old garden. Until recently, the Blue Garden, an icon of Gilded Age splendour in Newport, Rhode Island, was known only from hand-tinted slides dating from 1917. Originally designed in collaboration with the garden's original owner by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr, and the Olmsted firm--founded by his father, the great landscape architect responsible for Central Park, New York City--it has now been brought back to life. Landscape historian Arleyn A. Levee tells a fascinating and carefully researched narrative about the garden's origins, development, heyday, decay and ultimate renaissance. The Blue Garden skillfully interweaves the garden's design and social history, and stories of its founders and the Olmsted firm, with historical photos, original drawings and sketches, and images of the restored garden from 2015. This is a timeless and inspiring account of the devoted patrons, skilled artisans and great designers behind the creation and revival of a masterpiece, made possible by the vision of a devoted patron, and the relevance of historic preservation of gardens in the 21st century.

A useful guide for anyone who has moved into a new house and needs to create a garden that will meet their needs for decades to come.

Garden Design and Planning shows you how to convert a bare patch or an existing layout into the garden of your dreams. Lavishly illustrated with photographs and drawings, it guides the reader through every stage of the process, from the initial planning to the finishing touches, offering practical advice on a variety of projects that are well within the reach of the average gardener or DIY enthusiast

This book presents a chronological review of garden design which both simplifies the big picture and supplies a rationale, with examples, of the merits and demerits of each design period while reflecting on the social conditions which generated each one. It gathers together design ideas and their implementation over the last 500 years, presented in historical order and simplified to allow easy digestion by the reader, particularly if meeting the subject for the first time. As such the book demystifies history and identifies the relative importance of new approaches in design, particularly where they are seen to be progressive. Essential examples from each design period or style are included, based upon their contribution to the progress of design and relating to their value, particularly in the teaching of garden and landscape design principles. Thus the reader will be able to quickly grasp the essence of historical design styles, discover where they can go to see them for themselves and to appreciate how relevant they are to present day theories of design.By concentrating on Britain's own heritage the book offers a sound understanding of influences and thereby helps to inform design practice. Since the principles of design are universal, it will be of relevance in many countries throughout the world. The book is illustrated with photographs, diagrams and plans, creating a readily-accessible and informative volume.

The last 30 years have seen a surge in temporary gardens. The flexibility and new challenges invested in non-permanent landscapes has made them a creative and stimulating testing ground for professionals and impromptu designers. Raffaella Sini examines the historical evolution of the genre, exploring theory, narratives, and strategies informing 80 temporary gardens built in France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, and the United States. Key topics include: * temporary gardens in 1970s avant-garde art and 1980s public art; * temporary gardens as opportunities to work with live processes, practice inclusion, and explore concepts of social justice and ecology; * temporary gardens to redefine the vocabulary of garden design; and * temporary gardens in tactical urbanism. The book comprehensively decodifies the full range of ephemeral gardens: uprooted, mobile, itinerant, movable, postmodern, installation, exhibited, conceptual, theme, pop-up, guerrilla, grassroots, meanwhile, interim, provisional, activist, community, and parklet. Beyond physical duration, time-focused design in gardens affects the entire process of conceiving, building, experiencing, and managing green spaces; using short-term formats, anyone can invent, trial, and experiment in a condensed experience of landscape. The temporary garden emerges as critical cultural ground for the discourse in landscape architecture, art, ephemeral urbanism, and in urban, landscape, and garden design. It is inspirational reading for designers and students alike.

Teaching Landscape: The Studio Experience gathers a range of expert contributions from across the world to collect best-practice examples of teaching landscape architecture studios. This is the companion volume to The Routledge Handbook of Teaching Landscape in the two-part set initiated by the European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools (ECLAS). Design and planning studio as a form of teaching lies at the core of landscape architecture education. They can simulate a professional situation and promote the development of creative solutions based on gaining an understanding of a specific project site or planning area; address existing challenges in urban and rural landscapes; and often involve interaction with real stakeholders, such as municipality representatives, residents or activist groups. In this way, studio-based planning and design teaching brings students closer to everyday practice, helping to prepare them to create real-world, problem-solving designs. This book provides fully illustrated examples of studios from over twenty different schools of landscape architecture worldwide. With over 250 full colour images, it is an essential resource for instructors and academics across the landscape discipline, for the continuously evolving process of discussing and generating improved teaching modes in landscape architecture.