From Art to Landscape

As one might expect from a book titled “From Art to Landscape”, the author expresses his experience using fine arts in his creative design process. He emphasizes exploring ideas with different mediums, so as to not get caught up in technique but to really do whatever possible to get an idea out of your head. Sometimes the best ideas are born when you free yourself of the consciousness of doing and focus more on the mood.

My favorite section in this book was Mr. Smith’s experience designing the children’s garden at Winterthur Gardens in North Carolina. The most ethereal of the features was a fairy ring of concrete mushrooms that mist up when someone steps into the middle of the ring.

The Tropical Mosaic Garden in Naples, Florida, was another project where Smith was an integral part of the design. I loved the colors of the bromeliads (Aechmea blanchettiana) against the sea-themed blue mosaic walls. The wall design was an unintentional but beautiful result of his creative design process.

From Art to Landscape: Unleashing Creativity in Garden Design

Creating a Forest Garden

This book is fantastic.

For example, in the shrub species section of the book, I discovered some information that still amazes me: fuchsias actually bear fruit! The only reason we don’t know this is because most fuchsias outside of South America have been bred for their flowers rather than their fruit. The fruit is described as “reminiscent of plum with a peppery aftertaste”. Imagine a jam made with this fruit!

So if that isn’t enough to make you at least pick up the book, let me list these bonuses. There are plant photos along with the names and descriptions. The introductory chapters clearly define what exactly a forest garden is, and how maintaining it is a delicate balance. Too many trees and shade, your edible “crops” will suffer. But without the canopy growth, you won’t have the proper variables for growing certain plants.

Clearly written by someone that has a comfortable working knowledge of gardening, forestry, ecology, and farming, I also found out via Greenbooks Online that the author Martin Crawford

“has spent over 20 years in organic agriculture and horticulture and is director of The Agroforestry Research Trust, a non-profit-making charity that researches into temperate agroforestry and all aspects of plant cropping and uses, with a focus on tree, shrub and perennial crops.”

Buy Creating a Forest Garden: Working with Nature to Grow Edible Crops

Urban Jungle

Urban Jungle: The Simple Way to Tame Your Town Garden

I don’t really want to have to have to cross-reference while reading a gardening book. Most of the time, these design-oriented books are marketed towards amateur to moderately competent gardeners. Without a doubt, most books have a broad section with a heading like “Dry”, “Good foliage for Shade”, “Wet”, etc. This is followed by a glamor shot of a tree or floral close-up, and then the list. The list is anywhere from 5 to even 50 names, often in latin. Who are you guys writing for? Not someone in the trade. Come on. List the common name with the latin, and give at least a thumbnail of what it is that I’m looking at.

Book pros and cons -
Great: Figuring out what plants like facing a certain direction. Great notes on how to observe your garden’s conditions.
Good: Good Flowers by Month
OK: The wide list of topics
Not So Good: Organization and progression of the topics. Kind of felt overwhelmed, while at the same time only lightly touching on a specific subject.

Urban Jungle: The Simple Way to Tame Your Town Garden by Monty Don, $65(new) at Amazon.

Understanding Garden Design

For the past year I’ve obtained most of my gardening books from the library at the Center for Urban Horticulture. This week I’m reading Understanding Garden Design by Vanessa Nagel.

Reading Vanessa Nagel’s book from cover to cover really did prove what the author stated in her introduction: that most garden design books only focus on a small aspect of garden design. Nagel’s chapter on “Design 101″ doesn’t start until the middle of the book, with good reason. Many garden design books focus precisely on the fun and important aspects of color, shape, form, scale, and textures. Admittedly, these topics are very fun and exciting to read about, but for the gardener that truly wishes to transform an outdoor space, there needs to be more emphasis on planning. This is where this book shines.

One of the best parts of the book is the “The Components List”. It’s a simple list that reminds you that you need to prioritize what desirable elements you wish to include given the amount of space available. For example, if you want both a small greenhouse and an outdoor dining area for 6, you better make sure you have at least 230 square feet. Listing what you want by how much space is needed is an excellent way to realize if a part of your future garden is just a fantasy or if it can make the cut.

Buy Understanding Garden Design: The Complete Handbook for Aspiring Designers
Understanding Garden Design by Vanessa Nagel.

Growing Tasty Tropical Plants

Happy New Year!

Today I had some time to leaf through this stunning book, filled with tropical plants that can be grown in your home. I never thought about growing a tahitian orange tree, barbados cherry, or miracle berry in my kitchen. But because I have a great southern exposure along the longest side of my house, it looks like growing one of these delicious and beautiful plants is a definite possibility!

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