The Ultimate Garden Designer

This is an impressive publication- a beautifully illustrated manual for the garden designer. The vast amount of talent stored between the covers of this book is what one would expect landscape architects to have developed before they receive their diplomas. The very ambitious home owner who is comfortable working with a back hoe and some help will also enjoy following this guide The author is a respected and renowned garden designer. The essence of the advice he conveys to the student reader is that a garden is akin to a small park. What will make such a setting enjoyable is the path laid out by the designer to discover its contents. To create that experience, Mr. Newbury relies on the wandering, curving line that cleverly converts any small plot of land into an enchanting garden. This concept is repeated throughout the book, for practically every style of garden imaginable. The reader comes away understanding that a garden is about movement and travel both for the eye and the body. It is also about the importance of discovery and the need for camouflage. For those landscapes that require a shed, a greenhouse, or a compost heap, the plans supplied by the author demonstrate how all of these features are tucked away ingeniously in locations that do not detract from the overall beauty of the property. One may create a garden using any of the one hundred ideas in this book and never notice these elements, no matter how small the garden. The focus of the book is a collection of 15 basic styles of gardens that include a cottage garden, water garden and roof garden. Once the reader has selected a desired style, there are choices within that style. For example, if one would like to install a cottage garden, one may select a layout for a traditional treatment, a contemporary style or a version for a small urban back yard. Each of these choices comes with complete plans for their realization. These plans include · An over all view of the garden as seen from a deck. · An aerial blue print containing symbols and shapes to identify individual features to be installed in the garden. · A planting guide for the major plants to be used. · A plant list that is numerically cross-referenced to the planting guide. · A three dimensional view of the completed garden. · Four variations of the aerial blueprint that accommodate differences in the sizes and shapes of individual properties. This meticulous attention to detail is repeated 36 times before this section is complete. So thorough is the presentation that it also includes plans of gardens for the disabled. Like most prominent garden designers, the author relies heavily on trees, ornamental shrubs, paths and borders to flesh out the structure of the gardens. The use of perennials is limited. For those clients who prefer more flowers, the plans leave room for modifications after establishing the overall structure and design. The secondary section of the book deals

The Ultimate Garden Designer is one of the best books I've read on the subject. I've been gardening for about twenty years and have read and done much in landscape and garden design. If your looking for a book about concepts, not specific plants this is the best one I've come across. It will NOT make you into a garden designer if you don't already have a working knowledge of basic design concepts. [To further clarify it does not go into long discussions on UNIVERSAL principles of garden design, it does however give great design perspective insight into each specific plan and feature.] What it will do is stimulate your design ideas based on your potential applications of a given design theme.The book has many colorful three dimensional renderings and two dimensional plans. They are categorized into complete gardens and garden features. The complete gardens are based on theme's such as cottage, kitchen, family, plant enthusiast, disabled, water, Japanese, etc. Each plan has renderings and a plan, a short "design philosophy" discussion, a plant selection thought process, unique features identified, and design variations. The design variations are great for stimulating ideas on ways to adapt a given style of garden to different lot constraints (ie. long and narrow, corner, or triangle lot). The garden features section walks you through the styles, materials, and techniques for things such as water features, rock gardens, pergolas, walls, steps, herb gardens, etc. There are great color photo examples, different design sketches, and a discussion of design considerations.The book also includes a plant directory of the most common plants in the included plans. Some will be familiar and some won't since this book was written in the U.K. But the plants list is not the main attraction here.I highly recommend this book to everyone who is enthusiastic about designing their gardens as a whole and not just a mish-mash of disparate plants. A must for every serious garden library.

Having looked at many, many landscaping books, I can honestly say this one is among the best. The pictures are beautiful yet practical and feasible. Lots of practical suggestions help modify for your own yard.