Synopses & Reviews
A well-designed garden provides pleasure to owner and visitor alike but often eludes even the most experienced gardener. The Essential Garden Design Workbook guides you through every stage of designing a garden, from site assessment to drawing up plans and selecting suitable materials. Here you will learn how to assess your site and experiment with design ideas that fit well with the garden's surroundings. You will find easy ways to measure large spaces, estimate the height of a tree, and determine the right proportions for a deck, pathway, or steps. The book includes clear instructions for drawing up plans -- from initial concept diagram to final design. This book is tailor made for hands-on gardeners who want to rework their gardens to achieve that sought-after 'designer finish'. Hundreds of explanatory drawings and quick-reference diagrams make this workbook a vital addition to the bookshelves of every gardener, design student, and professional. By working through this book from start to finish, a designer garden is within everyone's reach.
Review
Alexander writes with a rare understanding for all of the living organisms -- humans, plants and wild creatures -- who will occupy and benefit from the garden that is under design.
Review
"I especially like the book's 400 line drawings. Most are helpful, some humorous."
Review
"Alexander presents an excellent, comprehensive overview of a complicated subject, with many excellent examples."—Better Homes and Gardens, May 2005 Better Homes and Gardens
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"Highly recommended as a detailed instructional for learning to blend individually creative instincts with practical necessities to create truly memorable gardens." James A. Cox, Bookwatch, March 2005 James A. Cox
Review
"This is a comprehensive, almost scholarly guide to the secrets of good garden design."—Amy Stewart, American Gardener, March/April 2005
Synopsis
Guiding readers through every stage of designing a garden, this book includes clear instructions for drawing up plans--from initial concept diagram to final design.
Synopsis
The Essential Garden Design Workbook guides the reader through every stage of planning a garden -- how to survey a site, how to choose landscaping materials, and how to develop planting schemes. This fully revised and updated second edition features new U.S. case studies and new photographs. Valuable tips on green gardening are new to this edition, and include how to harvest rainwater, how to design a green roof, tips on sustainable planting, and a guide to composting.
Tailor-made for hands-on gardeners, the workbook approach is accessible, practical, and can be used to create a garden from scratch and to redesign an existing garden. Gardeners will find easy ways to measure large spaces, estimate the height of a tree, and find the right proportions for a deck. They'll also find tips on space, light, and color. Includes hundreds of easy-to-follow line drawings and diagrams.
Synopsis
Guides you through every stage of designing a garden. Hundreds of explanatory drawings and quick-reference diagrams make this workbook a vital addition to your garden-planning library.
About the Author
Founder and Principal of The English Gardening School at the Chelsea Physic Garden, London, Rosemary Alexander writes and lectures worldwide on garden design. She has worked on a wide range of gardens throughout the world. For eleven years she was tenant of the National Trust property, Stoneacre, in Kent, where she created a romantic, old world garden. She now lives in Hampshire where she has made a new garden.