Buds are bursting into flower, new leaves are unfurling, seeds & saplings are springing forth… it’s that time of year when our gardens are in full display. This week’s book selections are a celebration of growing things and gardens – from painstaking landscaping to letting things run a little wild, to greening up urban spaces…
1. Beatrix Farrand: Garden Artist, Landscape Architect by Judith B. Tankard
Born into a prominent New York family, Beatrix Farrand eschewed the traditional social life of the Gilded Age to follow her passion for
landscape and plants. Many of her clients were members of the highest echelon of society, but she became best known for her public work. Her gardens have been photographed at their peak, and these lush illustrations are complemented by beautiful watercolour wash renderings of her designs.
2. Wild: The Naturalistic Garden by Noel Kingsbury and Claire Takacs
Forget the mild, manicured gardens of the past: planting today is
undergoing a revolution in taste and aesthetics. This is the first
comprehensive overview of a new planting approach that is wild and natural by nature, reflecting the global turn towards sustainability and the current zeitgeist in garden design. Featuring over forty gardens, each garden in this stunning book is brought to life with beautiful photography.
3. Sustainable Garden by Marian Boswall and Jason Ingram
There are some currents in the relationship between sisters that run so dark and so deep, it’s better for the people swimming on the surface never to know what’s beneath . . . Katie’s world is shattered by the news her younger sister, Mia, has been found dead. With only the entries of Mia’s travel journal as her guide, Katie retraces the last few months of her sister’s life, and – page by page, country by country – begins to uncover the mystery surrounding her death.
4. Be More Bonsai by Mark Akins
Elizabeth Pisani, who first worked in Indonesia 25 years ago as a foreign correspondent, set out in 2011, travelling over 13,000 miles, to rediscover its enduring attraction, and to find the links which bind together this disparate nation. Fearless and funny, and sharply perceptive, she has drawn a compelling, entertaining and deeply informed portrait of a captivating nation.
5. Living Green in the City by Ophelie Damble
With suggestions for your home, your building, your neighbourhood and your city as a whole, Living Green in the City is full of smart ideas on how you can revegetate the area around you. With illustrated tutorials and testimonials, this is the perfect guide for anyone wanting to bring more greenery around them.
