Islamic Gardens and Landscapes - Penn Studies in Landscape Architecture by D. Fairchild Ruggles (University of Pennsylvania, April 2022)
Western admirers have long seen the Islamic garden as an earthly reflection of the paradise said to await the faithful. However, such simplification, Ruggles contends, denies the sophistication and diversity of the art form. Islamic Gardens and Landscapes immerses the reader in the world of the architects of the great gardens of the Islamic world, from medieval Morocco to contemporary India.
Just as Islamic culture is historically dense, sophisticated, and complex, so too is the history of its built landscapes. Islamic gardens began from the practical need to organize the surrounding space of human civilization, tame nature, enhance the earth's yield, and create a legible map on which to distribute natural resources. Ruggles follows the evolution of these early farming efforts to their aristocratic apex in famous formal gardens of the Alhambra in Spain and the Taj Mahal in Agra.
Whether in a humble city home or a royal courtyard, the garden has several defining characteristics, which Ruggles discusses. Most notable is an enclosed space divided into four equal parts surrounding a central design element. The traditional Islamic garden is inwardly focused, usually surrounded by buildings or in the form of a courtyard. Water provides a counterpoint to the portioned green sections.
Ranging across poetry, court documents, agronomy manuals, and early garden representations, and richly illustrated with pictures and site plans, Islamic Gardens and Landscapes is a book of impressive scope sure to interest scholars and enthusiasts alike.
Japanese Gardens and Landscapes, 1650-1950 - Penn Studies in Landscape Architecture by Wybe Kuitert ((University of Pennsylvania, April 2022)
Moss, stone, trees, and sand arranged in striking or natural-looking compositions: the tradition of establishing and refining the landscape has been the work of Japanese gardeners and designers for centuries. In Japanese Gardens and Landscapes, 1650-1950 Wybe Kuitert presents a richly illustrated survey of the gardens and the people who commissioned, created, and used them and chronicles the modernization of traditional aesthetics in the context of economic, political, and environmental transformation.
Kuitert begins in the Edo period (1603-1868), when feudal lords recreated the landscape of the countryside as private space. During this same period, and following Chinese literary models, scholars and men of letters viewed the countryside itself, without any contrivance, as the ideal space in which to meet with friends and have a cup of tea. Stewards of inns, teahouses, and temples, on the other hand, followed increasingly clichéd garden designs prescribed in popular, mass-produced pattern books. Over the course of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the newly wealthy captains of industry in Tokyo adopted the aesthetic of the feudal lords, finding great appeal in naturalistic landscapes and deciduous forests.
Confronted with modernization and the West, tradition inevitably took on different meanings. Westerners, seeking to understand Japanese garden culture, found their answers in the pattern-book clichés, while in Japan, private landscapes became public and were designed in environmentally supportable ways, all sponsored by the government. An ancient, esoteric, and elite art extended its reach to every quarter of society, most notably with the extensive rebuilding that occurred in the aftermath of the Tokyo earthquake of 1923 and the end of World War II. In the wake of destruction came a new model for sustainable public parks and a heightened awareness of ecological issues, rooted above all in the natural landscape of Japan.
Featuring more than 180 colour photographs and reproductions, Japanese Gardens and Landscapes, 1650-1950 illustrates a history of changes and continuities across a span of three centuries and makes an eloquent case for the lessons to be learned from the Japanese tradition as we face the challenges of a rapidly changing human habitat.
House In the Country: Where Our Suburbs and Garden Cities Came From and Why it's Time to Leave Them Behind by Simon Matthews (Oldcastle Books, March 2022)
‘For nearly 150 years living in a house in the country has been what many of us aspire to. This book explores how this idea was imported from the US by Ebenezer Howard, founder of the garden city movement, the impact it has had in the UK and why, on cost and environmental grounds, it's time to move on from this approach. House in the Country presents a richly detailed narrative containing much social and cultural commentary as well as interviews with key figures in this field, including Lord Heseltine’.
The Ornamental Wilderness in the English Garden by James Bartos (Unicorn, March 2022)
‘In this wide ranging and comprehensive survey of the designed landscapes of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, James Bartos argues convincingly that ornamental wildernesses should be viewed as distinctive design features which, when linked across an extensive terrain, took on the character of the whole landscape. As a result of this striking analysis, our understanding of the celebrated layouts at Wrest Park, Chiswick and Stowe, and many more besides, must be revised.
Contrary to the received wisdom that wildernesses led inexorably to the more informal parkscapes associated with William Kent and Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, it was only when they were dismantled in the mid-eighteenth century to provide more loosely controlled, open glades and greensward that the English Landscape Style emerged.
This ground-breaking study ranges in its literary compass from classical authors through contemporary writers on gardens and gardening to modern critical authorities, while its visual focus on design manuals and individual gardens and landscapes is presented through a wealth of engraved prints, maps and present-day photographs. Bartos considers the making, planting and maintenance of wildernesses, their continental precedents, thematic resonances – Classical, Biblical, Druidic, Patriotic – and the eventual development of these often numinous spaces into mature gardens followed by their inevitable demise.
Ornamental Lakes Their Origins and Evolution in English Landscapes by Wendy Bishop (Routledge, June 2021)
‘Through detailed research, author Wendy Bishop argues that, contrary to accepted thinking, the development of lakes led to the dissolution of formal landscapes rather than following changes in landscape design. Providing a comprehensive overview of lakes in England, including data on who made these lakes, how, and when, it additionally covers fishponds, water gardens, cascades and reservoirs.
Richly illustrated and accompanied by case studies across the region, this book offers new insights in landscape history for students, researchers and those interested in how landscapes evolve.’
England's Magnificent Gardens: How a Billion-Dollar Industry Transformed a Nation, from Charles II to Today by Roderick Floud (Pantheon Books, May 2021)
‘An altogether different kind of book on English gardens--the first of its kind--a look at the history of England's magnificent gardens as a history of Britain itself, from the seventeenth-century gardens of Charles II to those of Prince Charles today.
In this rich, revelatory history, Sir Roderick Floud, one of Britain's preeminent economic historians, writes that gardens have been created in Britain since Roman times but that their true growth began in the seventeenth century; by the eighteenth century, nurseries in London took up 100 acres, with ten million plants (!) that were worth more than all of the nurseries in France combined.
Floud's book takes us through more than three centuries of English history as he writes of the kings, queens, and princes whose garden obsessions changed the landscape of England itself, from Stuart, Georgian, and Victorian England to today's Windsors……
We see the designers of royal estates--among them, Henry Wise, William Kent, Humphrey Repton, and the greatest of all English gardeners, "Capability" Brown, who created the 150-acre lake of Blenheim Palace, earned millions annually, and designed more than 170 parks, many still in existence today. We learn how gardening became a major catalyst for innovation (central heating came from experiments to heat greenhouses with hot-water pipes); how the new iron industry of industrializing Britain supplied a myriad of tools (mowers, pumps, and the boilers that heated the greenhouses); and, finally, Floud explores how gardening became an enormous industry as well as an art form in Britain, and by the nineteenth century was unrivalled anywhere in the world.'
Great British Gardeners: From the Early Plantsmen to Chelsea Medal Winners by Vanessa Berridge (Amberley Publishing, 2018)
This book traces the history of British gardening over 450 years through the stories of twenty-six key figures, showing what drove them, and their role in the evolution of Britain’s gardens. Their work reveals changes in taste and society down the centuries. Familiar names are featured, such as ‘Capability’ Brown, Humphry Repton, Gertrude Jekyll, Vita Sackville-West and Christopher Lloyd, together with less generally known figures such as John Gerard, whose Herball of 1597 inspired generations of plantsmen, the Tradescants, pioneer plant hunters, and J. C. Loudon, nineteenth-century champion of smaller gardens. In the present day, we meet Beth Chatto, advocate of the right plant in the right place, and John Brookes, who did for gardening what Elizabeth David did for cooking. Their achievements provide a colourful history and inspiration to every gardening enthusiast.
On Landscape Design: In the words of Masters through the centuries by Charles Aldrington (Intramuros Books, 2020) The charm of this thought-provoking book is on garden design, its originality and power to surprise. As the title suggests, it is strictly based on primary sources, the words of the ‘masters’, and consideration is given to how they apply today. They include many familiar names, Pliny, Palladio, Bacon and Pope – but not Lancelot Brown, for example, as he left no records. However, there are also many less familiar names, to me at least, and unexpected juxtapositions. For example, The Designer’s Preliminaries opens with some quotes from Daniel Libeskind, architect for Ground Zero, talking about light and shade and the light-giving properties of water. On Ornament, there is Thomas Jefferson’s ‘cultural props’ for Monticello, while in Views, the Marquis de Girardin (1735–1808), French landowner and patron of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, expounds the finer points of framing. The book is aimed at ‘garden visitors and creators’, and is expressly not for horticulturists. It is meticulously referenced and the illustrations are widely sourced. There are surprises here too with a Vermeer and a Hockney as well as a Kent and Johannes Kip, amongst the many photographs and sketches. Although the text has a slightly jackdaw feeling, everything is well researched and interesting. Charles Aldington is a banker which is perhaps why the question of who paid for the gardens arises.
Inspirations: A Time Travel through Garden History by Nadine Olonetzky (September 2017). This book recounts the history of gardens from their likely origins in Mesopotamia to the present day. It traces the most important styles chronologically as well as the people that have influenced developments in Europe. “Whether it is an allotment, a landscape park, a cemetery, or a city park – small and large gardens interweave with the built landscape and are an inspiration for all of us.” The Garden: Elements and Styles by Toby Musgrave (Phaidon Press, October 2020) Described as an A-to-Z compendium of more than 200 garden elements, styles, features, and ornaments for gardeners around the globe’ The Garden, written by garden historian Toby Musgrave, offers ‘a unique, illustrated ‘glossary’ featuring over 400 gardens: public and private; iconic and lesser known. Examples include ‘the Baroque gardens of Versailles and rarely published tropical courtyards from contemporary designers, alongside artist creations such as Frida Kahlo’s courtyard in Mexico and Derek Jarman’s coastal garden in Dungeness, England’. The History of Landscape Design in 100 Gardens by A. Linda Chisholm ‘Through profiles of 100 of the most influential gardens, Linda Chisholm explores how social, political, and economic influences shaped garden design principles. The book is organised chronologically and by theme, starting with the medieval garden Alhambra and ending with the modern naturalism of the Lurie Garden. Sumptuously illustrated, The History of Landscape Design in 100 Gardens is for garden designers and landscape architects, design students, and gardening enthusiasts interested in garden history.’
The Urban Garden City: Shaping the City with Gardens through History (Cities and Nature) by Sandrine Glatron & Laurence Granchamp ‘This book provides an interdisciplinary overview of the role of gardens in cities throughout different historical periods. It shows that, thanks to various forms of spatial and social organisation, gardens are part of the material urban landscape, biodiversity, symbolic and social shape, and assets of our cities, and are increasingly becoming valued as an ‘order’ to follow. Contributors are university staff from various disciplines in the human and life sciences, in discourse with other academics but also with practitioners who are interested in experiences with urban gardens and in promoting an awareness of their spatial, social and ‘philosophical’ goals throughout history.’
Captured Landscape: Architecture and the Enclosed Garden by Kate Baker (2018) ‘Kate Baker discusses the continuing relevance of the typology of the enclosed garden to contemporary architects by exploring influential historical examples and the concepts they generate, alongside some of the best of contemporary designs – brought to life with vivid photography and detailed drawings – taken primarily from Britain, the Mediterranean, Japan and North and South America. She argues that understanding the potential of the enclosed garden requires us to think of it as both a design and an experience. Captured Landscape provides a broad range of information and design possibilities for students of architectural and landscape design, practising architects, landscape designers and horticulturalists and will also appeal to a wider audience of all those who are interested in garden design.’ Sound and Scent in the Garden (Dumbarton Oaks Colloquium on the History of Landscape Architecture, May 2017), by D. Fairchild Ruggles. ‘While we often approach gardens as things to be seen thus engaging the rational, intellectual part of the human brain Sound and Scent in the Garden explores the more elusive experiences of sound and smell. These senses are important dimensions of garden design and performance and often have a powerful effect on the human body, yet they may also be ephemeral and difficult to study. The contributors to the volume explore the sensory experience of gardens specifically as places where people encounter landscape in a staged manner, as a result of intentional design. How do the senses shape the experience of those places? In what ways are plants, gardens, and landscapes produced so as to stimulate the senses? What evidence do we have of historical sensory experiences? What is lost when we forget to acknowledge the sensory environment of the past or simply overlook its traces? The volume demonstrates a wide variety of approaches to apply to the study of sensory history and illuminates this important dimension of the experience of gardens past and present, East and West.’
Landscape and Garden Design Sketchbooks by Tim Richardson (Thames and Hudson Ltd, October 2015). Thirty-seven international designers have opened their sketchbooks specifically for this publication. The book features hundreds of drawings and illustrations providing ‘a continual source of inspiration for planting, design elements, colour schemes and materials, encouraging weekend gardeners, design professionals and students to draw their ideas by hand.’ Theory of Gardens (Ex Horto: Dumbarton Oaks Texts in Garden and Landscape Studi) by Jean-marie Morel (Harvard University Press, September, 2019). This translation marks the first time that the 1776 edition of the Théorie des jardins is available in English. ‘Jean-Marie Morel (1728-1810), a leading French landscape designer and theorist, is now mainly remembered as the author of one of the fundamental eighteenth-century texts in the history of landscape architecture the Théorie des jardins (1776; second edition, 1802). With his background as an engineer, Morel also played an instrumental role in shaping the profession of landscape architecture, opening up a new professional domain by coining the term architecte-paysagiste, the precursor to the modern designation “landscape architect.” The Story of the English Garden by Ambra Edwards ‘The story of the English garden is a long and colourful one. From tiny medieval gardens to vast Georgian parks, from regimented Victorian glasshouses crammed with exotic specimens to today's informal, ecologically inspired planting, this book traces the complex and ever-changing relationship between the English and their gardens for over 500 years. Featuring some of the most beautiful and influential gardens in the world, it's a story ruled by passion and power and politics too. Ambra s wonderful storytelling celebrates not just the beauty and the unique character of the English garden but its quirkiness too, including follies, grottos and hermitages.’