Product Description

Whether you want a wall, or a pond, a new look for your lawn or an inventive way to pave your patio, "Garden Design Details" is packed with hundreds of images and ideas. With practical information about what materials and designs will work in harmony with your garden, this book will open your eyes to the possibilities at hand. All the ideas are attainable and durable, with options for different styles and sizes of garden. Divided into four main chapters - Verticals; Horizontals; Punctuation; and Casework - the book discusses the main visual elements of a garden and then shows them in context through a selection of international case studies.In Verticals you'll find walls; hedges; fences; railings; trellis work; entrances and openings; gates; doors; level changes; feature plants and trees; woods; orchards; and land sculpture. Horizontals covers beds; borders; edging; paths; terraces; lawns; meadows; wild flower planting; knots; parterres; mazes; lakes; ponds; water features; natural swimming pools; stepping stones; land sculpture; and bridges. Punctuation discusses eye-catchers; seating; planters; pots and urns; statues; sculpture; fountains; arches; pergolas; tunnels; plant supports; and garden buildings. A final chapter of case studies shows the bigger picture with vertical, horizontal and punctuation design elements together in situ to show how they can be used to best advantage.The case studies illustrate a range of styles and settings including traditional, contemporary, minimal and international. Arne Maynard gives useful and practical advice for every type of garden from country acres to town courtyard. With over 350 photographs and design information covering everything from walls to paving, and fences to ponds, "Garden Design Details" is packed full of ideas.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #274687 in Books
• Published on: 2008-03-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

About the Author
ARNE MAYNARD is a successful garden designer based in London. After studying architecture, he turned to garden design and now his commissions range from large-scale country gardens to small urban spaces. His gardens have appeared in many publications, including Gardens Illustrated and the Sunday Telegraph, and together with Piet Oudolf, he won the prestigious Best Garden Award for his Gardens Illustrated 'Evolution' Garden at the 2000 Chelsea Flower Show. Arne now works on projects for a number of private clients and has been commissioned to redesign the National Trust Property, Dyrham Park in Wiltshire, England. ANNE DE VERTEUIL is a garden writer and garden designer based in London. In addition to a range of private gardens, she has also undertaken the design of a number of public spaces.

Customer Reviews

Good ideas, but not enough pictures
The rise in popularity of gardening programmes on television has spawned a number of coffee table sized books on the subject - too large and glossy to be really useful in action outdoors, they are meant to be read indoors, when the weather is foul, and when you can dream about the possibilities for your garden and what might be.

Garden Design Details is perfect for this, as it aims to provide a range of design solutions for the reader to implement in their garden. Broken down into different elements - horizontals, verticals and punctuation, for example - the author describes in simple terms a variety of ways in which these elements can be realised.

The conclusion shows a selection of 'case studies', indicating how all of the elements mentioned can come together and make a unified garden.

It is very attractive, with large scale photographs illustrating some of the ideas mentioned in the text - yet this is the flaw in the book for me. Some of the ideas sound terrific, but are not represented in pictures, and you are left to imagine what the finished effect might be. A section on hedges for example, suggests using unusual trees - like crab apple or olive trees - to provide screens within the garden, yet only illustrates more traditional options, such as yew or beech.

So the many fantastic ideas are left beyond the reach of the armchair gardener. A few more photographs would have made this a more complete and useful reference book.