Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #183546 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
When your new gardening bible comes with chapters entitled Birth, Life, and Death, you know you're in trouble. But be brave, turn to those chapters, and in some very practical little essays on planting, you'll uncover the very down-to- earth principle from which Piet Oudolf's radical reinvention of gardening is based: plants die.

In the traditional mixed border, shrubs, climbers, perennials, bulbs and annuals defy mortality; when one plant passes its best, there's always another in the wings, waiting to grab the eye. But such borders have very little impact: there is too little at any one time to hold one's attention. Oudolf wonders why we fight the unavoidable. Why not create borders that bring out the beauty of plants throughout their natural cycles?

Our obsession with colour is another deadening influence on current gardening practice. Plants have form: leaves, flower heads and stems have beauty and variety too and last far longer than any bloom. Why not create gardens that use the whole plant, not just its genitals? This, as you've probably already guessed, is a recipe for perennials, and without any of that anxious autumn rush to cut down those perfectly lovely bare stems and seed heads.

With these versatile plants, Oudolf would have us all create gardens that change month by month, week by week, even day by day. It's a radical, beautiful vision that's absurdly easy to achieve. In Designing with Plants Noel Kingsbury has done a terrific job of bringing Oudolf's work within reach of the rest of us.--Simon Ings

Synopsis
Piet Oudolf's gardens excite the senses and stir emotion with an approach to gardening that emphasizes form, texture, light, movement, and color. "Designing with Plants" is both inspirational and instructive - an informative and visually breathtaking study that shows readers how to create the same effects in their gardens. This paperback reprint includes four main parts. 'Planting Palettes' shows the range of plant choice available in form, texture, and color. 'Designing Schemes' shows how to combine these elements to create stunning and sculptural gardens. Through stunning photography, 'Planting Moods' shows how to create a particular atmosphere. And 'Year-Round Planting' emphasizes the importance of choosing plants that have value throughout the seasons.

Customer Reviews

If you buy only one garden book this year, this should be it
Oudolf has an approach to plant form and function that make other design books look strictly two dimensional. He creates moods, mysticism, and makes us re-think why we appreciate natural beauty. With no disrespect intended, this book makes most of the classic British garden designers look, well, like they lived in the 19th century.

I recently bought this for a friend and signed it: "the only garden book you really need"

A book to drool over
Piet Oudolf has rightly become a household name to many gardeners. His use of plants for year round interest has inspired many to try things they may not otherwise have done.

This book will help you to do likewise - it takes you through planting palettes (including form, leaves and colour); designing schemes (using combinations, plants to use for structure or fillers; assembling a planting; use of grasses); how to create moods in a garden; Year round planting, using the natural cycle of plants, through birth, life and glory even in death.

What a feast for the senses just looking through this book. Inspiration indeed.

If you love plants and gardening, this is it!
Glad I followed the advise: indeed this is the one gardening book! What a thrilling experience! What an inexhaustible source of new ideas! Besides, it is a pleasure being able to share Piet and Anja's love for planting. It will certainly make a difference to my garden.