Gardenlust

Lush photographs and informative text take the reader on a journey across the world in search of unique and magnificent gardens.

If you want a book that will give you the urge to travel, GardenLust will do it! Christopher Woods provides an insight into 55 world gardens, but it's not the botanical gardens you'd expect. Instead, he's focused on gardens that have been created more recently, and includes some private gardens as well as larger installations. Exquisite photos make you want to visit each garden. A diversity of designs--some very formal, others whimsical, still others very natural--adds to the variety within the book. My only disappointment was that no information was provided about whether open to public, specific locations. That could be added to the bar just beneath the garden's name on first page of every entry.

Beautiful photographs. A lot of information here - definitely a good source to consult.

I love coffee table books with images of great gardens, and that is exactly what this book is. So if you are like me, this is the book for you or to give as a present.

Mi piacciono i libri da mostrare sul tavolino di fronte alla tv con bellissime immagini di giardini, quindi se mi somigliate in tal senso, questo é il libro perfetto per voi o da regalare.

THANKS NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

I am very mixed about this book, the cover was spectacular, the narrative was interesting and good, but unfortunately, for me, the photography did not have that wow factor that one expects from a gardening book.. The fact is that I still hanker for the old fashion gardens or planting that scream colour (and work) - this book is full of modern interpretations and depicts gardens from around the world by todays standards. Many are quite lovely and beautifully designs, as the narrative explains. So yes, if that is your type of garden you will love it, it is very current and easy on the eye, otherwise you may not enjoy it.

I am reading this outside under the Spring sunshine which seems a fitting location as Gardenlust is to take me on a tour of the world's best new gardens which have been unearthed or discovered if you prefer, in the more recent of years. Chris Woods evidently has a passion for gardens having his career beginning at the Kew gardens and thriving to go on creating with gardens and produce books leading up to this one now.



Set to a backdrop of gorgeously captured, crisp photographs of various forms of outdoor nature at it's best, from flowers to trees, details in seating arrangements, various statues and beyond, this book is a small sanctuary to those of us whom wish to be out in all weather's in a garden of some form.



The gardens we are introduced to are picturesque with complementing colours displayed and in all areas of countries these little gardens or not so little gardens in many cases can be found to explore. They are all different and have many similar but never the exact same features, from bridges to statues to the rare weird yet wonderful plants on offer in their displays.



I myself may be English, but I have always been drawn to and appreciate Japanese and Chinese gardens after our town centre's park has mini ones of those designs mixed in, the UK also boasts many botanical gardens alike we read about in this book many a time and if this book sends out any kind of message to those of us living in cities or villages, it's to escape into a new bliss, of a garden we have yet to explore and make it a top priority to take time to relax, distress and unwind there.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Beautiful collection of information and images of gardens across the world. A perfect read for garden lovers!

A wonderful global tour of mainly public gardens, their history and design philosophy. This book also features in individual plants and spectacular photographs.

Gardenlust, indeed! This is a beautiful book that warrants hours of dreaming about the lush gardens included. I look forward to buying a printed copy in order to look at it and read it more.

This is most certainly full of gardens every plant lover would lust after. It could be awarded 5 stars just for the photography alone but that isn’t all of its content. This great book is divided into 8 parts of the world and the beautiful gardens in them. Christopher Woods has chosen them well.

This book seems to be a table top book so I don’t think it is something you’d want to curl up with to read. However, it is not only full of beautiful pictures. It’s filled with history. The history of some of the plants, the gardens, even the science of how some of the plants grow in certain climates.

It’s such a beautiful book and so educational at the same time that I was really delighted to be able to read it.

***This book was provided to me free of charge in exchange for an honest review.

Kathy Allen
Bookaholic
http://www.ourtownbookreviews.com/

★★★★ ☐ The publisher has provided a copy for review.
From the wild glass shapes of the Chihuly gardens near Seattle to the formal calmness of the Tree Museum in Rapperswil, Switzerland, you'll turn the pages with appreciation. You'll travel the continents to see innovative and sculptural gardens.

If you view gardening as art, love the shapes and colors of nature, or just need ideas for taking your own yard or property to the next level, you'll enjoy this book of beautiful trends.

One of the cardinal rules of educating the eye in design is to look at the best, the most precious, and the most innovative that top designer have to offer. Then your own ideas will be richer, more beautiful, and better thought out because you have a sense of what can be done.

Opening Gardenlust by Christopher Woods, I was uncertain the purpose of the book but I love looking at pretty gardens (inspiration!) so I was game! The book gave so much more than pretty though, it is intellectually challenging and mindset-shifting. Gardening and landscaping has the power to shape the human world and experience and this exploration of these 55 gardens highlights just that!

I thoroughly enjoyed the range of gardens from extreme modernism, with glass sculptures forming part of the garden, to the traditional wilds of China and everything in between. I learnt about plants, structure and form but mostly, the importance of having a clear purpose for the garden. This line summarises the book best:“What makes modern landscape design different from most other forms of contemporary art is our growing understanding of the effects of deforestation and climate change, the lessons to be learned by studying ethnobotany, the importance of an urban forest, and the impulse to use what we hope are ecologically appropriate or native plants.”

My favourite gardens include:

Sunnylands Center and Gardens – amazing use of yellows, greens and blues!
Chihuly Garden and Glass – glass is integrated into the design, like plants, amazing!
Mordecai Children’s Garden – designed to get children to spend more time outdoors
Parque Explorador Quilapilún – an environmental remediation project in Chile
The Tree Museum – a collection of rescued trees

The end of the book left me feeling I needed to visit each of these gardens, highly enjoyable (five out of five) and recommended!

Whether you just appreciate beauty, are a passionate gardener or a horticultural professioanal, this book is for you. Tour the bst gardens of the world and get your Gardenlust on.

Lately, my grown-up version of a child's toy catalog has been books on gardens. I'm not sure how I got obsessed with plants, but it happened, and happened in a big way. So when I found Gardenlust and had an initial flip-through, I was pretty stoked to sit down and dog-ear all the pages with particularly inspiring photos.

And don't get me wrong here, because the photos are truly inspiring. But it's the write-ups that make Gardenlust shine.

The book's set up in regions, focusing only on contemporary garden spaces (20 years old or younger, so truly contemporary). These range from commercial spaces (like one in Las Vegas) to public spaces (the vast majority of the ones featured) to private gardens of less than an acre or two where regular gardeners have created extraordinary greenspaces with their own particular ethnobotanical vision.

The photography is stunning, but like I mentioned before, it's the descriptions that make this book great. Every garden is described in such detail, positioned like you're actually walking though the garden itself, with enough history and plant info thrown in that you're not just experiencing it second hand, you're also learning, despite yourself. (And probably adding to both your "Travel Here" list and your "Plants I May Want To Own One Day" list...though that may just be me.)

I'm completely overwhelmed after finishing this, and wishing my thumb for outdoor gardening was a little less black. It's certainly inspired me to try again, and to visit more of the public garden spaces in my own region, too.

Garden Lust is right! This is one seriously gorgeous book. It is both inspiring and meditative. There are fifty different gardens in North America, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, all across Europe, Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Asia, Australia ,and New Zealand. Oh to have the time to re-trace his trip.