A rich harvest of ideas for achieving dynamic, four-season gardens, this book outlines the problems of and provides solutions for 30 different public and private projects. The authors show how to create bold, free-spirited gardens that require inexpensive maintenance, designing them so that they evolve with each season. 300 illustrations, many in color.

In this volume, Oehme and van Sweden define the creative principles and techniques of their four-season gardens - both private and public - where horticulture and architecture are fully integrated in dynamic design.

This handbook discusses how to turn your garden into a romantic retreat. There are special sections on fences and hedges to create a secluded atmosphere, water landscaping, and the use of scent and colour. A catalogue of the most romantic plants is included, with cultivation details.

The Morgan Library Museum has assembled an impressive array of trend-setting texts and outstanding works of art that reveal the origins and impact of the stylistic innovations of the Romantic Garden, in a broad cultural context, roughly from 1700 to 1900. Romantic Gardens provides a compelling overview of these groundbreaking ideas and shows how they were implemented in private estates and public parks in England, France, Germany, and America.

“I want to put the mystery back into the heart of garden design, where it needs to be. It’s what lures you in through the gate, keeps you moving through the landscape, and fills you with excitement along the way. The sense of mystery is what turns a mere display of plants, paths, and ornaments into an adventure.” —James van Sweden Guided by world-renowned landscape architect James van Sweden and horticulture expert Tom Christopher, any gardener can learn the secrets of the gardener’s art and absorb the essence of inspired garden design. In their gifted hands, creating your own perfect garden, with its own alluring mysteries, turns out to be not only easy but a delight. Whether it’s a ten-foot-square city terrace or a ten-acre expanse, the same principles apply: the intelligent use of positive and negative space, of form and scale, of light and shadow, of rough and smooth textures. Do you want a garden you can immerse yourself in? A garden you can smell and listen to as well as observe? An exuberant garden or a contemplative garden? In this elegantly written and visually stunning book, van Sweden reveals the secrets of famous gardens around the world and encourages you to find inspiration in the arts—in painting (from America’s classic regional artists to the abstract expressionists), music (from classical to jazz), sculpture, even dance. He introduces you to famous artists who share how their art has influenced the design of their own gardens, and teaches you to think not in terms of borders and beds or even paths and meadows but of a tapestry woven from sky, trees, rocks, vines, flowers, grasses, and space. Richly illustrated throughout with magnificent photographs, The Artful Garden both tells and shows, sharing with beginning and experienced gardeners a wealth of inspiration and practical help. “What’s my message?” van Sweden asks in conclusion. The wise answer: “Don’t squander the potential for surprise and wonder.” This beautiful book guarantees everyone who reads it a priceless store of gardening wisdom.

The history of Ninfa stretches back to Roman times. During the Middle Ages, this town was squabbled over, sacked, beset by malaria, and eventually abandoned to the elements. A forgotten section of the estate of the aristocratic Caetani family, it was left to slumber until the 20th century when descendants transformed it into the stunning place it is today. Based on Charles Quest-Ritson's 20-year study of Ninfa, this book showcases the garden's unique appeal in images of plants winding over ruined towers and walls, roses scrambling for footholds in crumbling archways, and the frescoed church wall still standing, proudly exposed to the weather. In compelling text and lush images, the author explores the riches of the only garden in Italy to be featured on a postage stamp, devoting chapters to its history, discovery, and rediscovery, the glittering personalities associated with it, the garden today, and more.