Garden designers face some daunting questions: How do I begin the creative process? Where can I find design inspiration? How will I know if my design is successful? If you approach these questions like an artist, with an artist’s tools and ways of looking at the world, you will be able to design gardens that combine the unique character of a place with your innermost creative spirit. You’ll make inspiring gardens that have real meaning, for yourself as well as others. In this luminous volume, landscape architect and artist W. Gary Smith explores the various means that artists use—including drawing, painting, sculpture, meditation, poetry, and dance—to create personal connections with the landscape that enrich and inform garden design. Part 1 focuses on simple techniques that anyone can use to nurture creativity, unleash the imagination, and get ideas down on paper. Part 2 shows how these techniques have shaped actual design projects—with spectacular results. Throughout, the author’s friendly and encouraging voice removes the shroud of mystery surrounding the creative process and shows how even the least artistically inclined can tap into inner resources they never knew they had. Smith’s own exuberant sketches and bold paintings illuminate the path from art to landscape. Infectiously engaging and unfailingly inspiring, this eye-opening book deserves to be read and reread by anyone who aspires to master the rich and demanding art of garden design.

“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.

“Delightful!” —The New York Times Book Review Discover a world of beauty and creativity! Chanticleer has been called the most romantic, imaginative, and exciting public garden in America. It is a place of pleasure and learning, relaxing yet filled with ideas to take home. And now those lessons are available for everyone in this stunning book! You’ll learn techniques specific to different conditions and plant palettes; how to use hardscape materials in a fresh way; and how to achieve the perfect union between plant and site. And Rob Cardillo’s exquisite photographs of exciting combinations will be sure to stimulate your own creativity. Whether you’re already under Chanticleer’s spell or have yet to visit, The Art of Gardening will enable you to bring the special magic that pervades this most artful of gardens into your own home landscape.

In a time of climate change and mass extinction, how we garden matters more than ever: “An outstanding and deeply passionate book.” —Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals Plenty of books tell home gardeners and professional landscape designers how to garden sustainably, what plants to use, and what resources to explore. Yet few examine why our urban wildlife gardens matter so much—not just for ourselves, but for the larger human and animal communities. Our landscapes push aside wildlife and in turn diminish our genetically programmed love for wildness. How can we get ourselves back into balance through gardens, to speak life's language and learn from other species? Benjamin Vogt addresses why we need a new garden ethic, and why we urgently need wildness in our daily lives—lives sequestered in buildings surrounded by monocultures of lawn and concrete that significantly harm our physical and mental health. He examines the psychological issues around climate change and mass extinction as a way to understand how we are short-circuiting our response to global crises, especially by not growing native plants in our gardens. Simply put, environmentalism is not political; it's social justice for all species marginalized today and for those facing extinction tomorrow. By thinking deeply and honestly about our built landscapes, we can create a compassionate activism that connects us more profoundly to nature and to one another.

In this luscious book, award-winning garden designer and artist Keeyla Meadows reveals how to turn an ordinary garden into a work of art. With a unique approach combining art and gardening, she offers a personal vision of garden design accessible to all levels of gardeners. Meadows inspires and instructs so that gardeners become artists in their own right. This book, which draws on Meadows' own world famous and fanciful gardens, blends beautiful photographs, personal experiences and practical advice. The end result is as joyous as the gardens upon which it is based.

Renowned garden artist Keeyla Meadows sees the world in strong, saturated shades. Fearless Color Gardens brings this unique vision to life by showing how to use wild, uninhibited color to connect indoor and outdoor spaces and turn a garden into a work of art. Learn how to pick colors that work together; how to coordinate the colors of walls, benches, containers, and garden art; how to organize garden spaces through the use of color; and how to translate personal color preferences into tangible form in the garden. Fearless Color Gardens also features a new way of looking at color with "Keeyla's Color Triangle"; easy-to use tips on growing edibles in color themed gardens; and Keeyla's favorite plants for specific colors. In the end, readers will want to reinvent the staid rules of the color wheel and turn their color preferences into intoxicatingly vibrant garden expressions.

Make great photos of flowers, gardens, landscapes and thebeautiful world around us Gardens are everywhere, all around us. In this long-awaited guide to garden photography, noted botanical photographer and author Harold Davis tackles the subject of garden photography with an expansive brush. In this book, you''ll find techniques for photographing extreme macro subjects while becoming a better landscape photographer. From tiny flowers to vast landscapes, your photography can be enhanced using the techniques you will discover in Creative Garden Photography. What is a garden? The topic of garden photography encompasses a huge range of photographic styles and techniques that can be applied to almost any kind of photography. Learn to use this toolset from one of the acknowledged modern masters of photography. * Explore gardens, types of gardens, and how best to photograph them * Create stunning floral macros and high-key imagery * Learn techniques for adding impressionism to your photos * Use light and creative exposures to enhance your imagery * Master close-up focusing, depth-of-field, and focus stacking * Create your own custom field studio "in a bucket" * Complete exposure data and the story behind every photo "My goal as a photography teacher and writer about photography is to inspire andto help you become the best and most creative photographer and image-makerthat you can be." --Harold Davis "Harold Davis''s etherial floral arrangements have a purity and translucence thatborders on the spiritual." --Popular Photo Magazine "Davis is a pioneer and a new art form--part photographer, part digital illusionist." --Rangefinder Magazine "Harold Davis''s Creative Photography series is a great way to start a photographylibrary." --PhotoFidelity TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ENTERING THE GARDEN Understanding Gardens Garden Styles and Purposes Different Kinds of Garden Photography Garden Purpose and Design Informs Photography OF LIGHT AND GARDEN Sunrise, Sunset, Blue Hours, Golden Hour ON LOCATION: THE ROMANTIC GARDEN, SCHWETZINGEN AT SUNRISE, GERMANY ON THE IPHONE: SNAPSEED USING A TRIPOD Using a Tripod for More Creative Options Tripods for Garden Photography: Materials, Legs, Types of Heads Tripod Tips and Tricks BLENDING EXPOSURES TO EXTEND RANGE BLACK AND WHITE IN THE GARDEN Photographing the Zen Garden ON LOCATION: IMPERIAL GARDENS OF OLD NARA, JAPAN CONVERTING TO BLACK AND WHITE IMPRESSIONISTIC PHOTOGRAPHY Camera in Motion Subject in Motion with Camera Stationary Creative Exposures In-Camera Multiple Exposures Post-Production ON LOCATION: PHOTOGRAPHING MONET''S GIVERNY, FRANCE ON THE IPHONE: WATERLOGUE FOCUSING ON REPETITION Compositions with Repeating Garden Elements and Patterned Spaces Best Practices in Focus Depth of Field ON LOCATION: THE PARC DE SCEAUX, FRANCE FOCUS STACKING DRAGONFLIES, BEES, AND WASPS Stopping Motion Getting Close Dealing with Those that Sting Auxiliary Lighting: Reflectors, Macro Strobes, LED Lighting WATER DROPS AND SPIDER WEBS Refractions in Close-Up Photography Spider-Web Studio MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY GEAR GARDENS OF THE MIND PRINTING GARDEN PHOTOS NOTES & RESOURCES Off-Beat Garden Photography Tools Places to Practice Garden Photography Recommended iPhone Apps for Garden Photography iPhone Workflow ImageBlender NOTES AND RESOURCES GLOSSARY INDEX