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Product Description
Review
Dan has a way of making me look at plants, and the garden in which they live, with a fresh eye. His approach to my small, urban garden gently challenged my ideas of both design and planting. The result has enriched my life more than I ever thought a garden could. Dan had worked his quiet magic! --Nigel Slater
Product Description
Ten years ago Dan Pearson found an extremely rare, large, neglected city plot and set out to design and create a garden space all of his own. Arranged by seasons, Dan shares the challenges of gardening his city plot in a romantic and beautifully written series of diary-like essays, documenting the horticultural tasks required and sharing his successes and failures on the way. Written and photographed in 'real time' this book documents an urban garden and gardener at work, bringing the experience of gardening to life and offering a unique insight into the work and thoughts of the one of the world's most respected garden designers.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a glorious gardening book. It is so easy to read that I read the first 160 pages in the first couple of hours after I received it. The written style is lyrical as well as highly informative, and by the end I was as in love with Dan's garden as he is. This is not a "How to garden " book. This is a book that describes the triumphs and the failures in a garden. It describes the problems and the pests. It is one of the first books I have read by a professional gardener that captures the gardener's woes and ecstasy. It is however written by a superb plantsman. I learnt a great deal about how to look after the plants I have - but there were many plants I had never heard of. There are descriptions of different varieties, colours and flowering times of the same types of plants. Dan does not believe in using any common names so every plant has its full latin name. I may have to have a dictionary of plants with me as I read this book again and again.
I have a city garden almost the same size and aspect as Dan's, so to me it is an absolute gift. Any urban gardener will welcome the excellent advice on what can be planted where and how things look and develop at different times of the year, written by someone who is used to urban boundaries, space and light. The description of how he approached the garden was very interesting. I loved the descriptions of what died and what had to be moved. The admission that a professional gardener also has failures is so heartening.
It is so difficult to find good books about small gardens and this is one of the best I have come across. But it is not just for urban gardeners - any gardener will love this book and learn something from it.
I almost did not buy this book as the pictures on the website and the video do not do it justice. It has far more pictures than I had expected. They show a real garden in all its phases and are therefore very unusual in comparison to the pictures of perfect manicured gardens in most gardening books.
Thank you Dan - please write the story of your next garden.
I have a city garden almost the same size and aspect as Dan's, so to me it is an absolute gift. Any urban gardener will welcome the excellent advice on what can be planted where and how things look and develop at different times of the year, written by someone who is used to urban boundaries, space and light. The description of how he approached the garden was very interesting. I loved the descriptions of what died and what had to be moved. The admission that a professional gardener also has failures is so heartening.
It is so difficult to find good books about small gardens and this is one of the best I have come across. But it is not just for urban gardeners - any gardener will love this book and learn something from it.
I almost did not buy this book as the pictures on the website and the video do not do it justice. It has far more pictures than I had expected. They show a real garden in all its phases and are therefore very unusual in comparison to the pictures of perfect manicured gardens in most gardening books.
Thank you Dan - please write the story of your next garden.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Home Ground, for me, is a book that explores the very essence of what gardening in the city is about. I empathised entirely with Pearson's project to create an urban oasis as an "antidote to the hustle and bustle, to the hard edges" of the city - and to get the most out of this book, you'll have to do the same. Pearson's is a very personal meditation on the abstract pleasures of gardening; a mixture of design, philosophy, mood, and aesthetics.
The sheer hard graft of gardening is largely glossed over in the introduction: the site clearance, the waiting, the hard-landscaping. They form the backbone of the garden of course, but this is primarily a book about plants, and the true plant-lover will thus be enthralled. Every gardener, even if they don't agree with some of Pearson's thinking, will recognise a kindred-spirit in his continual trials and errors, in his delight in nature's serendipitous plant combinations, and in his palpable moments of melancholy over beloved plants come and gone.
The scent of Daphne "Jacqueline Postill" is "as sweet and talcy as your grandmother's dressing-room"; the Epimediums' "new foliage inflates like a dragonfly expanding after emerging from the chrysalis". Pearson's similes are abundant and evidence a deep connection with his plants, each one brings something unique to the whole, and though we never see the whole, we can feel it through the narrative's colours, scents, sounds, tastes, and textures. Howard Sooley's sumptuous photographs accompany the text in glossy full-page pauses that offer tantalising visual impressions; they balance the text perfectly.
Home Ground presupposes the reader's familiarity with botanical names; if you don't know your Cercis from your Cytisus, then this will cause problems. The nature of the subject matter, a garden's creation over a decade or more, means that sometimes the text appears a little disjointed ... this is minimised somewhat by the creation of sections within the four-season framework. There are smaller photographs of some of the more unusual plant species running through the text, which is a nice touch. And there are titbits of information too ... pruning the lower leaves from the black bamboo in order to expose its stems, for instance. And, there are even moments of humour - who can suppress a smile at Pearson's "corner of shame" - doesn't every gardener have one?
This book is big and beautifully presented; difficult, though not impossible to read in bed, and too wordy for a coffee-table. It will reward multiple readings, inasmuch as Pearson offers us his thought-processes rather than technique. There are plenty of plants here to (re)discover too, even, I venture, for those in the trade. Ultimately though, it's a book for romantics, for those who believe that there's poetry and soul in every garden.
The sheer hard graft of gardening is largely glossed over in the introduction: the site clearance, the waiting, the hard-landscaping. They form the backbone of the garden of course, but this is primarily a book about plants, and the true plant-lover will thus be enthralled. Every gardener, even if they don't agree with some of Pearson's thinking, will recognise a kindred-spirit in his continual trials and errors, in his delight in nature's serendipitous plant combinations, and in his palpable moments of melancholy over beloved plants come and gone.
The scent of Daphne "Jacqueline Postill" is "as sweet and talcy as your grandmother's dressing-room"; the Epimediums' "new foliage inflates like a dragonfly expanding after emerging from the chrysalis". Pearson's similes are abundant and evidence a deep connection with his plants, each one brings something unique to the whole, and though we never see the whole, we can feel it through the narrative's colours, scents, sounds, tastes, and textures. Howard Sooley's sumptuous photographs accompany the text in glossy full-page pauses that offer tantalising visual impressions; they balance the text perfectly.
Home Ground presupposes the reader's familiarity with botanical names; if you don't know your Cercis from your Cytisus, then this will cause problems. The nature of the subject matter, a garden's creation over a decade or more, means that sometimes the text appears a little disjointed ... this is minimised somewhat by the creation of sections within the four-season framework. There are smaller photographs of some of the more unusual plant species running through the text, which is a nice touch. And there are titbits of information too ... pruning the lower leaves from the black bamboo in order to expose its stems, for instance. And, there are even moments of humour - who can suppress a smile at Pearson's "corner of shame" - doesn't every gardener have one?
This book is big and beautifully presented; difficult, though not impossible to read in bed, and too wordy for a coffee-table. It will reward multiple readings, inasmuch as Pearson offers us his thought-processes rather than technique. There are plenty of plants here to (re)discover too, even, I venture, for those in the trade. Ultimately though, it's a book for romantics, for those who believe that there's poetry and soul in every garden.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
This book has no techniques or "how to", but if you'd like a well written journal of a passionate and sensitive gardener and his insights, trials and tribulations in creating his city garden sanctuary then you'd like this book.
The account takes you from its neglected state through the seasons to its current form, with all the joys and woes this entails.
However, I don't think it is that great for a beginner gardener unless you think they will be inspired by it and I think it will be most enjoyed by those with a special interest perhaps tose who are looking at their own city garden over a period of time.
As others have mentioned, there are enough photos and latin names of plants, but you'll need a reference book (or an active internet connection) to make the most of it, although in many respects I don't think the book is there for you to copy Dan's garden but to take inspiration in the process over the seasons.
The account takes you from its neglected state through the seasons to its current form, with all the joys and woes this entails.
However, I don't think it is that great for a beginner gardener unless you think they will be inspired by it and I think it will be most enjoyed by those with a special interest perhaps tose who are looking at their own city garden over a period of time.
As others have mentioned, there are enough photos and latin names of plants, but you'll need a reference book (or an active internet connection) to make the most of it, although in many respects I don't think the book is there for you to copy Dan's garden but to take inspiration in the process over the seasons.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Food for the Soul
An inspirational journal of one man and his garden. Hasn't been off my coffee table in the year since I bought it and I think it's been looked at every day in that time.
Published 12 days ago by N. Chivers
valentine present
What a lovely gift, instead of flowers, i can have my own garden to love in spiritual glory for ever and ever.Love and thanks.Arrived perfect and quickly.
Published 2 months ago by Ms. J. I. Smith
dan pearson book
a lovely book showing how the garden is tamed from a wild patch to a natural garden full of nature and super pictures to inspire
Published 3 months ago by VC
Oasis of calm in a busy city
This book exemplifies one of the main things I love about gardening - he's created a space that has the power to change you just by using plants. Read more
Published 5 months ago by sb
The soul of gardening
This is a must-have book for anyone who loves gardening. It is the art and poetry of gardening, as well as the soul. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Hilary French
Not what I was expecting, this is for your experienced gardener
I am a beginer gardener and this book was a bit too high brow for me. The photos are beautiful but not helpful in planning your own garden as it is difficult to see how the... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Trickle Tree
A Personal Love Letter to the Author's Garden
Dan Pearson is one of our most accomplished and innovative of our garden designers today. He's also a most accomplished garden writer: I've already reviewed Spirit: Garden... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Wiltshire Bookworm
A veritable gardening grimoire
It is always nice to see a new book on gardening appear, especially one which is quite original in it's approach. Read more
Published 11 months ago by M. P. Sammut
Garden prose at its most poetic
Over a decade ago, acclaimed garden designer and writer Dan Pearson took over a neglected garden in Peckham, South London. Read more
Published 12 months ago by chuggachugga
Inspirational
I really loved this book which describes the development of the author's garden in inner city London from a bramble-infested plot containing a dead pear tree with honey fungus at... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Marand
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