Amazon.co.uk Review
In
Gardens of Inspiration, 15 top designers enthuse in 15 chapters over the gardens that have shaped, coloured and inspired their professional lives, starting with a description of their own garden. Packed with wonderful photography by Vivian Russell, she is also one of the featured writers. Her garden in Cumbria moulds itself into the landscape, showing how sometimes a small range of plants can blend more harmoniously than a riot of colour.
Inevitably each writer has strong opinions, none more so than Nigel Colborn, who speaks of "that eternal blasted laburnum tunnel". There is the naturalistic viewpoint of Dan Pearson and Stephen Lacey, the modernist, simple asymmetrical lines preferred by John Brookes, the abundant, colourful herbaceous borders loved by Christopher Lloyd, where plants can "spill out from the borders and self-seed freely". At the other end of the spectrum are the stylised large landscape gardens with long axial views favoured by Penelope Hobhouse with more cosy, smaller-scale vistas enjoyed by Rosemary Verey.
If you are a keen gardener and are familiar with most of the names in this book you will delight in the designers' views on gardens that you may know well yourself. There is nothing extremely controversial or starkly modern, no brightly coloured decking or large steel structures nor indeed a single Japanese garden or anything lushly tropical. These are designers with decades of experience reflecting on their influences over the years from gardens accessible to them. The contrasting styles and the plethora of photographs in the book make it a tempting read and visually satisfying. --Lesley Pace
Review
Fifteen great gardeners and their gardens, fifteen different styles of writing, fifteen inspirational gardens. Brought together in one book by gardening editor Erica Hunningher, fifteen top British gardeners tell in their own words of the gardens that inspire them and lead them on to even greater gardening inspiration. Beautifully photographed by Vivian Russell, both photographer and writer, she herself is included within the fifteen invited to participate in this novel, eye-opening work. For the armchair gardener this is a good and often amusing read. For the more active gardener, inspirational too. The gardens chosen vary from the very formal to meadows and prairies, from private residences to public institutions and cross the Atlantic to the USA and the Channel to France and Italy, demonstrating the diversity of gardening that abounds the world over. Both modern and old gardens make an appearance and some choices may surprise the reader with the disparity between the gardener and the garden in question. All the gardeners chosen are experienced writers and give a fascinating, highly-personal insight into what drives them in their own gardens and draws them to those of others for inspiration. Not surprisingly the majority opt for formal gardens, be they well-kept like Le Batiment or gently neglected like Ninfa, highlighting the importance of a basic structure to a garden be it formal or informal. And all display a high level of discipline with regards to garden maintenance, emphasizing, for instance, how a neatly-edged lawn can instantly transform a moderate garden to one worthy of note, notwithstanding an over-ebullient herbaceous border. A thoroughly enjoyable read, it is true to its title: the gardens really are "Gardens of Inspiration".
