Home Ground: Sanctuary in the City

by Dan Pearson

<!--StartFragment--> 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.

<!--EndFragment-->

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction

272 pages, Hardcover

First published March 7, 2011

About the author

Dan Pearson is an English landscape designer known for his pioneering work in naturalistic perennial planting. After early training at RHS Wisley, Kew Gardens, and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, he founded his own design practice in 1987. His work spans private gardens, public landscapes, and international commissions, including Tokachi Millennium Forest in Japan and the restoration of Althorp’s grounds. He has received multiple RHS Chelsea Flower Show gold medals, was named Royal Designer for Industry, and has collaborated with prominent architects and artists. Pearson is also a writer, broadcaster, and the author of several acclaimed books on gardening.

Reviews

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

“We should not feel separate from nature, we are part of it. We need to cover our footprints.”-Dan Pearson

What a beautiful book! Set in his home garden (in Beckham, Norfolk, England) Dan Pearson writes about his experience in 1997 to re-create the neglected garden of the home. It is written over a course of a year because he wanted to show the dramatic changes with the seasons.

When he bought the house, wild brambles had overwhelmed the whole back garden, it had been untended for years. He started with a simple space of two terraces because he knew he needed empty spaces. He then planted a natural free garden around the terraces. He writes he wanted a think tank plus grounds aka “lab” for his plant experimentation. He made it tranquil and vibrant at the same time.


I find garden designer Dan Pearson to be an inspiring role model for all gardeners because he is so open and curious. This book reflects that. It is not a gardening book that tells you how to garden but it is a visual journal of his progress as he starts from scratch and rebuilds his beloved hidden garden. I recommend it highly. Gorgeous photos. Five green stars.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good gardening book.

Sometimes it is too encyclopedic, as the author lists plant after plant he uses and what each brings to his garden, along with the difficulties and joys of each plant.

But, following him as he considers his garden season by seasons provides a framework to think about your own. He notices and appreciates much more than just the bloom or smell of a good flower. He looks at colors and foliage and stems and heights in light and shade and when coupled with other flora and is effective as describing what pleases him.

There's plenty of "how to" in this book if that is what you're looking for, but the best parts are when he is discussing how the arrival and lifespan of plants brings him joy.

[Lisa Wisniewski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I initially bought this book because I thought I was going to learn about the transformation of a garden. It is not that. It is more a book about how Dan Pearson deals with the seasons and the plants he loves. While I'm always looking for new plants I wish it had more photos of them as many times I had to pause and find a photo on the internet which never allowed me to get into the flow of what he was telling me. Although as someone with a smallish garden, I did learn some new ways to deal with old problems or at least confirmation that how I dealt with mine was just fine. This is listed as one of the top 10 gardening books you should read and I think that probably is true if you are mainly interested in plants.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super specific info and nice full-bleed photos.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dan Pearson is a gardener and designer I have admired for many years and I often read his published press articles. From the early days, when I got my first garden and he had his first tv series, I've always felt I could relate to Dan's gardening style and ethos. Sadly, these days, I do not have a garden of my own and so reading gardening books is more of an escapism exercise, or planning for the long-term. I do garden on a small scale, in containers, but it's just not the same as having your own ground and Dan knows this, as he emphasizes at the start of the book - it just feels different when the dirt under your nails has come from 'your own' patch of earth. It's of course debatable as to whether any gardener really owns the land, as even a lifetime of gardening will end one day and nature always has the upper hand when it comes to deciding how things will thrive or change. A landscape can be radically overhauled and transformed but it's never in the gardener's control, entirely.

So the story goes that Dan gets his own garden and shoe-horns as many plants into it as he possibly can, or something like that. This made me smile as I think it's what many of us would like to do if given our own space and a decent budget. If you are into plants and especially collecting plants, I think it is easy to relate to Dan's struggle with space, being disciplined and breaking your own rules every so often. Refreshing to read how he changed his mind about plants, gave things a chance, was ruthless with others. His relationship with the spaces around and beyond his garden was also interesting to read - how a garden is never an island.

I've just recently begun to re-consider the plants I grow and have fewer than previously. I'm interested in creating a calm, less hectic space. So it was fun to read about Dan's layers of plants, abundance and divergences. Knowing that he has now moved on to a bigger gardening space, this book was obviously going to be about transition rather than a settling in. I get the feeling that whilst Dan Pearson may not want to create the next Great Dixter, or similar garden, he may indeed write many more books on gardening and I am sure I shall want to read them all.

My only main criticism of the book is that photos featuring individual plants are often quite tiny and I would have accepted a smaller font for more photo space. I'd also have liked to have seen Dan with his partner Huw, or a group of friends in the garden, just to prove that it was not his own sanctuary but also from time to time a space shared, as I am sure it was. It would have been nice for the record.
(book borrowed from library)

[Maya Panika · Rating 3 out of 5]

A detailed account of a London garden, from its over-grown, neglected inception, to current glories by the renowned landscape architect Dan Pearson.

Following the seasons, Dan recounts the history of his garden, how each effect was achieved – through much hard work and many mistakes – in a narrative that combines pure, detailed landscape architecture, with his memories, stories about the plants, of course, but also the minutiae of the process: decking and garden tools, composting and wildlife, and each story filled with the memories each phase of his garden’s construction and evolution evoke for him. It is a lyrical and lovely book that is sure to be appreciated by anyone who loves plants and gardens.

This is no coffee-table book and, in my opinion, not one for the amateur. The language is consistently that of the professional, all plant names are in Latin – it’s by far the best way to name plants since it avoids any confusion as to the *exact* species in question, but I think those not accustomed to the expert tone could find it off-putting.

I wasn’t impressed by the visual quality of this book at all, some lovely photography has been ruined by crude over-enlargement and excessive cropping; I think the narrative deserves better illustration than it received.

As a former landscape professional, I was riveted by Dan’s lyrical storytelling. I think anyone who truly loves and knows gardening will find this a stimulating and fascinating book, but it’s not something I would buy for the pure amateur looking for inspiration.

[Pam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not sure if my rating of two is fair to Dan Pearson, but I am frustrated that here is another book on English gardening published for the US and purchased by US libraries! Very little of the United States has a climate like England and as a result, we can not grow what they do. Okay, I agree it is probably a fine book for the Pacific Northwest, but it is not okay for most of the rest of the country! We are too hot, too cold, too dry... Please publishers there are plenty of good American gardeners who can write books!

[Skyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfection. I hope he writes a sequel about his next garden. One of those 20 stars on a scale of 1-5 books.