Creating Small Formal Gardens by Sir Roy Strong

by Roy Strong

Book by ROY STRONG

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Sir Roy Colin Strong FRSL is an English art historian, museum curator, writer, broadcaster and landscape designer. He has been director of both the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. He was knighted in 1983.

Reviews

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

People are always amazed at my garden and I owe a lot to Roy Strong for his book's inspiration that helped me focus and give structure to my small yard. From a Medieval walled cloister, to a Post WWI sunken garden with geometric pond edged with stone coping, this book will give people who like to build things, and don't mind getting dirty, plenty of ideas.

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic resource of a book! I have a small garden & have been attempting to design it somewhat formally using topiaries & hedging (which I absolutely ADORE) but struggle maintaining/creating shapes because I have no training in how to do it. I devoured this book in two days and now can't wait until Spring to put some of the knowledge within it to the test!

I did not know topiaries have been around since the Romans! I guess I thought either the French, Italians or English created them. Goes to show what reading does for a person. The book has a lot of photos depicting gorgeous gardens with beautiful formality but the part that excites me the most are the eight pages at the end of the book showing plants (that take well to topiary forms) how to create various topiary shapes & even how to espalier fruit trees. There are also examples of 15 types of formal gardens & how to adapt them in your own space. Omg, where has this book been all my life?
I wish I'd found it before I created the garden I currently have ~ maybe I'd have designed an Edwardian Rose garden instead? I do have two areas I'm currently reworking in my garden and now, with this book as a guide, I feel inspired with possibilities. I love this passage in the book:

"Always be guided by your eye in making a garden; always approach it with a sense of joy. Once it becomes a burden it shows in the result. If your garden is a delight to you, that feeling will be communicated to everyone who visits it."

Totally, totally couldn't agree more!!!!!! What a great addition to my garden book collection.

[Bickety Bam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gem of a book. Strong starts with a brief history of formal gardens beginning with the Renaissance and provides plans for "evocations" of formal gardens for each period: Renaissance, Seventeenth Century, Baroque, Victorian and Edwardian. He calls the plans evocations as some period elements might now be considered undesirable, like covering the ground beneath your knot garden with coal to give a black background for the hedge. Strong then leads an illustrated tour of the elements of formality such as parterres, topiary, etc., using gorgeous photographs of existing gardens. He then provides 18 different small formal garden plans, many of which contain 2 or more separate gardens within the plan and often multiple variations on the plan. Each garden plan comes with a fully rendered illustration of the garden as it would look if you were standing in front of it, plus a scaled layout, plant list and instructions. Finally, there is a section on selecting hedging and other plant materials and instructions on how to trim hedges, create topiary and espalied trees.

Overall this book is a fabulous resource for anyone interested in landscape design or dealing with small yards. The illustrations and photography are outstanding.

[False · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot of charm. He takes about 25 different themes for gardens and explains how they are created, and what makes a garden "romantic," or "woodland" or "Asian." I added the photo image.

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent ideas for building a new garden. Loads of layouts with plants though not detailed plans or practical advice.