The Essential Garden Book

by Terence Conran

The author of the best-selling The Essential House Book presents a large-format, full-color, comprehensive guide to all aspects of designing, cultivating, constructing, and maintaining a garden, packed with 650 photographs. Simultaneous. 30,000 first printing.

Genres: Gardening, Reference

272 pages, Paperback

First published February 27, 1998

About the author

Sir Terence Conran was educated at Bryanston School, Dorset, and trained as a textile designer at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London. Hand in hand with his much-publicized career as an arbiter of good taste for a whole generation goes a career in cookery and restaurant management. Having learned the basic skills in the kitchens of a two-star Parisian establishment, he opened several small restaurants in London.These were later sold to finance his fast-expanding furniture business, from which grew the hugely successful Habitat stores. No-one has had a greater influence on contemporary living style than Conran. From the outset of his career, in the brilliant era of the '60s, he devoted his talents to interpreting the home-making aspirations of the bright, busy people of his generation - and to providing them with an excellence of craftsmanship and design at a price they could afford.

Reviews

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it and drool.

[Ruth Brumby · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book that isn't sure what its trying to be. It is too big and strangely shaped to be easy to hold and yet is organised as if to be used for reference. It is full of phorotograph and details that provide inspiration for possibilities, but also tries to provide practical information. It has useful snippets about designers and gardens across the world and through time. Because it tries to do too much each bit is too simple to be much use. It tries to widen horizons, but is also slightly prescriptive.

[jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I am not sure that this book is really "essential," it is quite good as an intro to gardening and garden design. It has enough diverse material to meet the reader where they are - beginners can avoid getting overwhelmed, advanced gardeners can still learn something. The photos are a nice balance of "garden pr0n" and instructional diagrams. The subjects are quite diverse - rooftop gardens, container gardens, water features, edible gardens, laying out rock/brick pathways, building outdoor "rooms," woodland gardens, gardens built into a slope, etc. Much of the garden design is bougie and won't end up in my yard, but it is nice to flip through and imagine myself in a different version of reality, xeriscaping my patio or whatever. Almost half of the book is a directory of different plants, what they like, and how to care for them. This is kind of overkill - but also, good, since a lot of gardeners are hesitant to $hell out for books that are only plant directories - and they miss a lot of info that way. or at least i do... This book is really worth checking out from the library, but maybe not worth a big purchase, since it's a gigantic hardcover glossy book.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another gardening book that I haven't actually read; but I've inspected the pictures enough times that the cover has fallen off. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for interesting, creative landscaping ideas (or, alternatively, to couch potatoes like me just interested in some armchair gardening). There's a wide range of gardens, from relatively humble and achievable to large-scale and obviously extremely expensive, but even the out-of-reach photos are inspirational for the small-budget/armchair gardener. There also seems to be a fair amount of practical information, so it's not just pretty pictures either.

[Mab · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was an amazing resource when I bought my house. I wasn't sure where to start with my yard. I still use this book often for inspiration. . . . .

[Michael Heath-Caldwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of interesting concepts in book