The Inward Garden: Creating a Place of Beauty and Meaning

by Julie Moir Messervy

The Inward Garden was first published in 1995, and with it Julie Moir Messervy introduced a movement in landscape design that inspired individuals to embark upon a voyage of discovery of the natural world outside and the contemplative spirit within. Unlike other authors who focus almost entirely on practical design elements of gardening, Messervy beckons you to identify the atmosphere and mood of a very personal garden you can create. She tells readers to think back to those places in memory that have given them the greatest joy and ease, either as children or as adults, and to use those memories in creating a retreat or garden of the mind in one's own backyard. Messervy asks readers to feel the space around them and to use their hearts and minds to figure out how to turn this imagined space into a reality. Culling from archetypes and spiritual insights, guided by the practical methods of hands-in-the-dirt gardening, the result is a happy blend of myth and art with logic and organization. Evocative, poetic, and beautifully written, The Inward Garden gives the reader a process for designing a dream garden. Based on garden archetypes the sea, the cave, the harbor, the promontory, the island, the mountain, and the sky ó the book provides a structure for imagining the garden of one's desires and a practical process for designing this personal garden. Messervy describes in detail each of these archetypal gardens, and each archetype, along with subsequent designs, is magnificently illustrated with lush garden photographs by acclaimed National Geographic photographer Sam Abell. The text and illustrations take the reader on a step-by-step walk through gardens great and small, analyzing landforms, inspecting soil, studying light, all with the goal of teaching one how to design a garden by following one's own creative impulses.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published March 20, 1995

Reviews

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title says it all. Gardens are not just pretty spaces to look at but places to dwell within and become renewed. The author will help you define what it is you are looking for in a garden and how to create that special unique space. Beautiful photography.

[Maggie Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book that started it all, for me. Julie Moir Messervy encourages us to start at the very beginning in dreaming about our garden, and to get down to the fundamentals of what we really want our gardens to feel like and mean to us. In caring detail, she helps us consider every aspect of garden design, from the brainstorming phase down to the final working plan. This is my go-to resource and the touchstone of my garden planning philosophy. I particularly love how Julie honors each gardener's different wishes and goals, and though she is a world-renowned designer who is able to work with much larger budgets and spaces than I am, I still felt her lessons were completely applicable to my small-town Minnesota garden. A must-read for anyone who loves gardens, whether that's creating one yourself or just visiting them from time to time.

[Juli Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unusual and highly personal approach to garden design that I found helpful. Messervy relies on the identification of archetypal landscapes and their symbolic function in our psyches to guide the creation of personal, fulfilling gardens. Her approach grew a little Freudian at times for my taste, but the basic concepts are ones I know will stick with me as I design my garden.

[Laleh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The garden book I come to time and again. Simply nothing else like it. I wish she’d write more than the handful she already has! 🌱

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely book and a classic. But right now my garden is being whipped apart by storms and I don't like doing major plantings in the winter. So it's going back on the shelf until I'm ready to be inspired to garden, and the weather's non-torrential.

[Rexcrisanto Delson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was one of the things that convinced me that I wanted to do something to help people, and to make a living while doing so. The images are wonderful and Julie has a great way of enchanting any outdoor or garden-minded person.

[Linda Ranson-Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A treasure of a book, pure escapism and the heart of all gardening. A rare book that talks about meditative and thoughtful places within a garden and the planning of it. The images throughout the book are equally stunning.

[Ruhegeist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just started reading this book and already love it.