Lives of the Great Gardeners

by Stephen Anderton

Entertaining and accessible―the lives of the men and women, many of them multitalented artists, who created some of the world’s most extraordinary gardens, and whose legacy continues to inspire Throughout history, great gardeners have risen from all walks of life. Some have been aristocratic amateur gardeners, others professional designers with an international practice. Some have come to garden-making from sculpture or painting; some have been hands-on nurserymen or botanists. What they all have in common is the ability to take an idea and develop it to meet the needs and aesthetics of their times. The book is organized into four thematic sections. Gardens of Ideas moves from the politically allusive gardens of eighteenth-century England to Charles Jencks’s Scottish garden inspired by twenty-first-century cosmography. Gardens of Straight Lines explores the lives of the great formalist gardeners, from Le Nôtre at Versailles to the rational English minimalism of contemporary designer Christopher Bradley-Hole. Gardens of Curves opens with that great exponent of the English landscape garden, “Capability” Brown, and moves on to the extraordinary Brazilian designer Roberto Burle Marx. Finally, Gardens of Plantsmanship arcs from the father of naturalistic planting, William Robinson, to the sweeping prairie-style of Piet Oudolf. With images of gardens as they were originally seen, together with portraits of their makers and an outstanding text by the award-winning gardens writer for The Times , this book will appeal to garden lovers everywhere. 230 color illustrations

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, History

304 pages, Hardcover

Published November 8, 2016

Reviews

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every day we pass by or walk through gardens and landscape architecture. While most people can name several architects and creators of outdoor sculpture, very few of us can name one or two designers or creators of the garden environment. Even among the 40 gardeners profiled here, only 4 have name recognition, 3 of them, are recognized for other endeavors (Thomas Jefferson, Claude Monet and Vita Sackville-West). Only Frederick Law Olmstead (at least to Americans) will be known for his landscape designs.

The book is arranged by 4 types of garden: Ideas. Straight Lines. Curves. Plantsmanship. After a description of the category, each gardener has a portrait and photos representing the essence of his/her work. The emphasis is a personal biography, which of course, includes the professional work with plants. Many of those profiled have published and many have architectural training. There are a few husband and wife teams.

“Ideas” seems to be a free form category. It contains the only 2 Asian profiles. Wen Zhengming (1470-1559) of China designed gardens to be enjoyed by their owners. Hachijo Tochihito (1579-1629) and Hachijo Toshitada (1619-1662) of Japan share an entry. Their elegant gardens were often designed for strolling and tea ceremonies. Thomas Jefferson is in this section for introducing so many old world species to the new.

Among the many gardens profiled, these caught my attention for different reasons:

- Alexander Renfield. Quebec Province. Canada. International Garden Festival. A walk through of garden installations.
- Ian Hamilton Finlay. Scotland. Little Sparta. Finlay etched his poetry on to rocks to create landscape art.
- Charles Jencks. Scotland. Garden of Cosmic Speculation. 20 acres of unusual design that “provoke big questions about the universe”.
- Edna Walling. Australia. Mooroolbark. Brickleigh Vale. In the 1920’s Walling divided 18 acres into “16 housing plots sold off on the condition that both the rustic cottage and its garden plot be designed by her… remains a charming period piece today,”
- Claude Monet – France. Giverny. The Monet gardens
- Vita Sackville-West. England. Sissinghurst. Sissinghurst Castle Garden
- Lelia Caetani – province of Latina. Ninfa. 20 acres of gardens among ancient ruins.

The book is well designed with attractive type, paper and placement of the color (and B & W) photos. The articles are appropriate in length. It is a starting point for getting more detail through other sources. If you are interested in gardens, you will be interested in this short survey of the great gardeners.

Thank you to Stephen Anderton and Thames & Hudson for giving these 40 individuals recognition for their contributions to gardening and landscape architecture.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! The book covers about 40 gardeners in four sections: Gardens of Ideas, Gardens of Straight Lines, Gardens of Curves and Gardens of Plantsmanship. Each section is arranged chronologically by the birth of the various gardeners in that section. The biographies are interesting, include influences, personal facts, garden discriptions, painting, plans and photos. I read the book straight through and wasn't ever bored but you can skip around and not suffer for having done so.

I've heard of a lot of the gardeners but some of them were new to me. Some of my favorites Piet Oudolf, Jan Van Sweden and Beth Chatto were included but there were many more, such as Ian Hamilton Finlay, Nicole de Vésian, Christopher Bradley-Hole, Mien Ruys and Lelia Caetani, who's gardens I really want to explore!

Just read it!

[Erica · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF halfway. Dry info about their life and gardens, not really giving you an interesting overview of either. Can't be bothered slogging my way through the rest.

[Sophy H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good selection of gardeners.

Good colour photographs.

Can be a bit repetitive to read however.

[Judith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note that this book is about great gardeners, not great gardens. Consequently, though Anderton does include Chinese and Japanese gardeners, she does not include any Islamic examples as these (apparently) are all anonymous. What I found most interesting is how she divides the gardeners up into those that produced gardens of ideas, or of straight lines, or of curves, and of plantmanship. Each gardener's "chapter" (about 5-9 pages) is accompanied by a portrait, excellent colored photos, detailed plans. A short chart of what happened in the year of her/his birth and in the year of her/his death is also given. I was interested to learn about those engaged in plantsmanship; heretofore I had read about gardeners of the 1600's through early 1800's. A beautiful book and one to savor during the cold of winter.

[Nanny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic garden book. Short very readable entries on 40 Gardeners from across the centuries and globe, though mainly 19th & 20th centuries and English. Great history of the changes in garden styles. I loved reading this book one or two entries every day or so, then looking up on google to see if the gardens still existed and are visitable - most are. An inspiration for garden visiting and working on one's own garden, knowing there are many ways to garden.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent depictions of so many great gardeners.