Gardenlust: A Botanical Tour of the World’s Best New Gardens

by Christopher Woods

“An extraordinary collection of 21st-century gardens that will arouse wanderlust… Whether you are a garden globetrotter or an armchair explorer, this book is definitely one to add to your collection.” — Gardens Illustrated

A steep hillside oasis in Singapore, a garden distinguished by shape and light in Marrakech, a haunting tree museum in Switzerland—these are just a few of the extraordinary outdoor havens visited in  Gardenlust . In this sumptuous global tour of modern gardens, intrepid plant expert Christopher Woods spotlights 50 gardens that push boundaries and define natural beauty in significant ways. Featuring both private and public gardens, this journey makes its way from the Americas and Europe to Australia and New Zealand, with stops in Asia, Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula. Along the way, you'll learn about the people, plants, and stories that make these iconic gardens so lust-worthy. As inspiring as it is insightful,  Gardenlust  will delight your passion for garden inspiration—and the many places it grows.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Nature, Travel, Photography, Horticulture

416 pages, Hardcover

Published September 25, 2018

About the author

Librarian Note: There are multiple authors by this name in the Goodreads database.

See also: Sci-fi/fantasy author Christopher Woods

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Readers of this volume encounter a wonderful armchair tour of some of the world's more recent but wonderful gardens. Each entry includes a little about the garden and its creator in narrative form as well as photos. Some gardens received more extensive treatment than others. On the list:

North America: Sunnylands Center and Gardens, Rancho Mirage, California; The Garden of Flowing Fragrance, Huntington Botanical Garden, San Marino, California; The Park, Las Vegas, Nevada; Chihuly Gardens and Glass, Seattle, Washington; Mordecai Children's Garden, Denver Botanical Garden, Denver, Colorado; Federal Twist, Stockton, New Jersey; Junto Farm, Hudson Valley, New York; Naples Botanical Garden, Naples, Florida; Vallarta Botanical Garden, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Central America and the Caribbean: Los Elementos, Dominical, Costa Rica; Golden Rock Inn, Nevis, West Indies.

South America: Jardin de Salvias, Mar del Plata, Argentina; Juan Grimm Gardens, Chile, Uruguay, and Argentina; Parque Explorador Quilapilun, Colina, Chile.

Europe: Iuri Chagas Gardens, The Algarve, Portugal; Quinta da Granja, Miranda do Corvo, Portugal; Jardins de la Rambla de Sants, Barcelona, Spain; Parc Clichy-Batignolles/Martin Luther King, Paris, France; Camel Quarry House, Cornwall, United Kingdom; Crossrail Station Roof Garden, London, United Kingdom; Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, United Kingdom; Orpheus, at Boughton House, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom; The Alnwick Garden, Northumberland, United Kingdom; Carrie Preston's Gardens, The Netherlands; The Tree Museum, Rapperswil, Switzerland; Landschaftspark, Duisburg-Nord, Germany; Peter Korn's Garden, Eskilsby, Sweden.

Africa and the Arabian Peninsula: A Garden of Shape and Light, Marrakech, Morocco; The Aloe Farm, Hartbeespoort, South Africa; The Miracle Garden, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Al Barari, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Oman Botanic Garden, Al Khoud, Oman.

India and Southeast Asia: The Garden of Five Senses, Said-ul-Azaib, Delhi, India; 137 Pillars House, Chiang Mai, Thailand; Gardens by the Bay and Parkroyal Hotel, Singapore; Pha Tad Ke Botanical Garden, Luang Prabang, Laos; Made Wijaya's Gardens, Bali, Indonesia.

Asia: Xi'an Expo Park, Xi'an, China; Chenshan Botanical Garden, Shanghai, China; Ichigaya Forest, Tokyo, Japan; Tokachi Millennium Forest, Hokkaido, Japan.

Australia and New Zealand: Geelong Botanic Gardens, Geelong, Victoria, Australia; The Australian Garden, Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne, Victoria, Australia; One Central Park, Sydney, Australia; Barangaroo Headland Park, Sydney, Australia; Rose Bay, Sydney, Australia; Gibbs Farm, Makarau, North Island, New Zealand; Paripuma, Blenheim, South Island, New Zealand; Fishermans Bay Garden, Long Bay, South Island, New Zealand.

I visited Chihuly Gardens when I visited Seattle a couple of summers ago. I realistically might make it to no more than a handful of the remaining ones in my lifetime. I really loved both gardens on South Island in New Zealand as they sported gorgeous ocean views. One of the South American gardens did also. While I thought a few of the gardens were not that pretty, the majority were captivating. Woods' choices omitted far too many countries. For example, why was no garden from Canada included? Italy? Russia? I'm not up on the latest and greatest in world gardens, but I'm sure each of these countries had something to offer.

I enjoyed my armchair tour and look forward to possible future visits to a few of these. I received an advance review electronic copy of the book from NetGalley with the expectation of an honest review.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The images of the Sunnylands garden in California are amazing and worth the entire book. Though the rest of the gardens are inspiring, too. I enjoyed seeing gardens in different climates, including desert and tropical. Lots of great ideas here.

[Tonstant Weader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gardenlust is one of those gorgeous picture books that people can get lost in for hours. Featuring fifty gardens, from the austere to the madcap, restrained formalism and exuberant naturalism, the only rule seems to be there are no rules. The gardens range from less than ½ an acre to around to more than a thousand acres. There are private gardens and massive public gardens including a garden that is just beginning to be developed, it’s planned completion in 2037.

It is not just the variety of gardens, though, that make Gardenlust different than your average garden book. These gardens have a new sensibility. There is a modern sensibility in most of them that takes into consideration things like sustainability and water conservation and some even challenge our concept of what is a garden like Gibbs Farm which is acres and acres of grassland populated by livestock and giant sculptures or the Landschaftspark garden planted on an industrial ironworks with the pipes and ladders and buildings remaining, just set off with plants, bushes, and trees.


I read through Gardenlust more than once and then looked for the gardens on Google, searching for more pictures because they were so beautiful and many of them unlike the usual garden. I have always loved gardens and Portland’s Japanese Garden, Chinese Garden, Rose Test Garden, and Rhododendron Garden are some of my favorite things in the city. The book is visually appealing, generously illustrated. To give you an idea of how lovely it is, I brought it along to Thanksgiving at my friend’s house and someone was constantly looking through it and even talking about getting their own copies. My one complaint is that it is heavy, too heavy for arthritic hands, so I had to get out a pillow to rest it on while I read. Otherwise, it’s everything I could ask for in a garden book.

I received a copy of Gardenlust from the publisher through LibraryThing.

Gardenlust at Timber Press | Workman Publishing
Christopher Woods on Linked In

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...

[Literary Redhead · Rating 4 out of 5]

In GARDENLUST, plant guru Christopher Woods takes us on a world tour of 50 gorgeous gardens ... from Singapore to Marrakech, from Switzerland to the Arabian Peninsula. Private and public gardens are featured, each offering modern creative twists. The author also shares stories about the people and plants that make these spaces so lust-worthy. One drawback: The cover of Gardenlust made me drool. I wish the inside photos were as equally lush. With the exception of shots of the Chihuly Gardens in Seattle, they are beautiful, indeed, but not as wondrous. 4/5

Thanks to Timber Press and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are fully mine.

#Gardenlust #NetGalley

[Gladimore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful and intriguing. I just skimmed the facts and pictures, would definitely like to visit all these places.

[Kelly Hodgkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Opening Gardenlust by Christopher Woods, I was uncertain the purpose of the book but I love looking at pretty gardens (inspiration!) so I was game! The book gave so much more than pretty though, it is intellectually challenging and mindset-shifting. Gardening and landscaping has the power to shape the human world and experience and this exploration of these 55 gardens highlights just that!

I thoroughly enjoyed the range of gardens from extreme modernism, with glass sculptures forming part of the garden, to the traditional wilds of China and everything in between. I learnt about plants, structure and form but mostly, the importance of having a clear purpose for the garden. This line summarises the book best:“What makes modern landscape design different from most other forms of contemporary art is our growing understanding of the effects of deforestation and climate change, the lessons to be learned by studying ethnobotany, the importance of an urban forest, and the impulse to use what we hope are ecologically appropriate or native plants.”

My favourite gardens include:

Sunnylands Center and Gardens – amazing use of yellows, greens and blues!
Chihuly Garden and Glass – glass is integrated into the design, like plants, amazing!
Mordecai Children’s Garden – designed to get children to spend more time outdoors
Parque Explorador Quilapilún – an environmental remediation project in Chile
The Tree Museum – a collection of rescued trees

The end of the book left me feeling I needed to visit each of these gardens, highly enjoyable (five out of five) and recommended!

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A whirlwind tour of gardens from every corner of the globe, all created in the 21st century (interesting to see magnificent modern gardens, since many other books focus on historic or well-established gardens). I loved seeing all of the unique, spectacular plants from faraway lands, and the photos were beautiful - but I wanted MORE of them. With each of the 55 gardens getting only a few pages, I was hoping for more photos and a bit less text. Also, I read an ARC so the "back sections" were missing (index, resources, etc.) so maybe this will be added, but some details about climate and hardiness, drought tolerance, or where we could find more info about some of the more exotic plants would've been great. Regardless, a very inspiring book.

*Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC, provided by the author and/or the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sure glad I bought this as a remainder at 1/2 off. Big disappointment. "A Botanical Tour of The World's Best New Gardens" .. BAH! While the narrative was fine, the visuals were sorely lacking. I want to see the garden, not umpteen views of single plants, a rock, a building. I can see that with any of the plethora of catalogues I get. There were a few (under 10, I'd say) lustful images included. Such a nice, hardback & colorful book to have so few views to enjoy.

[Andie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Library Thing's Early Reviewer's program for this beautiful book of public gardens that have been opened in the 21st Century. Organized by continent, the reader can travel around the world looking st the most beautiful gardens anyone would ever want to see. Great armchair travel for all garden lovers.

[Mila · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great heavy coffee table book about gardening. It's something I'm going to enjoy flipping through and picking out certain gardens as I desire. I was pleased to see Chihuly Seattle Garden as this is the only garden I recognized but also one that I'm happy to say I visited.

[Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got it from the library as part of my goal to become a better gardener. While I cannot pretend it offers much actually concrete practical advice, it offers inspiration, lush description, and a surprise dose of hope.

Fair warning, it will make you want to travel.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the wonderful gardens in this book were unknown to me which I enjoyed.

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I assumed from the title of this book that it would be about traditional gardens and provide photos to inspire me in my own garden. This was my mistake, as this is instead a tour of 21st century modern gardens around the world. Most of them are public parks, though a few are private individuals' gardens.

The book is divided into sections, according to what part of the world the gardens are in. Each park/garden has a detailed write-up about it and several pages of photos (full page and smaller).

There were a few gardens that I did enjoy, particularly the Chihuly glass sculpture garden and the ones that featured plants growing on the sides of tall buildings, but I was not really "lustful" about any of them. The photographs could have been much better. The plants that were featured weren't really spectacular and I found myself liking the sculptural elements in most of the photos more than the plants.

This seems like it would be a great coffee table book, especially for those who like to travel or dream of traveling. I would have liked to see more interesting information about the gardens, more striking photos and ideas that would inspire me in my own gardens.

** I received a temporary digital ARC of this book for review purposes from Net Galley.

[Andreea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is something I hate to say in reviews, but I think I was expecting something different from the book. I usually try to go into a book with no expectations, but I love Botanical Gardens.

I really liked to travel from continent to continent and discover the new gardens around the world. My favourite part was probably the writing, I really liked the humans presented in the book and how the author talked about their relationship with the plants. But in spite of the beautiful words, I was left wanting more plants, more about the atmosphere the garden creates (and not only names of the plants) and the feelings those gardens evoke.

The things that I wished for could've been easily achieved through photography, unfortunately this is where the book loses the most in my opinion. The pictures are at best mediocre, they are dull and they don't bring anything to the gardens presented. When it's a book about gardens, one would expect breathtaking pictures, right?

Overall, I enjoyed the book but I just cannot get over the photography and poor compositions.

[Leyla Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am very mixed about this book, the cover was spectacular, the narrative was interesting and good, but unfortunately, for me, the photography did not have that wow factor that one expects from a gardening book.. The fact is that I still hanker for the old fashion gardens or planting that scream colour (and work) - this book is full of modern interpretations and depicts gardens from around the world by todays standards. Many are quite lovely and beautifully designs, as the narrative explains. So yes, if that is your type of garden you will love it, it is very current and easy on the eye, otherwise you may not enjoy it.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whether you love to travel or not, this book escorts you through some of the most beautiful gardens in the world!
I love to work outside and am always learning as much as I can about native plants and those found all over the globe. I really enjoyed this book!

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

GARDENLUST: A BOTANICAL TOUR OF THE WORLD’S BEST NEW GARDENS is written by Christopher Woods.
The book is published by Timber Press, Portland, Oregon.
I obtained this book through Library Thing’s Early Review Program. Thank You.
GARDENLUST is very interesting, very beautiful, and very inspiring. Christopher Woods shares his travels to new gardens in exotic locations on six continents.
GARDENLUST is oversized, very heavy, 414 pages. It is definitely a ‘coffee table book’ which leads to enjoyable and focused browsing. The photographs are beautiful with detailed captions. The garden descriptions are detailed and informative.
Access points are very helpful and include a title page, a lovely dedication, an introduction, table of contents, source notes, acknowledgements, photography credits and index.
I love the chapter presentations. The design really speaks to me. It is quite stunning. The paper is very high-quality with rich colors and a plant motif. I keep wanting to touch the pages and follow the design with my fingers.
The introduction is very personal and interesting. “I ask the reader to trust that my qualifications permit me to share my opinions.”
The reader travels to fifty different gardens in North America, Central America and the Caribbean, South America, Europe, Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, India and SE Asia, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
Each section (or chapter) is set up with the beautiful plant motif wallpaper-like pages. Each garden is detailed beginning with its name, location, designer, area dimensions and date(s) of construction.
I liked the source notes and used the index frequently. I liked every section/chapter, but I was most intrigued by the gardens in Australia and New Zealand.
My favorite garden was Landschaftspark in Duisburg-Nord, Germany. It is a lush park in the ruins of a former iron smelting plant. I also liked the title, GARDENLUST, very much.

[Eve L-A Witherington · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am reading this outside under the Spring sunshine which seems a fitting location as Gardenlust is to take me on a tour of the world's best new gardens which have been unearthed or discovered if you prefer, in the more recent of years. Chris Woods evidently has a passion for gardens having his career beginning at the Kew gardens and thriving to go on creating with gardens and produce books leading up to this one now.



Set to a backdrop of gorgeously captured, crisp photographs of various forms of outdoor nature at it's best, from flowers to trees, details in seating arrangements, various statues and beyond, this book is a small sanctuary to those of us whom wish to be out in all weather's in a garden of some form.



The gardens we are introduced to are picturesque with complementing colours displayed and in all areas of countries these little gardens or not so little gardens in many cases can be found to explore. They are all different and have many similar but never the exact same features, from bridges to statues to the rare weird yet wonderful plants on offer in their displays.



I myself may be English, but I have always been drawn to and appreciate Japanese and Chinese gardens after our town centre's park has mini ones of those designs mixed in, the UK also boasts many botanical gardens alike we read about in this book many a time and if this book sends out any kind of message to those of us living in cities or villages, it's to escape into a new bliss, of a garden we have yet to explore and make it a top priority to take time to relax, distress and unwind there.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to thank Netgalley & the Publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book. Receiving a copy to review has not influenced my thoughts and opinions.

I love gardening/flowers/plants and everything in between. I saw this and the cover alone made me want to read it. It's gorgeous! I was lucky enough to get an eARC (Advanced Readers Copy).

I really loved all the photos inside but I was hoping for a little more. I was expecting page after page, just filled with gardens and beautiful views. Don't get me wrong, there are some but there's a lot of text and structures. While I enjoyed the information, there was a lot of it. All the pant names and what they are known for/can do. I just wish there was more color but a lot of it, is structures in a garden. 

I did find myself relaxing, while reading through this book. Some of the photos are just absolutely beautiful. I kind of want to buy this for my coffee table! 

You can also see my review here: Books Are The New Black

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book featuring gardens around the world. Some small, some very large, but all created or greatly modified in the 21st century.
Organized by continent the groups are: North America, Central America and the Caribbean, South America, Europe, Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, India and Southeast Asia, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
There's an index in the back to bring you to the page of some specific plants mentioned or pictured, with both common and Latin names, also some people or organizations.
Some gardens focus on native plants, some don't. Some are personal gardens, others are public gardens. Some are lushly green, others are arid. Some feature sculptures.
The table of contents gives the name of the garden and its location.
Europe has the most gardens featured, followed by North America and Australia & New Zealand. Central America and the Caribbean has the fewest with 2, South America 3, and Asia 4.
If traveling to any of these areas, it would be interesting to add one or more to the itinerary. Armchair travel via this book is good too. I plan to read this again, probably fairly soon.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is most certainly full of gardens every plant lover would lust after. It could be awarded 5 stars just for the photography alone but that isn’t all of its content. This great book is divided into 8 parts of the world and the beautiful gardens in them. Christopher Woods has chosen them well.

This book seems to be a table top book so I don’t think it is something you’d want to curl up with to read. However, it is not only full of beautiful pictures. It’s filled with history. The history of some of the plants, the gardens, even the science of how some of the plants grow in certain climates.

It’s such a beautiful book and so educational at the same time that I was really delighted to be able to read it.

***This book was provided to me free of charge in exchange for an honest review.

[Mhd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in Oregon but printed in China...minus at least one star in my system and reason not to buy it. Fortunately, I could borrow it from the public library. I read the intro, maybe a total of 5% of the text, and all the photo captions. I'm no so interested in a designer's philosophy or motivation. Many of these gardens are huge and more like national parks...beautiful but not directly relevant to practical issues and constraints I face in my yard. Still, I loved the photos and informative captions. The international breadth of the selected gardens is wonderful. There's a couple I might even be able to get to someday, and I can indeed "lust" after the others. I got one very potentially useful idea from a garden in Cornwall.

[Lenore · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for gardeners to read in the winter. I wish I had the funds to tour the world by visiting gardens. I did add a few of his gardens to my Bucket List but have had to settle for looking them up on YouTube in the meantime.

[N · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw this beautiful book in a garden store and the title is perfect. Beautiful pictures of many different kinds of gardens to show the beauty of cultivated nature in many spaces. Short descriptions of each space.

[Ms. Tongate, TLC Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Huge fan of the vertical gardens.

[Miss Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not nearly enough photographs and they left out some stunning gardens.

[Pamela Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pictures were pretty. Prose not that engaging.

[Sandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book of gardens. Living in the desert most gardens are out of reach so I look at picture books and dream.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big beautiful photos featuring new gardens around the world fill this over-sized book. Plenty of inspiration here.

[Dohlinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mostly looked at the photos, but it was an interesting and beautiful collection of gardens