The Kinfolk Garden: How to Live with Nature

by John Burns

“In this gorgeous, aspirational work, Burns, editor-in-chief of Kinfolk magazine, collects ‘stories about nature as nourishment’ along with photographs from homes across the globe to inspire people to bring more nature into their own abodes. . . . Expertly evoking a mood of understated luxury, this stunning spread will have design junkies drooling.” —Publishers Weekly

A gardener with a secret oasis on a Parisian rooftop. An artist making faux flowers to brighten Manhattan apartments. A family of ranchers rewilding the American outback.

Anchored around the idea of nature as nourishment, The Kinfolk Garden explores lush gardens and plantfilled homes around the world and introduces the inspiring people who coax them into bloom. Through visits to friends old and new, the Kinfolk team learns the secrets to a good garden, and what good a garden can do for our self-care, creativity and communities.

Though many of the people we meet along the way champion the idea of following natural instincts rather than a set of prescriptive garden rules, there are practical tips throughout the book that offer advice on everything from growing your own produce to foraging for artful arrangements to simply keeping your houseplants alive a little longer than usual.

The Kinfolk Garden is an invitation to engage with nature—to care for it, create with its beauty and cultivate new relationships around it—and offers inspiration and guidance to anyone looking to bring a little more greenery into their life.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Nature, Art, Cookbooks, Sustainability, Coffee Table Books

352 pages, Hardcover

Published October 27, 2020

Reviews

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating look at a wide variety of people around the world and how they incorporate plants into their homes and their lives. It's not at all a traditional garden book, but more a look at how people live who have plants in some way as a central part of their lives. There's a huge diversity in types of homes and locations, with just as much focus on desert homes and even rooftop organic gardens as any traditional garden homes. The reader is introduced to some fascinating people, most of whom are in the arts in some capacity, and sees how nature is built into their lives. The book is interspersed with a few tips about things like sharing cuttings and other plant-related tidbits, but it is primarily a look at diverse people, homes and landscapes that are defined in some way by their love of plants.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

[Nis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely coffee table book with plenty of inspiration on living with nature. A lot of it feels a little out of touch to what is actually achievable for most people, it's more of an aspirational book on the aesthetics of nature rather than a practical guide.

[FrannyPack · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book

[Wendelle]

beautiful and precise combinations of architecture, art and nature that ultimately form astounding and serene dreamscapes

[Kristi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn’t what I was anticipating at all. However, it was so fascinating and inspiring. I want to know more about these people. I need more pictures, more plants, more of their creations and projects. This was just a skim of the surface and I want to dive down!

I definitely have a few new accounts I’m following on instagram, and had to google to learn more about an opera singer with stage freight that is known for her gardens. FASCINATING!

Also discovered there are more Kinfolk books, and it’s a magazine as well!

Perfect first read for the new year.

[Laura Marazzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning pictures and interviews!

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an architectural book with some plants.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

I found a couple things/places interesting and the tips seemed helpful, and the photos were beautiful enough, but generally pictures of rich people and their houses. I'd like to see more normal people with their normal beautiful gardens. But probably my version of normal is not really the demographic this book is written for, anyway...

[Finley · Rating 4 out of 5]

To sit down and read a coffee table book cover to cover you can imagine this was quite intriguing. Great little snippets about people and practices around the world regarding plants in many forms; inspired me to further research some topics/people on my own. Beautiful photography and helpful little grower’s guides as well.

This definitely didn’t provide the most accessible angle to planting since most of the people covered were… well, rich. In that regard I would have appreciated some better profiles in the community section of the book, but for what this was I still enjoyed it.

Lately been wondering if fashion (what I’m actively getting a degree in) is truly not my calling, so it was interesting to see that many of those profiled in this book formerly worked in fashion.

[Phillip Oliver · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of profiles of individuals, couples or families from all over the world who have incorporated nature into their environments. “Nature as nourishment” is the theme and the execution is wide-ranging, from artists who use pressed flowers to decorate their apartment to a community food garden to a Swedish cemetery. Garden lovers will probably be disappointed by the book although there are a few nice ones included (the key word here being “few”). However, some of the more interesting ones are poorly illustrated (a photo of a hand holding a plant or the gardener looking out a window isn’t very satisying). A famous garden is included - Lotusland in Santa Barbara, California - but the photos do not do it justice. Especially puzzling is the inclusion of non-gardening environments such as a glass house in the desert with no garden in sight (not even a cactus). Between the profiles are segments on “How to Care for Houseplants” and “How to Create with Flowers” with very basic information.

[Rachel Bustin · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the beginning, I thought it would be one of your typical gardening books. But it’s not. It’s much more. You are shown photos of people’s stunning gardens, tips, and how to’s from around the world. It’s a visual feast for your eyes giving out buckets of energy and inspiration for you to apply to your own homes.

The author organises the book into three main themes: care, creativity, and the community. I like this part, as you see what people have done to their green spaces in these areas. It’s kind of like a case study. If you are into the arty side of the garden and its architecture and love great images to look at this is the book for you. Whether you have a passion for rooftop gardens, traditional English gardens, or even sandy desert ones this book will inspire you with its diversity.

You can read more of my review here https://rachelbustin.com/books/the-ki...

[Ainee Beland · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Kinfolk team visits beautiful gardens and green spaces around the world, and profiles dozens of gardeners, florists, designers, botanists, and others who are leading the way with the idea of bringing the outdoors in and the indoors out, in our homes and our communities. Through conversations, stunning photography, and practical guides to plant care, flower arranging, and home gardening, The Kinfolk Garden is an invitation to engage with nature in every aspect of your life.

What did I like about this book?
It is important to note that the book is written in three parts: Care, Creativity, and Community, and how each individual depicted in the book incorporates this in their daily lives; some giving up the city for a path that’s permanently sustaining.

Best stated by one woman who moved to Turkey to care for plants; a botanist by nature began caring for plants in her greenhouse and garden, finding that it was a vehicle to caring for herself and her well-being; she states that she lives in a ‘vegetative’ state; adoring her plants as she rotates them indoor and outdoor depending on the seasons.

Gardeners from around the globe all say this:
“It was very much eating from the land. It was not a concept, but our daily life.”
“Caring for plants is the best way to learn how to care for yourself.”
Being the biggest users of the ecosystem…human—mankind has a responsibility to help maintain, sustain, what is nurturing us—the hand that feeds one should feed all…that being mankind!

This was a very informative reading/perusal—to be let into the lives of these florists, gardeners, and community was wonderful, thank you for sharing.

[Kaanchi Chopra · Rating 5 out of 5]

An inspiring coffee table book, which is also perfect for pressing flowers, that I come back to every few weeks. Some of my favourite lines from makers, gardeners, naturalists who were interviewed in the book:

- Gardens are artworks that escape the control of their maker.
- Caring for plants is the best way to learn how to care for yourself.
- You start digging the soil, and the soil starts speaking.
- The best time to take a cutting is when nobody's looking, as the joke says. Gaining a cutting is more likely to be an act of friendship than that of thievery.
- Ethnobotany is the study of plants and people who live alongside them.

[Niniane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gardens from Sweden, Denmark, California, Spain. Some are to preserve rare plants. Some are for cultivating food.

It was a little more diverse than the prior Kinfolk Interiors book, but it was still predominantly a wealthy Caucasian viewpoint on gardens and community. There was a single profile of a person growing food in a low-income food desert, and then dozens of enormous gardens attached to mansions.

Useful tips mixed in, such as how to tend houseplants, how to make cuttings, and intriguing book suggestions.

[Ashley Kohls · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written book with gorgeous photographs to tell each gardener’s story! A collection of interviews from around the world will inspire you either become a gardener or further your gardening.

[Julie Johnson · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was terribly disappointed in this book. Not what I was expecting at all and as it was sealed in the shop that i purchased it from I had to take a leap of faith that it would be good. I am a gardener by heart and in my opinion I would leave this book on the shelf.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but some of the people and gardens highlighted were not really gardens in my opinion, I liked the Kinfolk cookbook better.

[Jurgita Videikaitė · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tai aišku, kad ne apie tekstus čia kalba, o apie malonumą akims :)

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite what I was expecting, but a lovely coffee table book nonetheless.

[Ieva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grāmata par domāšanu un attieksmi pret augiem!

[Kirby · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Garden and plant lovers swoon. For what it was, I loved it. Worth a library loan.

[Benj Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I keep going back to this book. Great ideas !

[Anya Tymoshenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful as always. Inspiring stories. A book to keep in the home library.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another entry in the Kinfolk series of books/journals. An interesting look at gardens and their owners from around the world.

[Rachel Palm · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful look at so many gardens!

[Riley Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great tips, great pictures, great book

[Chelsea Wu · Rating 2 out of 5]

if I see another terracotta building with a cactus next to it… tbh I just wanted to know how to keep my plants alive, clearly I didn’t do my research

[Shnnon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just a picture book of their friends