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Soulscape
Soulscape: Connecting Gardens to Landscape takes readers on a journey through ten gardens located along the world-famous Great Ocean Road. It illustrates the challenges and outcomes of creating a garden by the sea or in the wilderness, and how each garden fits within its natural environment.
Peter Shaw shares ‘how to’ information, coming from his own experience of over 25 years in designing, building and maintaining coastal gardens, and his commitment to incorporating native and indigenous plants to enhance the wider landscape that they inhabit.
Collectively, the gardens in this book serve as a primer for homeowners, gardening enthusiasts, or anyone with a deep love for nature.
It is also a book about landscape values. It is the story of Peter and Simone Shaw and the gardens they create in their business, Ocean Road Landscaping, their home garden, Sunnymeade and how you can take inspiration to work with the landscape in creating your garden.
The book includes a detailed, visual glossary of plants and trees.
Testimonials:
"I’m totally entranced by Peter Shaw’s work. Not only is it hugely creative, it is fabulously responsive to its surroundings, and exhales a rare and charming humility…I think that his gardens, along with his practices and thoughts, should be much more widely known". — Michael McCoy B.Sc (Botany) Host – ABC TV Dream Gardens
"At the heart of this book is a story that would resonate with any who love Australia’s natural coastal landscape. It is written by someone with the love of the natural landscapes at the core of their being". — Trisha Dixon, author of Spirit of the Garden
The Author
"If I were to describe our work, I would say ‘it belongs’: our gardens meld into the broader landscape. Over time we have developed a style characterised by how it integrates with what organically exists. The body and arrangement of our gardens are individually unique, yet they share a common theme. They are put together using sympathetic, local, natural materials, and there is structure and simplicity in the way they are laid out. They don’t mimic nature, but sit comfortably within their surroundings."
Peter Shaw shares ‘how to’ information, coming from his own experience of over 25 years in designing, building and maintaining coastal gardens, and his commitment to incorporating native and indigenous plants to enhance the wider landscape that they inhabit.
Collectively, the gardens in this book serve as a primer for homeowners, gardening enthusiasts, or anyone with a deep love for nature.
It is also a book about landscape values. It is the story of Peter and Simone Shaw and the gardens they create in their business, Ocean Road Landscaping, their home garden, Sunnymeade and how you can take inspiration to work with the landscape in creating your garden.
The book includes a detailed, visual glossary of plants and trees.
Testimonials:
"I’m totally entranced by Peter Shaw’s work. Not only is it hugely creative, it is fabulously responsive to its surroundings, and exhales a rare and charming humility…I think that his gardens, along with his practices and thoughts, should be much more widely known". — Michael McCoy B.Sc (Botany) Host – ABC TV Dream Gardens
"At the heart of this book is a story that would resonate with any who love Australia’s natural coastal landscape. It is written by someone with the love of the natural landscapes at the core of their being". — Trisha Dixon, author of Spirit of the Garden
The Author
"If I were to describe our work, I would say ‘it belongs’: our gardens meld into the broader landscape. Over time we have developed a style characterised by how it integrates with what organically exists. The body and arrangement of our gardens are individually unique, yet they share a common theme. They are put together using sympathetic, local, natural materials, and there is structure and simplicity in the way they are laid out. They don’t mimic nature, but sit comfortably within their surroundings."
288 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2021
6 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 8, 2022
Peter tells his story of learning to be a garden guru for living coastal gardens. He starts with his own garden which he generously opens to the public regularly.
This book is clearly set out and the last pages of suggested plants and weeds to not use is invaluable.
This book is clearly set out and the last pages of suggested plants and weeds to not use is invaluable.
October 20, 2021
Such beautiful pictures and great informative content of coastal environments and connecting in the the landscape around you. It is a book about being mindful and giving back to the landscape, rather than taking away.
It is an easy read, so poetic and enjoyable, with content on design, plants and getting the best out of your garden.
It is an easy read, so poetic and enjoyable, with content on design, plants and getting the best out of your garden.
June 18, 2023
Great to see another book on gardening with Australian native plants. This book features a selection of gardens designed by the author along Victoria's Ocean Road, with a heavy emphasis on the author's own garden. A pity the book title and the cover photo don't more closely suggest the location.
April 8, 2024
Was amazing, so inspiring, couldn’t recommend enough
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews