Garden Ideas: Creative Design Solutions

by Carol Spier and Warren Schultz

Whether your garden is as vast as a meadow or as diminutive as a windowsill, these hundreds of superbly illustrated suggestions for beautifying it with special features will solve any design dilemma.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1567994938
• ISBN13: 9781567994933
• Release Date: February 2001
• Publisher: Metro Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 3.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 9.8" x 9.8"

Customer Reviews

Make the most of any given situation!

It's time for spring cleaning. In doing so, I spotted "Garden Ideas" tucked in a bookcase with other gardening books. Hmmmm, I thought, where did this book come from? I don't remember buying it. Once I flipped it open, I thought, Sure, full of gorgeous photographs, a feast for the eyes. It's so like me to buy such a book! I made a cup of coffee and sat down for awhile with this book of garden ideas. First, let's be clear: this is not a how-to gardening book. It is a book of photographs which show garden ideas, just as the title directly indicates. One sentence in the introduction, "Creating the Garden of Your Dreams," clarifies the book's intent: "Believe it or not, it comes down to this: the loveliest gardens are those that make the most of their given situation" (6). No matter how much you may love the garden featuring hostas, you must have a shady space because they won't work in that full-sun location you have in mind. The point of the book is to provide a plethora of garden ideas. Because there are hundreds of photographs in four broad areas, the likelihood of finding ideas to adapt are great. The four areas are Window Boxes, Arbors and Trellises, Shade Gardens, and Water Gardens. A single drawback to the book is the lack of identification of place, although there is the tacit understanding that this specific place in the photograph does not matter. What does matter is the type of flower and foliage in it. If those don't adapt to "your given situation," what does identity of place matter (unless you just want to know as I do)? In each of the four areas every imaginable situation is shown from formal to quaint, from huge landscaping to tiny corners, from edge of the woods to a doorstep, from simple to surreal, and so on. You would have to see the photographs to believe the incredible variety of ways to design a garden, large or small. The next step, if there is one, depends on you.

Colorful stunning garden vistas

The pictures in this book make the price right. With big glossy colorful pictures on every page and a minimum of text this book serves the visual learner well. If ever the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" were more fitting than to this book than let me see that book too. These pictures are of some of the most magnificent gardens you'll ever want to see. Of course the pictures make you imagine the same results are possible in your garden and to a certain extent this can be true. However, there really is no reference to garden zones so what looks like a good idea may not work in your garden. The sections are very beneficial for creating visually dazzling effects in your garden like the addition of trellises and arbors which I found particularly helpful. Also the rustic additions to the garden make for some very interesting results. Although no building plans are included enough of the structures are visble to get an idea on how to create your structure. There are however plans for laying out your plants so that they are arranged according to heights and seasonal blooms. My major complaint with the book is that the pictures feature mature gardens that obviously have years of growth and care already invested in the beautiful results. If you are interested in water gardens there are some fantastic examples of splashy habitats, including the water garden of Claude Monet. The special touches section seems to have been an afterthought when putting this book together because it is brief and not as elaborate as the other sections. With nearly three hundred pages/picutres you are sure to see some good ideas for your own garden. Highly recommended for the garden enthusiast.

If you like pictures, buy this book!

This volume is divided into four main parts- window boxes, arbors and trellises,shade gardens and water gardens. The accompaning text is as easy to read as the photographs are on the eyes. If you're looking for ideas for your next garden project and don't feel like reading a lot of dry text this book is for you.