Gardens Make Me Laugh: A New Edition

By James C. Rose and Professor James Rose

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801838614
• ISBN13: 9780801838613
• Release Date: March 1990
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press
• Length: 182 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.5" x 0.5" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Behind the veil of garden design

James C. Rose is one of those rare garden designers who knew how much cultural baggage is contained in gardens, and this book really reveals the foibles of the American garden in the 60's . It should be a must read for all designers and landscape architects. That said , be prepared to be provoked by it in a similar fashion to say Beyond Good and Evil. It also has a hideous coverslip . I think Rose must have intentionally made it ugly . If you are a garden designer (as I am) be prepared to never see your clients or your relationship to them in the same light again .

The Petri Dish of Gardens

I found this gem of garden philosophy after sorting through mundane instructional garden books in my college library (think "what would Plato have said if he were a garderner?"). I loved it so much I bought a copy for myself. Rose presents a dry and cynical humororous view on gardeners, their gardens, and the petri dish (culture) of Americans that is lacking in most garden literature (opposite of "the Man Who Planted Trees"). He has a particulary funny view on American attempts of creating a Japanese garden, when the only ones who can make a real Japanese garden are the Japanese themselves. Tree hugger types, garden hobbyists, LA's, and persons who may be feeling a distaste with some aspect of the "green industry" or a distaste for cheesey flower loving types will all find something in Rose's book to love (and hate).