10 BOOKS ABOUT THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GARDENS NOW

Enjoy a summer’s day outdoors with one of these 10 new books about the blossoming beauty of gardens.

1. AT HOME IN THE GARDEN

“It’s as simple as this: a garden is like love... a place you venture into with hope, energy, excitement, enchantment, and the greatest of expectations,” explains Carolyne Roehm.

In At Home in the Garden, by legendary lifestyle guru, Carolyne Roehm, she treats us to an insider’s view of the wonderful gardens inside Weatherstone, her historic home in Connecticut.

Potter Style (2015)

2. KITCHEN HERBAL: FROM GARDEN TO KITCHEN, NEW PERSPECTIVES ON HERBS

Herb gardens are beautiful on all 5 sensory levels!

In Kitchen Herbal: From Garden to Kitchen, New Perspectives on Herbs, by Pat Crocker, dive into the history, learn about their myriad of uses, turn them into something delicious with one hundred extraordinary recipes highlighting 40 different herbs.

If you’ve always wanted to know which summer herbs would pair perfectly with your culinary creations, this cookbook/guidebook is a must-read.

Whitecap Books Ltd. (2016)

3. THE BEST-LOVED GARDENS OF FRANCE

French or Japanese? Botanical or romantic? Country or contemporary?

The Best-Loved Gardens of France, by Stephane Bern, offers a bounty of inspiration to all home gardeners. Showcasing 44 private French gardens in every design style, the sheer beauty and biodiversity of the country will astound you.

A list of addresses is handily provided, so that you can visit the featured gardens.

Flammarion (2016)

4. WYCHWOOD: THE MAKING OF ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST MAGICAL GARDENS

Wychwood: The Making of One of the World's Most Magical Garden, by Karen Hall and Peter Cooper, beautiful photographs and a written history of the magical garden at Wychwood, located at the foot of the Great Western Tiers in northern Tasmania, will titillate any garden lover.

“For those of us who have yet to visit the garden, Wychwood the book must suffice, and so it does - magnificently. Guiding the reader around the garden is a well-illustrated map with numbered references, showing, among much more, a soft-fruit garden, propagation area, nursery, heritage apple, pear and plum orchard, birch copse, assorted maples, sycamores, a labyrinth and the creek.”

– Ross Southernwood, Sydney Morning Herald

Murdoch Books (2015)

5. THE GARDEN BIBLE: DESIGNING YOUR PERFECT OUTDOOR SPACE

If you want to learn how to create and enjoy the most beautiful garden ever, right in your own backyard (or front yard), The Garden Bible: Designing Your Perfect Outdoor Space, by Barbara Ballinger, Michael Glassman, and Margaret Crane, is one of the best new books for you.

From the hottest trends in garden delights, to the newest wisdom, to the best time-tested practices, this book will make you a much more beautiful gardener, for sure.

Images Publishing Dist Ac (2015)

6. PAINTING THE MODERN GARDEN: MONET TO MATISSE

“I perhaps owe it to flowers that I have become a painter.”

– Claude Monet

A dreamy book, Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse, by Monty Don, Ann Dumas, Heather Lemonedes, James Priest, William Robinson, and Clare A.P. Willsdon, traces the relationship between Impressionist artists and their beloved gardens, with reproductions of masterpieces by Monet, Matisse, Renoir, Bonnard, Sargent, Klee, and Kandinsky.

Royal Academy Publications (2015)

7. RESCUING EDEN: PRESERVING AMERICA’S HISTORIC GARDENS

Rescuing Eden: Preserving America's Historic Gardens, by Caroline Seebohm, is a celebratory history of beautiful garden design in the United States. It includes 28 exquisite examples of the country’s most treasured gardens that have been restored, preserved, and opened to the public.

Prepare to be amazed by Barnsley Gardens in Georgia, one of the last surviving Southern antebellum gardens, with over 200 varieties of roses. Or perhaps you’ll fall for The Kampong in Miami, Florida, with its hundreds of rare tropical plants from Southeast Asia, planted by iconic plant explorer, Dr. David Fairchild. Other gardens span across the country, and will equally wow you.

With intriguing narratives from Seebohm, a design historian, your wildest floral fantasies will come to life as you flip through the pages.

The Monacelli Press (2015)

8. THE CULTIVATED WILD: GARDENS AND LANDSCAPES BY RAYMOND JUNGLES

The Cultivated Wild: Gardens and Landscapes by Raymond Jungles, written by Raymond Jungles, a Miami-based landscape architect, is packed with images and ideas about 21 gardens designed by Jungles, with their vibrant colors and rich textures, brimming with bright orchids, lush palm trees, and fascinating bromeliads.

The Monacelli Press (2015)

9. THE ELEGANT GARDEN: ARCHITECTURE AND LANDSCAPE OF THE WORLD’S FINEST GARDENS

Humans have always liked to control nature, refashioning and designing it to suit their own whims.

The selection of the world’s most beautifully planned gardens in The Elegant Garden: Architecture and Landscape of the World's Finest Gardens, by Johann Kraftner, showcases the incredible results of our primal urge to tame nature, from Persian fountain gardens, to Buddhist Zen gardens, to Impressionist gardens in Giverny.

This magnificently photographed book surveys two millennia of beautiful garden design, and is sure to inspire both gardeners and historians alike.

Rizzoli Universe Promotional Books (2015)

10. HEIRLOOM HARVEST: MODERN DAGUERREOTYPES OF HISTORIC GARDEN TREASURES

“A feast for the eyes and a serious reminder that biodiversity is admirable and necessary. Amy Goldman is doing a beautiful job in one small area of this science and encourages others to do the same.”

– Martha Stewart on MELONS

Amy Goldman’s beautiful heirloom vegetables from her garden are beautifully memorialized in Jerry Spagnoli’s historical daguerreotypes, in her new book, Heirloom Harvest: Modern Daguerreotypes of Historic Garden Treasures.

Bloomsbury USA (2015)

Read more about Beautiful Gardens, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact.

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