The Naturally Beautiful Garden: Designs That Engage with Wildlife and Nature (Hardcover)

Description

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More popular than ever, gardening is going green with increased interest in environmentally friendly methods.

It seems that almost everyone who has access to outside space, however small or large, wants to make the most of it. Interest in growing plants in ecologically sensitive ways that support pollinators, butterflies, birds, and other wildlife is a very strong strand in the new consciousness of garden making. It goes hand in hand with organic principles that shun the use of short-term, quick-fix chemical solutions that have an overall damaging effect on soil and the environment.

As the gardens in this book demonstrate, there need be no loss of visual impact or creativity when taking environmental concerns into account. With examples from all over the world, the gardens showcased here serve diverse needs--from twenty-first-century public green spaces to modern cottage gardens and from large country gardens to intimate city courtyards--across a wide range of climates and soils. They have been created with elegance and style, alongside their makers' efforts to work with, rather than against, nature and support the complex web of life that so frequently struggles to coexist with human habitation or agriculture.

Interspersed throughout are illustrated essays outlining relevant topics, including: supporting wildlife; the challenges of seaside gardening; incorporating seeds and fruit; grasses, meadows, and prairie plantings; coping with heat and drought; and the important role of trees.

Featuring more than thirty gardens from across the globe with photographs by leading garden photographers, including Richard Bloom, Andrea Jones, Marianne Majerus, Alessio Mei, Clive Nichols, and Ngoc Minh Ngo, the book showcases the beauty and visual impact produced by ecologically friendly garden design principles. As the world wakes up to the effects of climate change and the consequent strains on natural resources, today's garden makers are responding in creative way.

About the Author

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Kathryn Bradley-Hole is the author of Rizzoli's acclaimed English Gardens as well as the best-selling "Gardeners' World" Garden Lovers' Guide to Britain and Lost Gardens of England: From the Archives of Country Life. A fellow of the Linnean Society, she was for eighteen years the garden editor of the esteemed weekly magazine Country Life as well as the author of a regular column, Nature Notes. Her personal gardening interests focus on achieving visual harmony with the broader landscape and creating environments that assist wildlife.

Praise For…

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In this stunningly presented book, Kathryn Bradley-Hole writes with authority, wit, and an impressive eye for detail. —  George Plumptre, chief executive, National Gardens Scheme
 
A beautifully designed, timely, and important portrayal of far-flung, inspiring gardens by a writer who sits among the horticultural supergods. — David Wheeler, editor of Hortus

…what a gift to be taken on an armchair tour of the great English gardens, courtesy of the magnificent “English Gardens: From the Archives of Country Life Magazine”—The Wall Street Journal 

An instant classic, Kathryn Bradley-Hole’s English Gardens: From the Archives of Country Life contains a lifetime of travel itineraries. Great Dixter in East Sussex is vibrant with experiments in color and texture; tulips dance through a box parterre at Broughton Grange, an Oxfordshire garden recently designed by Tom Stuart-Smith — who has also been invited to refresh parts of the garden at Chatsworth for the Duke of Devonshire. —The New York Times Book Review
 
“My happy travel bubble will always be one that links me to English gardens… Hard at work, I have been visiting vicariously with the help of a lavish new book. Kathryn Bradley-Hole is excellently placed to write one…” — Robin Lane Fox, Financial Times

With its history and portraits of more than 70 beautiful gardens, this book is an instant classic. The author is the former garden editor of the revered British magazine, Country Life, and uses its exceptional photographs. Many of these gardens, new and old, are open to the public. —The Boston Globe