Chris Young is a garden designer, author, deputy editor of The Garden magazine and formerly an editor of the Garden Design Journal, the publication of the Society of Garden Designers.
Alan Titchmarsh is a horticulturist and gardening expert with a long career in broadcasting. He has written 40 gardening books.
The Chelsea Flower Show in England is the World Series of garden
design and a vacation that gardeners save up for. But this volume
is more than a ticket for armchair travel: It deconstructs photos
of the often-fantastic designs to help readers figure out what
exactly makes them appealing and what ideas they might use in an
actual garden.-- (12/09/2010)
At first glance a book featuring highlights from the Royal
Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show held annually during six
days in May on the grounds of the Royal Hospital in London might
appear to be of little interest to American gardeners. However,
this beautifully designed and stunningly illustrated volume will
delight a very wide, diverse international audience ranging from
individual gardeners to nursery professionals and garden designers
unable to join the more than 150,000 visitors each year at the
Great Spring Show. Author Chris Young, deputy editor of The Garden
magazine, is a trained garden designer whose writing
enthusiastically conveys the scope of the show, the excitement it
generates, and the practical inspiration and advice it offers to
even beginning gardeners.... Readers of this book enjoy 10 chapters
focused primarily on selected aspects of the show from
2004-2009.... Even armchair gardeners will appreciate this
stimulating book suitable for all public and academic libraries.--
(03/01/2011)
Author Chris Young serves as a sort of tour guide to the show,
pointing out features and artistic elements that set gardens apart.
He highlights gardens in a variety of styles and explains what
makes them special. While the book is intended largely to inspire,
Young includes tips from experts that can help readers make their
own gardens better.-- (04/05/2011)
Best Garden Design is a must study if you are searching for
landscape design ideas. It is a library of the obscure. There are
hundreds of innovative designs, including water walls, sculptures,
modern sculptural mixing of media, and a section on sustainable
design. There are classically executed designs as well, naturally
planted with many modern touches. Photographs of container
plantings are included. This 224-page hardcover idea book has 400
color photographs and artwork from the Royal Horticultural Society
Chelsea Flower Show, including 20 studies with garden plans. It
might be the first book I'd flip through for design ideas.--
(11/27/2010)
For almost a century, the Royal Horticulture Society's Chelsea
Flower Show has been the botanical ticket of the year in Great
Britain. Landscape designer Young (deputy ed., The Garden magazine)
culls the best ideas from the last five years' worth of entries,
arranges them by categories such as entrance paths or
sustainability, and then deconstructs them for home gardeners. He
includes sections on types of plantings, e.g., perennials, herbs,
kitchen gardens, and old roses, but the emphasis is on design via
such factors as topiary, decking, garden art, and lighting. There
are some great ideas for home gardeners here, but the book works
best as a source of inspiration rather than a hands-on guide to the
nuts and bolts of landscape design, for which Vanessa Gardner
Nagel's Understanding Garden Design or Judith Adam's Landscape
Planning are preferable. A good choice for armchair gardeners who
enjoy British-flavored botanical treasures or for experienced
gardeners searching for new ways to freshen up a tired home
landscape.-- (11/15/2010)
For well over 100 years, England's spring social season has
revolved around the Chelsea Flower Show... For all of us who can't
afford that leap across the pond, the Royal Horticultural Society
has brought the show's fabulous ideas to America by way of a truly
outstanding new book: Best Garden Design: Practical Inspiration
From the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. My gauge of a book's value is how
much of its content is doable in real-life situations. I give this
one an A-plus. The full-color book is well worth the expense
because of its stellar content... The lover of modern style will
find this book a real treasure trove. A plethora of innovative
walls and partitions segment space, screen views and control
microclimates. Combine this with spatial solutions for outdoor
living in small homes, and the book becomes vital to every urban
dweller, whether they live in a house or apartment. If highbrow
English gardeners can do it, so can we.-- (11/30/2010)
I'm quite clear that I am unlikely to ever visit the Chelsea Flower
Show, the epitome of garden shows held in London, England, every
year since 1912. But with Best Garden Design by Chris Young, any
gardener can receive practical inspiration on bringing a fresh,
exciting look to one's own garden. Young presents tips from the
expert designers who showcase at Chelsea, as well as case studies
on particular designs showing why they work and how to achieve
something similar. Nova Scotian gardeners will have to adapt
somewhat for plant hardiness, but there are enough delightful
variations in design, from post-modern to classical, that any
reader should take away something from this book.--
(12/05/2010)
If you didn't get the chance to attend the Royal Horticultural
Society's Chelsea Flower Show in May don't worry. Highlights of the
annual London event are captured in "Best Garden Design: Practical
Inspiration From the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower
Show." Photos capture garden designs that run from classical to
whimsical to "magical and mad." The book is meant to be a source of
inspiration, whether one has a small terrace garden, an estate or
anything in between.-- (11/04/2010)
In Best Garden Design garden designer Chris Young has amassed a
photographic treasure trove depicting garden spaces created
exclusively for the Royal Horticultural Society's Chelsea Flower
Show from 2004 to 2009. This book brims with unique designs for any
garden--large and small, urban or rural, formal or whimsical, royal
or pedestrian. Chapters cover specific garden elements, such as
planting, sustainability, and lighting. Each page features
beautiful photos from the show gardens with captions describing how
the design elements work. Illuminating case studies at the end of
each chapter deconstruct the successful elements of award-winning
designs.-- (02/01/2011)
Now we can take in the gardens at Chelsea without suffering the 6
days of crowds or the jetlag.... This book showcases a broad
diversity of recent vignettes. It's a good read if you have done or
plan to do a show garden.... Yet the focus of the book is the real
life take away and each case study specifically highlights features
that might translate into actual landscapes. The author is
successful in examining what makes a display effective in total,
but also dwells on the details... Chapters full of photos of
hardscape, water, lighting or art provide hundreds of novel ideas
both grandiose and simple.-- (10/01/2011)
The author of this inspiring book on contemporary landscape design,
British gardener Chris Young, has chosen as his source for this
lavishly illustrated work the temporary garden displays at the
Chelsea Flower Show.... Filled with ideas and tips from experts,
the text is naturally exciting for dedicated gardeners: it covers a
wide range of garden styles from bucolic cottage gardens and formal
spaces to the latest examples of sustainability. All is not
ornamental: there is a lengthy chapter on utilitarian plantings to
satisfy those who want to grow their own crops. Even though the
diverse plantings in thrilling combinations are the highlights of
the show, readers will benefit from the latest ideas in hardscape
materials, lighting methods, water features, and artistic exhibits
incorporated into garden scenes.-- (11/01/2010)
This book surprised me. While the fantasy factor is high (after
all, this is Chelsea, my dear), there are some novel landscaping
ideas here that anyone can copy -- especially in the section on
walls and walkways.-- (12/01/2010)
Best Garden Design is a valuable source for ideas on working art,
paths, water features and other ornamentation into backyard
landscapes.--Kimberly L. Jackson"Newark Star-Ledge"
(11/04/2010)
This book will give readers new eyes to transform their home and
garden into models of affordable, sustainable beauty.--Maureen
Gilmer"San Angelo Standard Times" (12/01/2010)
While the book is intended largely to inspire, Young includes tips
from experts to help your own gardens.--Mary Beth Breckenridge"El
Paso Times" (03/31/2011)
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