Gardening books

I really enjoyed dreaming my way through these two gardening books. Sam gave them to me for my birthday, after I had mentioned that I would like to have a nice book on garden design. Both books were full of beautiful photos, showcasing amazing gardens of all sorts.

The first one that I read was Gardentopia: Design Basics for Creating Beautiful Outdoor Spaces by Jan Johnsen. It seemed to me like more of a lookbook than a true garden design book: it pictured lots of beautiful ideas, but did not provide much in the way of cohesive planning assistance. It did cover quite a few garden design concepts, but (of necessity in a publication intended for a broad audience) these concepts were expressed in vague generalities. I did note down two helpful things: 1) Aim to create gracefully curved sweeps, rather than short wiggles or straight lines. 2) Balance a garden with yin and yang, creating harmony by using the two concepts to contrast and complement each other. Examples of yin: rounded shapes, soft leaves, flowers, water, contained shady spots, darker colors. Examples of yang: straight and vertical lines, hard rock, sunny open areas, lighter colors. 

Next up was Home Outside: Creating the Landscape You Love by Julie Moir Messervy. I really liked this one, and I think eventually I will find it much more useful than Gardentopia. It asks a lot of work from the reader (which I have thus far only read about) but it gives pretty explicit steps to follow, which is great. It's much more focused on a property as a whole, rather than individual little nooks and crannies. It is also much more focused on hardscaping than on planting. Unsurprisingly (it's right there in the title) this book is more about landscape design than garden design. But that doesn't mean I wasn't left with some serious yard envy!

Both books were enjoyable, but neither was exactly what I was looking for (not that I'm ungrateful or anything). I really wanted something that will teach me garden design. I want to be able to look at part of my yard and know: in this x-shaped plot of land, with y amount of shade and z amount of water, I should plant three of a, five of b and one of c, and if I plant them in this pattern, they will look great and thrive. Maybe someday (like when I'm retired) I will become a Master Gardener, and maybe in my pursuit of that honor, I will attain this knowledge. But for now, I'm still stuck with the somewhat less efficient process of garden experimentation.