Envisioning the Garden: Line, Scale, Distance, Form, Color, and Meaning

by Robert Mallet

An expert shares practical, easily achieved principles for making beautiful gardens. What style to give a garden and how best to lay it out are perennial puzzles for creators of gardens. Gardener/designer Robert Mallet shows how the basic elements of design―line, scale, distance, shape, color, and other sensory associations―can open the viewer’s outlook toward broad perspectives or, conversely, can lock us up in a cage. Reviewing all these elements, Mallet explains what really works, offering a range of practical ideas that can be adapted to visually enlarge space and liberate the mind. He illustrates his ideas in 160 beautiful photographs and the skillful drawings of architect Yves Poinsot.

Mallet was for over twenty years in charge of Le Bois des Moutiers, a park created by his grandfather in Normandy, one of the most beautiful gardens in France, where he was able to put his ideas to the test within the context of a masterpiece of scenic design. 160 four-color illustrations and 20 line drawings

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published May 9, 2011

Reviews

[Tilden · Rating 4 out of 5]

The photos alone of the Le Bois des Moutiers gardens is a good enough reason to read/peruse this book. However, Mallet shows the why of good garden design with examples and photos. I envy his time at the Le Bois Moutiers garden.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent resource for planning your garden. This is not a list of appropriate plants for sunny or shady spots in your regional landscape. The focus of this excellent resource is on overall design - line, scale, distance, form, color, etc. as the title states. That being said, it is not a book solely for designers. I have a history dealing with design but that was many years ago. This puts the design thoughts and concepts into terms that anyone designing a garden space could use to their benefit. Illustrated with both line drawings and photographs throughout, the author is very careful to articulate the specifics of a design concept, reinforce his point with line drawings and then show pictures of outdoor settings that utilize and illustrate the concept being discussed.

I found the book very helpful. It gave enough particulars without getting too bogged down in esoteric design theories. It gave me plenty to think about as we are in the process of updating our garden landscape. Highly recommended.