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Planting: A New Perspective
by
Piet Oudolf’s gardens—unique combinations of long-lived perennials and woody plants that are rich in texture and sophisticated in color—are breathtaking and have deep emotional resonance. With Planting, designers and home gardeners can recreate these plant-rich, beautiful gardens that support biodiversity and nourish the human spirit.
An intimate knowledge of plants is esse ...more
An intimate knowledge of plants is esse ...more
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Hardcover, 280 pages
Published
April 9th 2013
by Timber Press
(first published April 1st 2013)
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In general, fancy landscape design is not really my bag. And contemporary anything is not really my bag either. In general, I am more focused on permaculture principals and functional design of landscapes that produce food. So this contemporary fancy landscape design book is not really my preference, but this book is exceptional and a lot of the theories can be applied to more functional/productive landscapes. Piet Oudolf's landscapes are like, beautiful, concentrated, curated versions of the be
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This is the most comprehensive, lovely, down to earth landscape planting book I have encountered so far. Ten stars.
One of the best gardening books I've read in a long time. This is the style of garden I prefer and it was great to not only see the fabulous photos of plantings, but to read about the theory behind it. I definitely plan to skate on the High Line this summer and visit as many other of these gardens as I can.
Now to check the seed catalogs to find out where I can get some of these grasses. ...more
Now to check the seed catalogs to find out where I can get some of these grasses. ...more
Beautiful photography and lots of unique suggestions for gardens. A "coffee table" book!
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3.5 again, the principles are great---especially the concept of different matrices in planning and achieving a more natural look. But 95% of species and no extra water available is unsustainable in US west.
Love this book and Piet Oudolf's work! I recommend it! Lovely images and very good writting.
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The European and commercial planting focus made it not very useful for my needs. I did like the plant table in the back a lot though. Not sure if they are readily available here.
Inspiring! Can't wait to order some new plants and get out in my garden.
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Oudolf is an artist whose medium is plants & landscape design. I do not see this as a how-to book for gardeners (I’m allergic to grasses for one thing!) but as a way of understanding Oudolf’s philosophy, thoughts on the role of gardens, and design process. Super interesting and generous regardless of how you feel about the gardens themselves.
Planting design is a widely overlooked corner of gardening design, itself a sub-discipline of landscape design. Yet here are both core tools for ecological engineering, aimed at improving water, air, and biodiversity, as well as an aesthetics and composition as compelling as those found in any visual art. In the spaces between the massive deployment of commercial farming and wilderness restoration, between maintained special gardens of institutions and the rich and common flowerbeds and vegetabl
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Jun 11, 2014
Lorraine
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
anyone who loves plants and gardening.
This book concentrates on "plant design for the twenty- first century". It is loaded with all kinds of information on planting, grouping plants, combining plants, long-term plant performance, and "the new planting" which refers to "negotiating with nature" versus absolute control which plant design appeared to be in the past. One aspect that I found very interesting is just which plants are truly a perennial. I believe the authors mentioned about five or six families of plants that are really pe
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I became aware of Piet Oudolf as a result of his work on the High Line in NYC, which I have seen photos of but never seen in person. From those photos, it was immediately apparent that here was a landscape designer who really embraces the beauty of nature rather than creating formal stiff plantings. Despite his European origins, his gardening style and many of the plantings in this book adapt well to the US. His style mirrors our prairies of which there are now few examples. Gardeners would grea
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Excellent book if you're looking to get the Piet Oudolf look. Plenty of colour photos, planting plans and insight into the philosophy behind the designs. Its mostly on the large scale, but you can still apply it to your own garden. For instance, I learnt how to work out the potential longevity and spread of a plant by looking at the type of stem and root system. I assumed Echinacea were meant to clump up, but actually they die after a few years and spread by seed, so now I can treat them correct
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Several of the concepts in this book are unusual. Some don't apply to my garden directly, but it was still very interesting. Lovely photos: most of the gardens here are of the natural or wild look. Most of the gardens/plants are in Europe or New York. Few of the plants are specifically appropriate to Southern California or other near desert areas, but the overall design concepts are still valuable. I wish ALL garden books had the same attention to both the "longevity" and "persistence" of indivi
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This book is a comprehensive guide to matrix plantings as practiced by Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingbury. I liked the chapter on combining plants which detailed plant structure above ground, would of liked a continuation to root structures as these also play apart in making good combinations. The photographs are sheer eye-candy. This is a book I would use in combination with a guide to local native plants in my case probably Lorraine Johnson's "100 Easy-to-grow Native Plants for Canadian Gardens". I
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A very scientific but approachable book which I would suggest for any professional of the horticultural industry looking to broaden their perspective on planting design.
It has pushed me towards a better comprehension of ecological processes without bogging me down with very high level scientific labelling.
It has pushed me towards a better comprehension of ecological processes without bogging me down with very high level scientific labelling.
A fantastic and informative book with gorgeous photography. Even people who aren't normally fans of a less formal, or more "wild" look (not in the least wild, but a highly designed approximation of nature), could find the beauty of these plantings hard to resist!
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Not much new here except more technical and geared toward public plantings (like the High Line).
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World-famous landscape designer Piet Oudolf is principal of a small landscape design firm in Hummelo in the eastern part of The Netherlands. He has designed award-winning public and private gardens in Holland, Germany, Sweden, Britain, Ireland, Canada, and the U.S. "
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