Architecture in the Garden

by James Van Sweden, Thomas Christopher

The elements of garden architecture—paths, walls, gates, fences, terraces, sheds, lighting, furniture, waterworks, and art—together form the backbone of any well-designed garden. In this beautifully illustrated and accessible book, legendary landscape architect James van Sweden explains how to design and build a garden like a professional. He leads his readers on a tour through some of his most exquisitely designed gardens—in the country, in the city, in the suburbs, and by the shore. “When it comes to planning a comfortable and rewarding garden,” van Sweden writes in his Introduction, “the challenges that confront the owner of an estate or a weekend cottage are often substantially the same. The principles and techniques used for organizing a large site work equally well in a more modest setting.”

Each case study highlights a particular architectural element, breaking it down into practical ideas that any gardener can apply to his or her own garden or yard. The book includes dozens of detailed schematic drawings that can be used to build many of the elements described by the author, along with an extensive, illustrated glossary. Architecture in the Garden is sure to inspire you with its many practical ideas on how to domesticate your landscape and design an outdoor space that suits your taste as well as your lifestyle.

Genres: Gardening, Architecture, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 21, 2003

Reviews

[Michael]

While Van Sweden is obviously a master of his trade, designing landscape gardens for the tasteful wealthy elite, he does little in this book to fulfill his promise to help bridge the gap between the rich person who can hire Van Sweden to design a garden, and the regular old plebeian who has to do everything for himself. How can we translate these concepts into workable features of our meager plots of land? Van Sweden leaves it up to us to find out.

Notes:

As a landscape architect for private commissions, Van Sweden's focus is narrow, the client who can afford his services. His designs may be artful and beautiful, but they are unattainable for the general public and do nothing for the social welfare of society, or the robustness of nature. His point that the structure of the land might be more important than the plantings is important. Van Sweden's use of illusion and allusion to the wild in smaller, tamer urban gardens agrees with Olmsted's views. I believe there is an analogy to be found between Van Sweden's grand, expensive designs and more modest landscape projects, but Van Sweden fails to point them out.

[Kristen]

Disappointing in lack of plans or diagrams to illustrate his design points. While the large, expensive gardens are beautiful, it was hard to see how anything could apply to my small suburban yard.

[Parker]

Will it teach you all that you need to know to design your garden like he claims? No. Did this establish that I have a basic interest in landscape architecture? Yes. Book is very conversationally written and has many (albeit lower quality) visual aids. The book was written in 2002 and it did not age well. The layout is just very outdated and as stated previously photos are pretty but low quality. The actual advice he gives does seem a bit out of touch, I don't think he understands the usual scale of residential projects. However if you treat it as a coffee table book reviewing pretty gardens and explaining the concepts behind them it's a good read.

[LeastTorque]

Not to my taste. Your mileage may vary. I love architecture but perhaps I just don’t like it in the garden.

[Alix St Amant]

A lovely book to flip through to enjoy the photos.

[Pam]

Architecture in the Garden is an excellent book on how to design your garden's architecture to fit the style of your home and its surroundings. Unfortunately, it is also an advertising device to sell James Van Sweden's services to the ultrarich. If you are interested in reading and learning about garden architecture, I recommend this book, but understand that it is not about garden plants and the design of the average backyard garden. All the homes featured are large estates or city owned properties of the wealthy, and the garden architecture shown would generally cost more than the average US home. Few of the garden features are practical for the average American with children, dogs, an outside grill and a vegetable garden. Despite Van Sweden's proclamation that the ideas in this book can be used by anyone, his gardens are for grand parties and hired help.

[Ann]

This is not the book for plant lovers who are always searching for one more space to plant a new find. You need a lot of space. This book is more about landscaping then gardening. Having said that, Van Sweden's installations are always stunning and dramatic. He is one of the great designers of our generation.

[Jason Reibold]

Good book for anyone that likes gardens. Great book for someone looking to learn more about landscape architecture and/or garden design. Some great tips, good stories, and really delivers some amazing gardens!

[Tommyb]

Gardening

[Candy]

Instead of being about gardens, this seemed like a book where the author just talked about himself. I...I....I.... Lots of dense writing on way too broad of a scope.

[Lily C]

Lovely pictures, liked his approach.

[Nicholas & Megan Clinch]

Reread Aug-Sept 2024