The Harmonious Garden: Color, Form, and Texture - Softcover

Ziegler, Catherine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0881925977 ISBN 13: 9780881925975

Publisher: Timber Pr, 2003

Synopsis

In The Harmonious Garden, Catherine Ziegler describes fail-safe design methods. Even novice gardeners can compose plant arrangements that successfully incorporate color, form, and texture. The first section presents 149 integrated compositions. Ziegler fully describes the plants in each arrangement: Latin name, quantity and size, environment, and USDA zones. Full-color photographs illustrate each composition, and the author discusses the key principles underlying each harmonious design. The second section offers more detailed information with suggestions for successful design combinations.

About this title

About the Author

Catherine Ziegler grew up in London, England but has lived in Bedford, New York for much of her adult life. She received her Ph.D. in social and cultural anthropology from the New School for Social Research and teaches history and anthropology at Parsons: The New School for Design. She is a former instructor in landscape design at the New York Botanical Garden and is the author of The Harmonious Garden.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

I started my investigation into the principles of combining plants many years ago when first studying landscape design, as I was perplexed about why some of the customary beliefs about color associations produced such dull compositions. It was obvious that bloom color, form, leaf texture, and other plant attributes were enhanced by appropriate neighbors, but exactly which plants and why was a puzzle. Later, in teaching planting design, I worked with people just beginning to piece together the form, texture, colors, habit, and growth rate of the hundreds of plants common in design use. I decided to establish tools for these students' use that would allow them to choose and associate plants with confidence. Eventually I developed lists of pleasing associations of plants that flourish in similar conditions while integrating various factors, such as coincidental bloom time and harmony of color, texture, or form.
In preparing these lists, I read a great deal, created many designs, and observed a great many growing combinations. Over many years I have employed all the general principles for combining plants that are presented in this book. As I created four-dimensional compositions with ephemeral effects constantly altered by weather, moisture variation, animal foraging, or human blight, it became clear that while theories about color, scale, and other design factors must be thoroughly understood, in itself this is not enough. Theoretical knowledge can only be usefully employed when adapted for each particular situation and refined by the experience, taste, and careful observations of the designer and gardener.

Edition details

• Publisher: Timber Pr
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0881925977
• ISBN 13: 9780881925975
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304