The Authentic Garden: Five Principles for Cultivating a Sense of Place - Hardcover

Sawyers, Claire E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0881928313 ISBN 13: 9780881928310

Publisher: Timber Pr, 2007

Synopsis

What makes a garden authentic? For American gardeners, this question can be vexing. Because America is a comparatively young nation, it hasn't had much time to develop an indigenous garden style. Gardeners have tended to turn to other national traditions—such as Italy's, Japan's, or England's—for inspiration. The unhappy result of this piecemeal stylistic borrowing has been the creation of gardens that bear no relationship to local landscapes and history, and that have no connection with our daily lives.

Clair Sawyers shows this tendency can be reversed: how we can create gardens that are both deeply rooted in their surroundings and deeply satisfying to their creators and owners. Drawing on her knowledge of a vast array of American and foreign gardens, she identifies five principles that help instill a sense of authenticity: capture the sense of place, derive beauty from function, use humble or indigenous materials, marry the inside to the outside, and involve the visitor.

Practical and inspiring, The Authentic Garden will enable the reader to make a garden that is true to a specific time, place, and culture; to capture and reflect an authentic spirit so that the garden, in turn, will nurture the spirit of those who cherish and dwell in it.

About this title

About the Author

Claire Sawyers is director of the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College.

From the Back Cover

American gardeners have tended to turn to other national traditions—such as Italy's, Japan's, or England's—for inspiration. The unhappy result of this piecemeal sytlistic borrowing has been the creation of gardens that bear no relationship to local landscapes and history, and that have no connection with our daily lives. In this cogently reasoned and persuasively argued volume, Claire Sawyers aims to show how this tendency can be reversed: how we can create gardens that are both deeply rooted in their surroundings and deeply satisfying to their creators and owners.

Drawing upon her knowledge of a vast array of American and foreign gardens, Sawyers explores five principles that help instill a sense of authenticity:

1. Capture the sense of place
2. Derive beauty from function
3. Use humble or indigenous materials
4. Marry the inside to the outside
5. Involve the visitor

She begins by explaining how careful observation of a site's unique characteristics enables the gardener to shape the garden appropriately and how the essential, functional features associated with gardens—driveways, mailboxes, fences, and the like—can, if treated simply and elegantly, be a visual asset rather than a liability. Later, she demonstrates the American version of the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi: the use of indigenous, natural, or even recycled materials to create a mood of casualness and intimacy, and discusses the many ways—including paths, the presence of inviting furniture, and the use of tactile elements—of drawing the visitor into the garden. A final chapter profiles outstanding American gardens that epitomize the five principles of authentic garden making.

Practical and inspiring, The Authentic Garden will enable the reader to make a garden that is true to a specific time, place, and culture; to capture and reflect an authentic spirit so that the garden, in turn, will nurture the spirit of those who cherish and dwell in it.

1. Capture the sense of place
2. Derive beauty from function
3. Use humble or indigenous materials
4. Marry the inside to the outside
5. Involve the visitor

She begins by explaining how careful observation of a site's unique characteristics enables the gardener to shape the garden appropriately and how the essential, functional features associated with gardens driveways, mailboxes, fences, and the like can, if treated simply and elegantly, be a visual asset rather than a liability. Later, she demonstrates the American version of the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi: the use of indigenous, natural, or even recycled materials to create a mood of casualness and intimacy, and discusses the many ways including paths, the presence of inviting furniture, and the use of tactile elements of drawing the visitor into the garden. A final chapter profiles outstanding American gardens that epitomize the five principles of authentic garden making.

Practical and inspiring, The Authentic Garden will enable the reader to make a garden that is true to a specific time, place, and culture; to capture and reflect an authentic spirit so that the garden, in turn, will nurture the spirit of those who cherish and dwell in it.

Reviews

English cottage borders, Japanese serenity havens, classic Italian vistas: all have been primary sources of inspiration for America's public and private gardens, yet there is no need for homegrown gardeners to look to foreign lands for guidance. To do so is, in Sawyers' view, inauthentic, and she offers a series of core propositions designed to aid gardeners in creating outdoor spaces that are faithful to their native surroundings and embody horticultural reflections of American culture. From evaluating available spaces to incorporating functional elements to utilizing modest materials, adhering to Sawyers' well-considered ground rules will encourage home owners to coordinate indoor and outdoor areas while simultaneously enabling visitors to feel more than a casual sense of attachment to the landscape. Helpfully demonstrating the reality behind such lofty concepts through in-depth analysis of quintessential American public gardens, such as the Lady Bird Johnson Wildlife Center in Austin, Texas, and noteworthy private gardens from Pennsylvania to Arizona, Sawyers offers a stimulating landscape study. Haggas, Carol

Edition details

• Publisher: Timber Pr
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0881928313
• ISBN 13: 9780881928310
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 285