Understanding Garden Design: The Complete Handbook for Aspiring Designers - Hardcover

Nagel, Vanessa Gardner

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0881929433 ISBN 13: 9780881929430

Publisher: Timber Pr, 2010

Synopsis

Designing a garden is a complex task. Where do you start? What kind of skills do you need? What are the logical steps in creating a design? How do you communicate your ideas to a client, and how do you accommodate a client’s requests while maintaining the integrity of the project? The answers to these questions, and many more, can all be found in Understanding Garden Design.

Most books on garden design focus on only one or a few aspects of garden design—choosing plants or creating a hardscape, for example. This comprehensive, accessible book lays out the entire process from start to finish in clear, precise language that avoids the pitfalls of “designspeak.” In fact, garden owners and clients of garden designers who want to understand more about the designer’s craft will be able to profit from the book’s lessons.

Among the many topics covered are how to document a site, how to determine what a client needs and wants from the garden, how to take architectural features into consideration, how to think about circulation and lay out paths, how to use basic design principles, how to work with plants, and how to create a final design. Practical aspects are clearly laid out, including working with contractors and staying on top of the various phases of construction.

This thorough handbook is profusely illustrated with helpful photographs and diagrams. A particularly interesting tool is the hypothetical garden plan that appears in each chapter to show how to apply the topics at hand.

A practical, logical approach to the planning, design, and installation of a garden, this volume will be an invaluable resource for students, landscape professionals, and garden designers.

About this title

About the Author

Vanessa Gardner Nagel designs gardens in the Pacific Northwest and writes and speaks nationwide about garden design. She was a commercial interior designer for 22 years before turning her business inside-out into garden design. She is an award-winning, APLD-certified designer, and has served on the international board for the Association for Professional Landscape Designers.

Reviews

A former interior designer who embarked on a second career in landscape planning, Nagel bemoaned the dearth of resource material necessary for her new endeavor. Knowing that nature abhors just such a vacuum, Nagel fashioned a guide to her own specifications. Starting with the basics, Nagel ventures from concept to completion in a logical sequence, covering topics many other design manuals overlook. Not only does she pay particular attention to the intangible aspects of the design process, such as a garden’s effects on physical health and mental attitude, she also delves into the practical side of landscape projects, from spatial allowances for patio furniture to working with contractors. Along with essentials such as traffic flow, focal points, and sun exposure, Nagel also provides thoughtful coverage of secondary, but no less important, topics such as hardscape, furnishings, and ornamentation. Thorough and thoroughly accessible, Nagel’s reasoned yet personable approach to an often intimidating subject will benefit both homeowners and design professionals. --Carol Haggas

Edition details

• Publisher: Timber Pr
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0881929433
• ISBN 13: 9780881929430
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 235