Contemporary Color in the Landscape: Top Designers, Inspiring Ideas, New Combinations

Color is the first and most important design choice a garden designer makes. Over the past decade, landscape architects and garden designers have moved away from the more sedate shades commonly found in traditional gardens and have used plants and hardscape to experiment with explosions of color. From the layered and textural colors of Piet Oudolf to the high contrast colors of Tom Stuart Smith, this increased focus on color is a trademark of today’s leading designers.

Contemporary Color in the Landscape explores the whole spectrum of color: how we perceive and respond to color, how to design with color, how to manipulate contrast and create intensity with saturation, how to maximize impact by minimizing color, how to find your own personal color combinations, and how color is viewed in nature. In gorgeous, color-drenched photos Andrew Wilson showcases the work of leading garden designers as inspiring examples of the way color is used. Innovative gardens from all over the world help the reader visualize the core color lessons throughout the book.

Supported by more than 300 stunning photographs, Contemporary Color in the Landscape integrates cutting-edge designers, their landscapes, color theory, new design ideas, and gorgeous photography into one inspirational, instructional, and must-have guide for design professionals.

Andrew Wilson is a garden and landscape designer with the Wilson McWilliam Studio, London and Surrey, England.  He is also founder and director of garden design studies at The London College of Garden Design based in Regent’s Park, London, and is chair of assessors for the Royal Horticultural Society, judging the gardens at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

His previous books are Influential Gardeners: Shaping Today’s Style (Mitchell Beazley 2002), The Book of Plans for Small Gardens (Mitchell Beazley 2007), and The Book of Garden Plans (Mitchell Beazley 2008). In 2009, he contributed to the RHS Encyclopedia of Garden Design and he writes regularly for Gardens Illustrated.