The Romantic Garden: A Guide to Creating a Beautiful and Private Garden Paradise

However small their plot, all gardeners want to make a garden that appeals to the spirit as well as to the senses. Secluded, scented and softly planted, the romantic garden provides an increasingly welcome contrast to the world outside. Here, Graham Rose shows in detail how to create this sort of romantic retreat. There are special sections on fences and hedges to create an atmosphere of seclusion, water landscaping for refreshment and soothing sound effects, and the use of scent and colour. Illustrated with artwork and photographs, the volume also contains a comprehensive catalogue of the most romantic plants -from fragrant old-fashioned roses to tiny carpeters - with cultivation details. This handbook seeks to evoke a return to the traditional qualities of the best gardens of the past, and to provide the inspiration for making such gardens now and in the future.

According to Rose, a romantic garden offers sanctuary "from the harassment of everyday life," a feeling of isolation, a sense of mystery and an abundance of roses. The book reveals a range of tricks that will transform an ordinary plot into an enchanting retreat. Rose knowledgeably discusses such elements as walls and fences (stone or brick are preferred; chain link is a last resort), statuary, seating and choice of plantsalthough some of his suggestions are a bit too fantastic to take seriously (among his list of appropriate objects are "artefacts such as large fragments of amphorae collected from Aegean beaches"). Other books may provide more detailed directions on building walls and cultivating plants, but Rose's inspiring, fanciful prose more than compensates for the dearth of brass tacks. A plant chart offers tips on cultivation but generally includes only the Latin names of the vegetation. The work is lavishly illustrated with enticing color sketches and photographs of imaginative gardens. Rose is gardening correspondent of the London Sunday Times and author of The Low Maintenance Garden.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.