Pocket Gardens

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing Garden Design Book
Review: I was truly disappointed in this garden book. I was not inspired or intrigued by any of the gardens shown. I do admit that the book may appeal to someone with a very small urban courtyard and a preference for the avant garde style garden. The gardens were mostly minimalist with emphasis on huge graphic shapes imbedded in the lawn or piles of crushed glass layed out in pyramids. Really, an "aluminum garden"?? If there is no plant life, isn't it really just a patio and not a garden? The photography was less than stellar, with several photos out of focus. The two to three page spreads per design usually just had photographs of the same object from three different angles. I do not recommend this book for anyone who enjoys gardening with plants, discovering new plant varieties, or are looking for inspirations for plant combinations. The hardscape designs weren't very interesting either.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing Garden Design Book
Review: I was truly disappointed in this garden book. I was not inspired or intrigued by any of the gardens shown. I do admit that the book may appeal to someone with a very small urban courtyard and a preference for the avant garde style garden. The gardens were mostly minimalist with emphasis on huge graphic shapes imbedded in the lawn or piles of crushed glass layed out in pyramids. Really, an "aluminum garden"?? If there is no plant life, isn't it really just a patio and not a garden? The photography was less than stellar, with several photos out of focus. The two to three page spreads per design usually just had photographs of the same object from three different angles. I do not recommend this book for anyone who enjoys gardening with plants, discovering new plant varieties, or are looking for inspirations for plant combinations. The hardscape designs weren't very interesting either.

Rating:
Summary: Small Gardens - but by American Standards!
Review: This is a wonderful book - and useful too, since it contains garden plans for each garden featured. Living in the Netherlands, we found that the definition of "small" according to this book does not apply to some of the really (!) small gardens here. Yet, we can adapt the plans, adopt just a few of the design solutions, or consider the sometimes unusual materials applied. Definitely worthwhile, if only for the beautiful photography.

Rating:
Summary: Small Gardens - but by American Standards!
Review: This is a wonderful book - and useful too, since it contains garden plans for each garden featured. Living in the Netherlands, we found that the definition of "small" according to this book does not apply to some of the really (!) small gardens here. Yet, we can adapt the plans, adopt just a few of the design solutions, or consider the sometimes unusual materials applied. Definitely worthwhile, if only for the beautiful photography.