Reviewer Allan Becker: Allan has been designing and planting flower gardens, since he was a teenager in the 1960's. Now retired from the soft goods industry, where he held several positions in design, product development, and marketing, he has turned his passion for gardening into a second career, as a garden designer for private clients in Montreal, Canada.
In spring and summer, he provides his assistants, most college students, who transform his designs into flower gardens. In winter, he reviews books on garden-related topics for Bookpleasures.com and writes a Gardening Blog.
Allan earned a B.A. from McGill University, followed by two years of studies in design at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia). He lives in the Montreal suburb of Cote St. Luc, Quebec with his wife and travels regularly to Toronto and Boston to visit his children and grandchildren.
Author: Tony Lord
Publishers: Frances Lincoln
ISBN-10: 0711214328: ISBN-13: 978-0711214323
A review of this book, so many years after I first studied it, was prompted when I read about the frustrations of a fellow gardener who was having difficultly finding proper guidance in creating a flowerbed
Author: Tony Lord
Publishers: Frances Lincoln
ISBN-10: 0711214328: ISBN-13: 978-0711214323
Click Here To Purchase Best Borders
This book has been in my collection for over 15 years and I return to it regularly to remind me that, in perennial flower gardening, almost anything is possible. No wonder, that the publisher was encouraged to release a new edition just last year.
A review of this book, so many years after I first studied it, was prompted when I read about the frustrations of a fellow gardener who was having difficultly finding proper guidance in creating a flowerbed. All of the books she consulted were inadequate. Her experience led her to conclude that most garden design books offer blueprints and drawings. She was looking for inspiring garden photography where the plants are all identified and clear, with contextual explanations of design principles. When I read her words, Best Borders instantaneously came to mind.
The author Tony Lord is a writer, garden photographer and horticultural consultant. He trained at Kew Gardens, in the UK and holds a doctorate in Horticulture. Garden book lovers first saw his work when he created breathtaking photographs of English gardens for other writers such as Penelope Hobhouse and Graham Thomas. He is, indeed, an eminent authority on gardening and the photographs in this book are even more impressive .
In this publication, the author presents and discusses twelve lusciously photographed flower borders. They represent the best-looking flower combinations found in some of the most distinguished gardens in England. Each border exemplifies a variation on the theme of the English garden and demonstrates a different aspect of flower garden design. The reader will be pleased to discover many of the classical themes that give English gardens their distinctive look. These include borders that are essentially monochromatic, those that are multicolored, and some that are bold.
While this is a stunning book to look at, it is also surprisingly instructional. The author converts some of the photos into planting blueprints, complete with clearly identified plant names. Anyone wanting to try their hand at English garden design now has a manual, of sorts, to start that process. If the gardener needs to learn about flower borders and is only prepared to buy one book, it has to be this one. Its purpose is to inspire, to stimulate creatively and most importantly, and to encourage the gardener to experiment. Readers will be pleased to discover that this magnificently illustrated publication has been invested with the same passion used to create the English gardens that it highlights.
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