title: Best Garden Design: Practical Inspiration from the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show
author:  Chris Young 
description: Now we can take in the gardens at Chelsea without suffering the 6 days of crowds or the jetlag.... This book showcases a broad diversity of recent vignettes. It's a good read if you have done or plan to do a show garden.... Yet the focus of the book is the real life take away and each case study specifically highlights features that might translate into actual landscapes. The author is successful in examining what makes a display effective in total, but also dwells on the details... Chapters full of photos of hardscape, water, lighting or art provide hundreds of novel ideas both grandiose and simple. (Colleen Miko <i>The B and B Magazine, Washington State Nursery and</i> 2011-10-01)<br /><br />If you didn't get the chance to attend the Royal Horticultural Society's Chelsea Flower Show in May don't worry. Highlights of the annual London event are captured in "Best Garden Design: Practical Inspiration From the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show." Photos capture garden designs that run from classical to whimsical to "magical and mad." The book is meant to be a source of inspiration, whether one has a small terrace garden, an estate or anything in between. (<i>Cleveland Plain Dealer</i> 2010-11-04)<br /><br />The author of this inspiring book on contemporary landscape design, British gardener Chris Young, has chosen as his source for this lavishly illustrated work the temporary garden displays at the Chelsea Flower Show.... Filled with ideas and tips from experts, the text is naturally exciting for dedicated gardeners: it covers a wide range of garden styles from bucolic cottage gardens and formal spaces to the latest examples of sustainability. All is not ornamental: there is a lengthy chapter on utilitarian plantings to satisfy those who want to grow their own crops. Even though the diverse plantings in thrilling combinations are the highlights of the show, readers will benefit from the latest ideas in hardscape materials, lighting methods, water features, and artistic exhibits incorporated into garden scenes. (<i>National Garden Clubs</i> 2010-11-01)<br /><br />Best Garden Design is a valuable source for ideas on working art, paths, water features and other ornamentation into backyard landscapes. (Kimberly L. Jackson <i>Newark Star-Ledge</i> 2010-11-04)<br /><br />For well over 100 years, England's spring social season has revolved around the Chelsea Flower Show... For all of us who can't afford that leap across the pond, the Royal Horticultural Society has brought the show's fabulous ideas to America by way of a truly outstanding new book: Best Garden Design: Practical Inspiration From the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. My gauge of a book's value is how much of its content is doable in real-life situations. I give this one an A-plus. The full-color book is well worth the expense because of its stellar content... The lover of modern style will find this book a real treasure trove. A plethora of innovative walls and partitions segment space, screen views and control microclimates. Combine this with spatial solutions for outdoor living in small homes, and the book becomes vital to every urban dweller, whether they live in a house or apartment. If highbrow English gardeners can do it, so can we. (Maureen Gilmer <i>Chicago Sun-Times</i> 2010-11-30)<br /><br />The Chelsea Flower Show in England is the World Series of garden design and a vacation that gardeners save up for. But this volume is more than a ticket for armchair travel: It deconstructs photos of the often-fantastic designs to help readers figure out what exactly makes them appealing and what ideas they might use in an actual garden. (<i>Chicago Tribune</i> 2010-12-14)<br /><br />I'm quite clear that I am unlikely to ever visit the Chelsea Flower Show, the epitome of garden shows held in London, England, every year since 1912. But with Best Garden Design by Chris Young, any gardener can receive practical inspiration on bringing a fresh, exciting look to one's own garden. Young presents tips from the expert designers who showcase at Chelsea, as well as case studies on particular designs showing why they work and how to achieve something similar. Nova Scotian gardeners will have to adapt somewhat for plant hardiness, but there are enough delightful variations in design, from post-modern to classical, that any reader should take away something from this book. (Jodi DeLong <i>Halifax Chronicle Herald</i> 2010-12-05)<br /><br />For almost a century, the Royal Horticulture Society's Chelsea Flower Show has been the botanical ticket of the year in Great Britain. Landscape designer Young (deputy ed., The Garden magazine) culls the best ideas from the last five years' worth of entries, arranges them by categories such as entrance paths or sustainability, and then deconstructs them for home gardeners. He includes sections on types of plantings, e.g., perennials, herbs, kitchen gardens, and old roses, but the emphasis is on design via such factors as topiary, decking, garden art, and lighting. There are some great ideas for home gardeners here, but the book works best as a source of inspiration rather than a hands-on guide to the nuts and bolts of landscape design, for which Vanessa Gardner Nagel's Understanding Garden Design or Judith Adam's Landscape Planning are preferable. A good choice for armchair gardeners who enjoy British-flavored botanical treasures or for experienced gardeners searching for new ways to<br /> freshen up a tired home landscape. (John Charles, Scottsdale Public Library, AZ <i>Library Journal</i> 2010-11-15)<br /><br />This book will give readers new eyes to transform their home and garden into models of affordable, sustainable beauty. (Maureen Gilmer <i>San Angelo Standard Times</i> 2010-12-01)<br /><br />This book surprised me. While the fantasy factor is high (after all, this is Chelsea, my dear), there are some novel landscaping ideas here that anyone can copy -- especially in the section on walls and walkways. (Sonia Day <i>Toronto Star</i> 2010-12-01)
zlib_text: PLUS
  Our Chelsea Flower 
  Show preview
  Key trends
  Leading designers
  New plants 
  The Japanese art of
  KEEPING
  TOPIARY 
  SHARP
  What to plant for
  Stylish
  summer
  displays
  3 INSPIRING
  PLANS FOR
  front gardens,
  eating spaces 
  and shade
  10 BEST
  PLANTS
  FOR EARLY
  SUMMER 
  GA
   DENS
  PLANTING IDEAS • BEAUTIFUL GARDENS • EXPERT ADVICE
  
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