The Wild Garden: expanded edition | The Wild Garden: Expanded Edition

book: The Wild Garden: Expanded Edition | Rick Darke, William Robinson

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	• The Wild Garden: Expanded Edition Rick Darke, William Robinson Timber Press, 2009 - 360 pages average customer review:based on 2 reviews view larger image
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The Wild Garden: Expanded Edition

I have enjoyed Rick Darke's writing and lecturing for several years because his insights always seem so well timed. He has an instinct for when a topic or plant will become important to the larger gardening community and is therefore able to deliver his own particular spin on the subject, just as the discussion gets started. This instinct is why I was looking forward to this expanded edition of THE WILD GARDEN. Here at Winterthur, THE WILD GARDEN is seen as the inspiration for our unique gardening style - the naturalized plantings, broad sweeps of color, and celebration of the pastoral landscape, for example, come right out of the pages of Robinson's writing. I have always been hesitant though, to recommend that people read THE WILD GARDEN. The book can be a little dry. In my opinion, Rick has rescued it from this dryness. His writing has put the book in context and made it seem much more relevant to today's gardener. His photographs and the enlarged Alfred Parsons illustrations also help bring the concepts to life. For me this edition has been a wonderful excuse to revisit a classic. For many others, I hope it will be just the invitation they need to discover Robinson's thought provoking ideas.

Chris Strand, Winterthur, Delaware

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The Wild Garden: expanded edition

The Wild Garden by William Robinson was written and re written over a period of more than 50 year for the Victorian English gardeners as a rebellion from the changed out bedding practices of the time. Robinson used native plants and imported plants from similar climes to enhance his estate in western England. The expanded edition uses wonderful photographs to enhance the wood cut prints of the 1890's edition.

William Robinson's revolutionary book, The Wild Garden, envisioned an authentically naturalistic approach to gardening that is more vital today than ever before. First published in 1870, The Wild Garden evolved through many editions and remained in print through the remainder of the author's lifetime (1838--1935). In the book, Robinson issued a forceful challenge to the prevailing style of the day, which relied upon tender plants arranged in rigidly geometrical designs. In sharp contrast, Robinson advocated for the use of hardy, locally adapted native and exotic plants arranged according to local growing conditions. Robinson's vision was inspired by his first-hand observations of natural habitats in Europe and North America, and he put his ideas into practice in his own garden at Gravetye Manor in West Sussex. The Wild Garden was ground-breaking and hugely influential in its day, and is stunningly relevant to twenty-first century gardeners and landscape stewards seeking to adopt sustainable design and management practices.

In addition to the complete original text and illustrations from the fifth edition of 1895, this expanded edition includes new chapters and 125 color photographs by award-winning photographer and landscape consultant Rick Darke. His new material places wild gardening in modern context, underscoring Robinson's importance in the evolution of ecological design and illustrating an inspiring diversity of contemporary wild gardens.

The potent combination presented here makes this new edition of a timeless classic an essential resource for all who wish to know how we have arrived at our present understanding of gardens and what opportunities lie ahead. As will be immediately clear to anyone who leafs through this book, Robinson's urgent message continues to resonate.

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