What Makes a Garden

by Blom, Jinny

• ISBN13: 9780711282957
• ISBN10: 0711282951
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2023-10-24
• Publisher: Frances Lincoln

Summary

'One of the year’s most engrossing, thought-provoking books’ The English Garden
A reflective second book by Jinny Blom (author of The Thoughtful Garden), one of the world’s leading garden designers.

What Makes a Garden builds upon the work of The Thoughtful Garden, giving a broader idea of how she thinks about garden design. In particular it emphasizes her multi-disciplinary approach, which embraces architecture, conservation and art, coupled with a strong holistic thread.

This fascinating and insightful book looks at how a garden should please all five senses; how it is an alchemical mix of the inanimate and the living; and also how it has to accommodate both the effects of time and the influences of culture.

This is not intended as a book of rules but rather a way of thinking about garden design and making sure it responds to the particularities of place, the culture and the demands of the client. Drawing on her work and experience over the last 20 years or so, the book gets to the heart of what people want and need from a garden and what makes it different from a natural landscape.

Reflecting Jinny‘s highly individual approach to garden design, the book is filled with warmth and character alongside her expert knowledge. With a broad appeal, this beautiful book is for all garden lovers: thoughtful yet practical and informative, it marries artistry with functionality.

Author Biography

Jinny Blom is a leading garden designer who began her London based landscape design practice in 2000. Jinny works on a wide range of projects and has designed hundreds of gardens all over the world. Her innovative and uniquely thoughtful work has been much lauded and featured in the press internationally. 

She has designed four award-winning gardens for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and was awarded the coveted gold medal in 2007; along with silver-gilts in 2002 (for her ‘Healing Garden’ developed in collaboration with The Prince of Wales); in 2006 (for Laurent-Perrier); and in 2013 (for her creation commissioned by Prince Harry’s charity, Sentebale).  The great-granddaughter of an Impressionist painter, Jinny had a Liberal Arts education in the UK. She trained and practised as a transpersonal psychologist and psychotherapist, working for many years in mental health. In 1996 she chose to devote herself to her lifelong interest in natural landscapes and gardens.  She has been a columnist for The Times, contributed regularly to radio and television worldwide, and in 2002 won BBC Radio Broadcaster of the Year for her Radio 4 Woman’s Hour features. Jinny has been nominated Woman of the Year an unprecedented three times - in 2002, 2007 and 2013 - for her services to society including her role as Artist in Residence at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION: What is a Garden?
PART 1: HUMANITY
1. Civilising the Earth
–Culture - Shared Threads of Interest
–Style - Finding Your Voice
2. Pleasure – Paradise Regained
–Freedom - Unfettered Imagination
–Positive Influences
–The Physical Body
–The Troubled Mind  - Problems of Isolation
3: Five Senses
–Scrambled Senses: Synesthesia & Neurodiversity
–Smell - Scent and Seasonality - Perfumed Gardens
–Touch - Touch in Gardens - Skin - Grass - Weather
–Taste - Oral Pleasures - Tasty Gardens - Plants That Changed the World - Foraged Flavours - Seasonal Forage Plants of Britain
–Sound - Natural Music
–Sight - Art: Colour and Stimulation - Paint - Dyers Colours - Dyers Plants - Choosing Colour - Colour Perception
PART 2: ALCHEMY
4. Prima Materia
–Immutable Elements - Drawings and Models - Tools
–Fundamental Elements - Walls - Fences - Iron Railings - Gates and Doors - Steps - Routes
–Surfaces - Stone Paving - Patterned Stone Floors - Cobbles - Gravel - Terrazzo - Brick and Clay Pavers
–Lesser Evils - Tarmacadam - Concrete and Cement - Play Surfaces
–Naturals - Lawn - Bark - Decking
–Drains
–Embellishments - Little Buildings - Art and Decoration - Water - Play - Utilities
5. Anima Mundi
–Soil - In Sickness and in Health - Dung - Soil by Nature  - Weeds and Their Indications - Clay Soils - Loam - Sandy Soils - Silt Soils - Chalky Soils - Peat Soils
–The Six Kingdoms - Animalia - Plantae - Fungi - Protista - Archaea/Archaebacteria - Bacteria/Eubacteria
–Plagues
–Pests
–The Genesis of Urban Gardens
–Guerilla Gardening
–Cutting Gardens
–Plantsmen
–Propagation
–Plants in Pots
–The Meaning of Flowers
–Self-seeders - Caring for Plants
–Fauna
6. Deconstructing Planting
–Four Freshly Made Gardens
–Italy
–England
–Scotland
–City
PART 3: TIME
–Moving Through Space
–Seasons
–Light - Lunar Light - Solar Light - Artificial Light
CODA
–Further Reading
–Image Credits
–Acknowledgements