Gardens in My Life Hardcover – 15 April 2021

This is a personal account of the author's design and development of 16 gardens, and together they show why she is rightly regarded as one of the outstanding designers of recent years. The descriptions give sufficient detail to provide a feeling for the different challenges of each project and their evolution, and the delightful outcome. Designs tend to be naturalistic, with the emphasis on good and imaginative lay-out and planting, and if you are looking for trendy coloured concrete etc. I am glad to say that you won't find it here!Each of the gardens is lavishly illustrated with excellent photographs showing broad perspectives as well as detailed plant associations, and the credits indicate the contribution of many outstanding garden photographers. There is a clear plan of each garden showing its orientation and most include the scale (unlike plans in many other publications which are therefore almost useless!).The book is well designed and produced, the colour reproduction of photographs is very good, and there is a useful index. There are just a few minor typographical errors amongst the photo descriptions (a problem in many books). Few serious gardeners could, or should, fail to appreciate the outstanding beauty of these gardens or to be inspired by them. Amongst a large gardening library, this is my recent favourite.

If you love gardens then you will just adore this book. It is simply stunning. I have long been a fan of Arabella Lennox- Boyd and Was excited to receive this book. It does not disappoint on any level. Fabulous photos, lots of information and loaded with inspiration. Best gardening book of the year for me. Wonderful!

I enjoyed most of the book. However, too few gardens were featured and in most cases the garden “master plans” should have been re-worked to provide more information. Often I looked at a photograph but couldn’t work out which part of the garden was being featured. Finally, was the author’s nanny Scottish or English. She’s described as both - we need to know!

I have the authors previous book Designing Gardens which I adore. However this book has a more evolved coffee table style. I love the double spread shots & the matt finishing gave certain images a watercolour feel. I thought the garden owned by Sting was particularly exquisite.

First impression was I thought the photography was not garden orientated, then I realised the layout of gardens and shrubs used was quite unique, I can't put it down as it is just what I want at this time and the stories of the gardens are really interesting.

A really beautiful book which has lots of detail about the gardens and plans . Stunning photography . A real treat to open and read . Would make a great gift for any gardener

Well written with a great selection of gardens to browse through.Much more than a coffee table book

My understanding of the process and execution of garden design was greatly expanded by reading this book.

5 Stars for the Book and 1 Star for Amazon’s poor packaging! Gorgeous book with amazing photographs and the plantings are named per the photo, in detail, which I think is helpful for ideas if you wish to duplicate the idea into your own home. I bought this as a gift so I was disappointed to receive this charming coffee table book only placed inside a thin clear plastic bag (no other protection whatsoever!) which then placed into box with few other items of my order. So sad there is such little care taken for such an item. I was going to return it but I love this book so much I will keep this copy for myself and re-order another one for the gift. Hope the second order arrives clean, wrapped in bubble wrap and with no damages (I can hope!) because it’s worth the $60.

When you say you are going to look through a folder of your completed jobs and then end up with this volume it is both inspiring and intimidating. But mostly just incredibly beautiful.

Among the plethora of gardening books available this would be top-3 . I found the illustrations of great interest, and the story of how these all came-to-be of great interest. While gardens are very personal creations, this book enabled me to see many useful ideas that I could adapt to add to the betterment of our garden. Evan Mac Donald

If you wish to learn about beautifully designed gardens, read this book. It is well written, photography is superb, plants used and rationale for use is well described. Highly recommend! The gardens are exquisite! Principles can be used in smaller gardens, so please don't be intimidated because these gardens are so large! There is something that will help everyone who loves gardening!

The gardens in this book are magnificent! The numerous photos are a real treat, and I loved learning about the processes and the plants that were used in each space!