Design for Gardens

The essential elements of good garden design--form, layout, and balance between colors and textures--are all thoroughly covered in this newest book by landscape architect and writer Hudak (Gardening with Perennials Month by Month). An opening chapter on garden innovations through the centuries leads the way to chapters on evaluating, planning, and designing ones own garden. Hudak pays particular attention to individual details such as incorporating water features, fences, hedges, terraces, etc., and devotes detailed sections to each. He then discusses specific types of plants, such as evergreens and perennials, and shows how these plants should effectively be used in the landscape design. Successful garden designs offer a careful arrangement of form, texture, proportion, and color harmony. These basic principles are reflected not only in the plants chosen for the site but also in their interaction with the surrounding landscape and the architecture of the home. In these pages, the renowned landscape architect and horticulturist Joe Hudak provides an overview of design innovations through the ages and concludes with a personal account of his own five-year-long garden renovation project. He offers both philosophical and practical direction for creating aesthetically pleasing and useful outdoor spaces. Whether you are looking to evergreen trees and shrubs to provide dense backdrops throughout the year, or deciduous trees for showy fall color and interesting shadow effects, or herbaceous perennials and annuals for splashes of color, advice is offered for selecting the right plant for the right situation, with emphasis on careful consideration of the desired effect and its appropriateness to the surrounding garden spaces. Rather than presenting a checklist of ornamental plants, Hudak offers basic tenets of garden design in an accessible yet thorough manner that allows any backyard gardener in any region to bring together the pieces for a satisfying and enjoyable landscape. Joe Hudak is also the author of our book, Gardening with Perennials Month by Month . This gives a broad history of landscape design around the world is followed by clear but general directions for landscaping and creating outdoor living spaces based on traditional tenets of landscape design. reliable pl Learning when and where enduring garden ideas first came into play has consistently been revealing and certainly intriguing. Given in memory of Georgia Burkhalter by Jeff and Laurie Hardage Joseph Hudak. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.