The Authentic Garden
It’s cold, but the wood stove is cheerfully warm. I’ve entered another garden season; it’s reading season. Knowing my interest in native plants and the vernacular landscape a friend gave me a copy of this beautiful book, The Authentic Garden by Claire E. Sawyers.
The subtitle, Five Principles for Cultivating a Sense of Place, is a clear warning to remain true to the landscape outside our doors. I live in an old farmhouse in the middle of a gentled New England field, surrounded by a mixed woodland. There is no value, aesthetic or otherwise, to try and make my gardens look like something surrounding a southwestern hacienda, or even my dream Tuscan villa.
Of course, given my inclinations, I wouldn’t do that anyway, but Sawyer takes the reader through the various influences on the American garden (we are a country of immigrants) before launching us on the ways to create our own unique gardens. The chapter headings alone are instructive: Capture the Sense of Place; Derive Beauty from Function; Use Humble Materials; Marry the Inside to the Outside; and Involve the Visitor. The final chapter focuses on seven public gardens that are clear reflections of the surrounding landscape.
Claire Sawyers is the director of the Scott Arboretum and brings a wide ranging expertise in plants, and other cultures to this book. She worked at the Kalmthout Arboretum in Belgium, private gardens in Brittany and Normandy, and also spent part of her childhood in Japan where she returned to work with Japanese landscapers while studying at Purdue University. She has brought her broad knowledge of many kinds of gardens and set it alongside her principles that will help us to create our own authentic garden.
The book also contains 300 helpful and inspiring photographs for dreaming over.
As we approach the gift giving holiday season, I can not only recommend this book, but for those non-gardeners who have gardeners on their gift list I can recommend any book from Timber Press. Their information is totally dependable, and the books are all handsomely and helpfully illustrated.
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Garden Books | Pat November 13, 2008
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By Mr. McGregor's Daughter, November 17, 2008 @ 5:49 pm
I read this book about a month ago & was very impressed. I think I must share the same philosphy.
By Pat Leuchtman, November 18, 2008 @ 8:16 am
I agree. Faraway places and styles have their own exotic beauty, but Home, no matter where it is, can (should?) reflect the charm and loveliness of that particular spot.