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Hempel Hotel garden, London, England

How To Get Edges Right In Your Garden

Garden boundaries always stand out—the trick is weaving them gracefully into the style of your garden.

Hempel Hotel garden, London, England

 

DESIGN RIGHT | Of all the important elements of garden design, edges receive the least amount of attention in print. “Since edges are drawn wherever contrasting materials meet, almost anything you do in the garden results in an edge,” wrote James Van Sweden in his worthwhile pictorial how-to Architecture in the Garden. “If you build a fence, lay a terrace, dig a pool or erect a retaining wall, you create edges.” Edges make inadvertent, dramatic statements. The eye is automatically drawn to the places in a garden where change occurs, the point of transition from one level to another, for example, or the spot where one material is replaced by something different. Read more

Secrets Of The Stars: Luciano Guibbilei

The gardens of international superstar Luciano Guibbilei are filled with great ideas both for people who love to work in gardens and for people who just love to look at them.

 

FREE & AMAZING | I’ve collected lots of garden design books over the years, and one of my all-time favourites is a 1971 black and white photo essay on Villa Gamberaia. I’ve never visited this surprisingly sculptural 17th century garden in Florence, and although I’d love to see it, I feel like Hungarian architect Balthazar Korab’s photographs already capture Gamberaia’s startlingly dramatic moods and educate me in ways no single visit ever could.

I pulled Korab’s book from the shelf recently when I realized that several of his photos had been used in Luciano Giubbilei’s 2010 picture book The Gardens of Luciano Giubbilei. Giubbilei, a garden design rock star in England who will be giving a FREE LECTURE in Vancouver on November 19, traces his passion for the style of gardens he makes to a stint in the trenches at Gamberaia and a gift of Korab’s book. Read more