The Vertical Garden

The Vertical Garden by author, artist and botanist Patrick Blanc is a book beyond your typical garden book.  The book opens with nine chapters devoted to natural habitats such as waterfalls, cliffs and epiphytes, just to name a few.  Blanc has traveled the world and has captured some stunning photos of plants and their habitats.  The book then moves to the impact of plants on architecture.  Again, Blanc has countless photos detailing superficial, hazardous and destructive impacts.   For many of the pictures, you must look at them several times in order to believe it is real.  Blanc’s passion is obvious.  He invented the concept of the vertical garden in 1991 and believed he could make a building transparent or invisible with plants.  He offers step-by-step photographs detailing the incredible process.  The book then closes with almost 100 pages of photographs and details of many of his works.  This book is a testament to Blanc’s vision, dreams and artistry in a life-altering way.  You will be mesmerized from beginning to end with the intricate plans and the attention to detail that is not often seen.

Mediterranean Landscape Design

265 tantalizing, breathless photographs grace the pages of Mediterranean Landscape Design by Louisa Jones with photographs by Clive Nichols.  Jones asks “What is the role of human beings in nature?”  This book reviews mountains, stonework, earthwork, woodwork, clipped greenery, meadows and field geometry with that vision in mind.  She explores the inspiration of age-old materials, skills and sites to give the reader lots of ideas.  The garden tapestries chapter was especially beautiful and the seascapes and gardens of Venice romance the reader with the pictures and the words.  Mediterranean Landscape Design places the reader in the middle of the Mediterranean landscapes of Greece, Spain, France, Morocco and Italy.  After you have viewed this book, you will almost feel like you have just returned from a stunning, relaxing Mediterranean vacation.