The New Topiary: Imaganitive Techniques from Longwood Gardens

Book Description

Enter the fascinating world of bonsai, the centuries-old gardening art form of cultivating trees as potted plants. Refined to a high art in Japan, bonsai offers not only the familiar gardening delights but also, at its highest levels, a philosophical and aesthetic communion with nature.

Here in CLASSIC BONSAI OF JAPAN, the Nippon Bonsai Association, Japan's preeminent voice of the bonsai tradition, introduces a collection of the finest bonsai pieces to be found in Japan today-some of them presented to a Western audience for the first time. Over 130 full color and 48 black-and-white
plates of priceless specimens with informative commentary provide a definitive tour of the bonsai world-from a 15-year-old flowering cherry to a majestic 1,000-year-old Yezo spruce. The notes for each piece offer insights into the balance, style, harmony, and overall aesthetic effect along with
comments on the history of its cultivation at the hands of several generations of bonsai masters.

John Bester brings his intimate knowledge of Japanese culture and sensibility to an elegant interpretation of bonsai art specifically adapted to Western readers. Essays on appreciation, history, and aesthetics further invite readers to enjoy this "natural" art on an informed level.

A feast for the eyes as well as a lasting monument to the history of an artistic tradition, this deluxe volume is sure to delight the bonsai enthusiast, garden hobbyist, lover of things Japanese-indeed anyone with an interest in looking at art and nature in unison.

Customer Reviews:

Classic Bonsai of Japan.......2007-09-21

Wow! This is what a Bonsai book should look like! The photos are superb. The story on each tree is very helpful I didn't even mind that they were in the back. I could more of this type of book because the photos were high enough quality to be able to see forms. Anyone interested in seeing quality trees should own this.

A very good book.......2005-07-19

This book has many great pictures to give the beginners inspirations to pursue this great hobby.

THIS IS THE DEFINITIVE BOOK ON THE ART OF BONSAI.......2004-03-11

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Please believe me about this book when I say, if you can at all afford it and if you share the insatiable love for this particular art that I have, it will unequivocally be worth every penny. The trees are manicured by the greatest Japanese bonsai masters in the world and the color reproductions are utterly superb. If you do get it or have a chance to look at it, go to plate no. 21 and feast your eyes. Though I realize I'm being very subjective here, this Hinoki Cypress, in my opinion, epitomizes the art and, indeed, the very purpose of bonsai. The narrative reads, "The more one looks at it, the more one's spirit feels purified, as though one were breathing the air of the remote mountains" . . . Amen . . . I just wish I could see it in person, but this is definately the next best thing.

(Really all of the trees in this book are that way and the inspiration and enjoyment I derive from looking at them is hard to explain)

Also contained is a wealth of written information. The contents read: Preface by John Yoshio Naka (the premier bonsai master and teacher of America); Foreword: Men and Trees by Hideo Aragaki; The History of Bonsai by Hideo Marushima - subdivided into - The Beginnings and General Trends, The Kamakura and Muromachi Periods, The Edo Period, and From Meiji to the Present; Appreciation and Styles; Bonsai Within the Japanese Tradition; Notes to the Plates; and a List of Bonsai by Type. Some of the reproductions are in black and white, but the vast majority are in color.

I also recommend this book if you're merely into the appreciation of beautiful things in nature or if you have a love for botany or an affinity for gardening. Whatever the reason, you really can't go wrong with this gorgeous book. Can you tell I like it?

Classic Bonsai of Japan.......2002-05-09

An Informative and visually stunning text. This is not just a pretty book. Much can be learned from the subtitles for the bonsai enthusiast and casual browser alike.

spectacular large format color photographs.......2001-07-26

Incredible masterpieces of Bonsai, most many hundreds of years old, are displayed in exquisite high-resolution photographs. This book is well worth the money for those seeking to study the world's finest examples of this living art form. An well-written and insightful historical survey is included.

Average customer rating:

Totally awesome!
Tremendously Attractive & Timeless Design Solution
Formal gardeners TAKE NOTE!

Knot Gardens and Parterres
Robin Whalley
Manufacturer: Barn Elms Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1899531041

Customer Reviews:

Totally awesome!.......2007-08-30

I purchased this book several years ago and absolutely LOVED it! A friend borrowed it and now I can't remember which one borrowed it...so I'm purchasing another one for me and one for a dear friend for his Christmas present this year.

Tremendously Attractive & Timeless Design Solution.......2006-05-18

The knot garden, or parterre, can be eye catching, brashly exuberant, romantically nostalgic, or quietly simple and chic. The appeal of the knot garden in timeless and with space often at a premium, a knot garden provides a tremendously attractive design solution.

Knot Gardens and Parterres is divided into two sections. The first unravels the history of this genre from Tudor times and its "curious knot" - to the famous historic patterns of the 17th Century designs for which certain "Sun Kings" are renowned, and beyond to the flamboyance of Queen Victoria's garden affectations.

The second section confidently takes the reader through the design process, plant selection, and future care and maintenance.

It is an exceptional book on the topic. I refer to it frequently. It has served as the inspiration behind several of my designs.

Formal gardeners TAKE NOTE!.......2000-06-15

this is an absolutely wonderful book all about the 'old' art of Knot Gardening. You'll definitely want to read this book to find out all about the history of this fascinating form of gardening and how to create one in your own space! Great photographic examples fill the pages-a definite "must have" for any gardener!

Taylor's Weekend Gardening Guide to Topiaries and Espaliers: Plus Other Designs for Shaping Plants (Taylor's Weekend Gardening Guides)

Average customer rating:

Good book for beginners
Disappointing--skimpy, very basic info.

Taylor's Weekend Gardening Guide to Topiaries and Espaliers: Plus Other Designs for Shaping Plants (Taylor's Weekend Gardening Guides)
Linda Yang
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0395875161

Book Description

Training plants into fanciful shapes is a popular hobby among today's gardeners.

Customer Reviews:

Good book for beginners.......2000-05-02

This is a great beginner's book on how to create topiaries & espaliers. The book is in full color with lots of photos. Instructions are clear and easy to follow. In each section appropriate plant types are discussed.

First, frameless topiaries are described. Designs included are lollipop, poodle, spiral, & corkscrew trees. The book then shows how to make empty frame topiaries. Included are circles, hoops and spirals.

Then it shows you how to make a moss-filled bunny. Following this method you can make almost any shape imaginable. Several kinds of espalier shapes, and how to make them are then show.

Finally, knots, mazes, pleaching, pollarding & coppicing are covered. Proper tools and shaping hedges are explained as well. Be aware that most plants used are for warmer climates (zone 6 or above).

Disappointing--skimpy, very basic info........2000-03-31

This is the first negative review I've written, and I feel badly about it. I was so anticipating the arrival of this book.

The instructions, which I was eager to get, were only the most general, basic things I already knew even though I'm a raw beginner. I was particularly interested in espalier and pleached allee directions and was hoping for a book with lot of focus on these. A couple of short articles available on the Net were much more informative and illustrated each step very clearly.

The list of recommended plant materials was limited. With a little research on the Internet, I obtained a much more extensive list suited to my area.

The photos were the best part, although they could have been improved, too.

The most positive statement I can make is that the price was most reasonable, and perhaps that is why this book was so lightweight, more for browsing than using for instruction.

I'm ordering another book from Amazon, hoping for better instructions--and hopefully, I'll be able to write a glowing review!

Average customer rating:

Useful & Has Depth

Topiary and the Art of Training Plants

Topiary and the Art of Training Plants
David Joyce
Manufacturer: Firefly Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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Similar Items:

Quick and Easy Topiary and Green Sculpture: Create Traditional Effects with Fast-Growing Climbers and Wire Frames

New Topiary: Imaginative Techniques from Longwood

Taylor's Weekend Gardening Guide to Topiaries and Espaliers: Plus Other Designs for Shaping Plants (Taylor's Weekend Gardening Guides)

The Complete Book of Topiary

Knot Gardens and Parterres

ASIN: 1552094200

Book Description

Topiary and the Art of Training Plants is a complete guide to the art and craft of creating increasingly popular and surprisingly low-maintenance decorative garden effects.

With clear advice and step-by-step illustrations, this book provides a wealth of ideas, including how to:

sculpt topiary shapes, from balls and pyramids to animals and abstracts, for year-round decorative effect
rejuvenate neglected trees, shrubs and hedges
train fruit trees into espaliers, fans, cordons and festoons
train climbers and twiners to make fragrant, colorful arches and arbors
create patterns for hedges and knot gardens
train plants into standards
shape easy mock topiary for quick results

Topiary and the Art of Training Plants also includes:

garden plans showing how to incorporate topiary into beds, borders and whole gardens
an extensive plant directory
a North American zone map
a directory of North American sources to locate plants suitable for topiary
more than 120 full color photographs and 60 watercolor illustrations.

Beautiful, inspiring and comprehensive, Topiary and the Art of Training Plants is a practical gardening guide with the information and value to make it a favorite of gardeners everywhere.

Customer Reviews:

Useful & Has Depth.......2004-12-27

David Joyce's book on topiary is well-designed to interest the beginning topiarist, along with those who are more experienced. I've had this book for several years now and I learn something from it every time I refer to it.

I recently used it to try (hack?) my first topiary -- a boxwood bird. Joyce offers dimensions (such as plant size, and height at which to begin cutting), which I imagine would be helpful to those who appreciate precise directions. There are also large and detailed images of different types of topiary, along with sections on espalier and the like. This is a valuable reference in my garden library.

Topiary and the Art of Training Plants.......2000-04-10

As someone who loves the structure of formal gardens and wanting to try to create one on a small scale in my yard, I was very pleased with David Joyce's Topiary and the Art of Training Plants. He assumes his reader has some knowledge of the basics of growing plants, although he does give very general information on preparing beds for topiary plants. The book has sections on the causes and some solutions for established topiary in decline and how to correct a neglected and overgrown hedge. The book explains how to create some shapes in topiary along with step by step illustrations. Regarding hedges, it tells when and how to train widely used hedging plants. The book even relates how to grow pleached screens - training trees with flexible branches. There are sections on creating knot gardens, mazes, and climbers used as screens and canopies. The book gives a directory of a selection of plants for topiary and hedges, along with information on the hardiness, growth, size, maintenance, propagation and problems of these plants. It also lists sources to obtain plants and tools. The book is full of color pictures which will inspire plenty of ideas. It will be a great reference as I design and maintain my own topiary.

Average customer rating:

Thoroughly Enjoyable!
More than just a dry, step-one-step-two, how-to book.
A Satisfactory Introduction to Topiary
I was disapointed to say the least

The Complete Book of Topiary
Barbara Gallup , and Deborah Reich
Manufacturer: Workman Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

ASIN: 0894803182

Book Description

Presenting all the methods of formal plant shaping and introducing simple, fun, and fanciful techniques for creating informal indoor topiaries, Totally Topiary is clear, comprehensive, and written with an irrepressible passion for the art of making plants into living sculpture.

From hedge sculpture and espalier to indoor creations and an entire chapter on ivy, all major topiary styles both new and old are covered. Over 100 specific projects in the eight different styles are offered for a variety of skills and purposes, accompanied by handsome line drawings that serve as step-by-step models and elegant inspiration.

Each chapter is complete unto itself, recommending plants (Japanese yew is the hardiest for outdoor sculpture, but azalea can be coaxed into a startling pink flamingo), sharing design hints (espaliered fruit trees provide privacy from the neighbors with practical elegance), noting ideal times to plant. They also offer specifics on tools and hardware need, plus pruning and maintenance tips. A wealth of fascinating stories and charming anecdotes places each style in historical context, and helpful features list plant sources nationwide, along with topiary showcases worth visiting. 97,000 copies in print.

Customer Reviews:

Thoroughly Enjoyable!.......2002-05-21

I found this book to be absolutely delightful, insightful, and a keeper. A real treasure of information and inspiration!

More than just a dry, step-one-step-two, how-to book........1999-05-19

Featuring interesting historical information, this book includes many backgrounds of formal gardens and topiary, offered as sidebars and archive drawings. There is extensive information on creating forms and shaping topiary. The illustrator's drawings echo the whimical sentiment of topiary, while the authors' offering of botanical information help the hobbyist understand the science of what they are doing. I cannot imagine anyone reading this book and not bursting with ideas to make their own gardens come to life.

A Satisfactory Introduction to Topiary.......1998-08-27

Before reading this book I had no experience with topiary. After reading this book I felt like I knew a little. I found that the text focuses on the history of the use of topiary. There were some sections on what plants to use and there was a LONG section on creating different wire forms. The illustrations are all hand drawn while I would have prefered to see actual pictures of the plants. This book is probably better for someone who knows a little about gardening basics instead of someone like me who knows nothing.

I was disapointed to say the least.......1998-01-27

As difficult as it is to find information on the art of topiary, this disapointing book gives a very vague picture. Perhaps the most frustrating thing about the book is the illustrations. It seems more like a comic strip than an information resource. For instance the 3 or 4 pages given to standards shows hand drawn renderings that look like my 5 year old drew them. It is interesting that they devoted so many pages to different types of wire shapes. It seems obvious to me that vines will grow on a rack shaped like a bird, and they will grow on a rack shaped like an elephant. I just didn't "get" showing us all the different shapes, and giving them all their own page. Good book for the novice, check it out at the library however, there isn't much reason to own it.

Illustrated Practical Encyclopedia of Pruning, Training and Topiary: How to Prune and Train Trees, Shrubs, Hedges, Topiary, Tree and Soft Fruit, Climbers ... photographs and 100 Practical Illustrations

Average customer rating:

Illustrated Practical Encyclopedia of Pruning, Training and Topiary: How to Prune and Train Trees, Shrubs, Hedges, Topiary, Tree and Soft Fruit, Climbers ... photographs and 100 Practical Illustrations
Richard Bird
Manufacturer: Lorenz Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Ornamental Plants | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0754815374

Book Description

An invaluable A-Z Directory of Ornamental Plants looks at the pruning requirements of wide range of species on a plant by plant basis.

Average customer rating:

A Gem
The Pruning Book
"The (fun) Pruning Book"

The Pruning Book
Lee Reich
Manufacturer: Taunton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Lawns | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 1561581607
Release Date: 1997-01-01

Amazon.com

It is unlikely that the basics of pruning have ever before been assembled so thoroughly or comprehensively than in Lee Reich's The Pruning Book. With clear prose and generous diagrams and photographs, he takes the angst out of pruning for the beginning or experienced gardener. Included are all the basics presented in a step-by-step, friendly way to guide the reader through the pruning of ornamental bushes, evergreens, vines, trees, houseplants, and plants of almost every conceivable variety. Along with the information on basic pruning, he also covers the use, care, and maintenance of pruning tools. A large section of the book is devoted to specialized pruning techniques, such as pollarding, topiary, bonsai, and espalier. Proper pruning can produce enhanced growth, higher food production in food plants, more lavish blooms in flowering plants, healthier plant life, and visionary garden creations through artistic techniques. Reich has provided everything the reader needs to understand the skill and art of pruning for spectacular results in the garden. --Mark A. Hetts

Book Description

Every gardener knows that pruning makes plants healthier, more fruitful, and more beautiful. But most gardeners wince at the thought of pruning. In The Pruning Book, master horticulturist Lee Reich provides a remedy for "fear of pruning," making this dreaded task almost fun. In easy-to-read, engaging language, Reich gives specific methods for pruning hundreds of species from the cold climates to the tropics. He covers every type of plant, from ornamental bushes, evergreens, ornamental vines, and edible fruit and nut trees to houseplants. For those with special pruning interests Reich also gives time-tested advice for bonsai, topiary, espalier, and pleaching. He even takes a fresh look at such routine chores as mowing a lawn, including his own strategy for creating "lawn nouveau." With this witty and useful reference, any gardener can learn to like pruning.

Customer Reviews:

A Gem.......2007-07-19

Lee Reich is one of the more underrated garden writers today. His books are not pretty or decorative, but the amount that one can learn from them is much much more than than what you get from Martha Stewart or P. Allen Smith any day. Here's to more great work from him.

The Pruning Book.......2007-01-09

I am still currently reading the book. It's packed full of good things. The best thing about it is, if you have a specific type of plant you can go directly to that section and it gives you a clear and detailed way of pruning the plant. I think its a must have for any gardener.

"The (fun) Pruning Book".......2000-12-31

Not only is The Pruning Book useful for our North Temperate Zone climate, but it is a joy to read. Of course, we all know that before pruning comes planting, which subject the author touches-on in his chapter on fruits and nuts.

I feel it's important to note that Author Lee Reich holds a doctorate in horticulture with an extensive background in pruning research. With regard to pruning trees, he emphasizes the fact that slow does it -- over a period of several years for both young and old. Regarding plants that can be intensively pruned, Lee points out how to exploit to our advantage the tendency of many woody plants to sprout prolifically. Such plants include hedges, topiary, standards, fruit etc.. Yet, he warns us against the heavy pruning of health-compromised woody plants. Dr. Reich, as well, underscores the fact that proper pruning includes an emphasis on minimalist pruning.

Lee hopes that we have properly sited our major woody plants -- planted the right tree in the right place, so to speak. He, nevertheless, also deals with those fun 'though labor intensive pruning forms -- pollarding and pleaching. Lee lists a number of fast-growing deciduous trees that "take" to pollarding as well as listing some trees with strong, flexible branches for pleaching. This is not a serious book of lists, just a productive attempt at teaching us how to form our own lists.

Good advice abounds throughout including apropos diagrams and photos. Plant specific advice is often augmented by easy to read tables in many of the categories of pruning that he discusses. Lee even covers something we forget to include in the subject of pruning -- mowing. And, necessarily, he does justice to the different pruning needs of the various maturational stages of our woodies. This includes training of the young plant as well as maintenance of the mature, and the finer points of renovation of the old and neglected.

Lee's advice includes the "why," not just the "how" that most pruning books concentrate upon. He makes the often dry subject of pruning easy to swallow with a spoon full of all sorts of interesting and helpful information... I bet you didn't know that Japanese wisteria twines clockwise while the Chinese species climbs counterclockwise. I'll leave you with a final observation on the latter. After seeing numerous structures literally torn apart by wisteria, I'm going to plant it as a tree -- per a commonly used method suggested by the author.

Book Description

In recent years a new generation of artists and designers has discovered that garden plants - from moss and grass to fullgrown trees - can become astonishing works of living sculpture. Iconoclast garden designer Paul Cooper has gathered together the best examples of this exciting new art form while overturning many preconceptions about what is possible in the context of both gardening and art, showing that every garden has the potential to include dramatic and lasting sculpture.

Quick and Easy Topiary and Green Sculpture: Create Traditional Effects with Fast-Growing Climbers and Wire Frames

Average customer rating:

Quick and Easy Topiary and Green Sculpture
Great Introduction to Topiary

Quick and Easy Topiary and Green Sculpture: Create Traditional Effects with Fast-Growing Climbers and Wire Frames
Jenny Hendy
Manufacturer: Storey Publishing, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Landscape | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0882669206

Amazon.com

The design possibilities for topiary sculpture are virtually limitless--only the imagination and some basic skills are needed to produce fanciful, exotic, traditional, or wildly individual designs with living plants. This is the book that tells the beginner how to do it. Supplemented by information on appropriate plants, climate zones, international suppliers of plants, and the needed tools, Hendy's book provides the reader with information on how to train plants to grow on wire frames, create inventive wire frames in all manner of shapes and configurations, choose the appropriate tools and materials needed, and help produce stunning topiary designs in weeks, not months or years. It also offers sound advice on the care and maintenance of your living sculptures to keep them green and healthy for years. It is generously illustrated with more than 300 color photographs showing basic steps and techniques, as well as delightful finished products from gardens and homes around the world. --Mark A. Hetts

Book Description

Includes information on the best plants to use for topiary, each evaluated for its approximate growth rate, minimum temperature requirement, watering, and feeding needs.

Customer Reviews:

Quick and Easy Topiary and Green Sculpture.......2007-04-28

Boxwood (buxus sempervirens) is probably the most versatile and popular of topiary plants and the oldest garden ornament known to man. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that the ancient Egyptians were using box for topiary 6000 years ago.

Quick and Easy Topiary and Green Sculpture, quickly gets in, and quickly gets out without much substantive information to offer the reader beyond a perfunctory overview on this exciting, and ancient historic clipped form of statuary. Verbal brevity and conciseness characterize the scant text. The photography is attractive. The modern shaping suggestions with overly simple armature may be entirely too kitsch for some.

Great Introduction to Topiary.......2000-05-27

I found this book exciting and encouraging to a beginner in the wonderful world of topiary. The ideas cover a wide range of shapes and ideas offering ideas for a quick start as well as more complex projects. The instructions are clearly written and easy to follow. The book also includes discussion on the preferable types of plants to use for the various shapes and designs presented. I continue to refer to this book often as I begin new projects.

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