GARDENS IN THE MODERN LANDSCAPE

This was published originally in England and is- to a large extent- still very English, despite the inclusion of a section of text and photographs of American examples. The author has, in the interim years, taught in America (Yale, specifically)- and a chapter contributed by Dean Hudnut of Harvard adds a further American slant and comment on some of the changes in focus in the last ten years, a turning back to the values and lessons of the past. The historical aspects of this volume will be more valuable to the general reader than to the specialist, tracing as the sections do the importance of traditional trends,- 1740, 1840, the Victorian period and the reaction to it, and the present day garden. Progressive plans, diagrams, photographs show examples of the points he makes, and in one instance particularly, the changes in one English estate over the range. He shows how the present day garden is still the stronghold of romanticism, but he indicates new techniques, the functional quality, the Japanese influence. For moderns, the last part dealing with housing developments, city landscaping, community gardens- and the overall importance of the quality of space today will prove challenging reading.