Friday, September 26, 2008

THE ARTFUL GARDENER
Inspirational Landscape Ideas
Gil Hanly/Rose Thodey
Random House - $59.99

These two women between them know just about everything there is to know about New Zealand gardens.
Rose Thodey is a passionate gardener as well as gardens editor of NZ House & Garden magazine, she has a number of books to her credit, and was a judge at the Ellerslie Flower Show for five years.
Gil Hanly is New Zealand’s premiere garden photographer and her work appears regularly in books and magazines. She has more than15 gardening books to her credit; this is the second title she has worked on with Rose Thodey, the previous one, also published by Random House, was Landscape Gardens by New Zealand’s Top Designers. These two know what they are about!

This is a big, handsome and sumptuous book which will almost certainly be the outstanding gardening book published in New Zealand this year. It is a stunner. There are chapters on walls, entrances, water, plants, paving, seating, sculpture (my favouite), and a whole heap more and of course it is profusely illustrated with Hanly’s gorgeous colour photographs on every page.

The Artful Gardener is a treasure trove of garden design excellence and creativity and I have no doubt that many a lucky gardener will find this in their Christmas stocking .

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