In Gardens of Inspiration, 15 top designers enthuse in 15 chapters over the gardens that have shaped, coloured and inspired their professional lives, starting with a description of their own garden. Packed with wonderful photography by Vivian Russell, she is also one of the featured writers. Her garden in Cumbria moulds itself into the landscape, showing how sometimes a small range of plants can blend more harmoniously than a riot of colour.

Inevitably each writer has strong opinions, none more so than Nigel Colborn, who speaks of "that eternal blasted laburnum tunnel". There is the naturalistic viewpoint of Dan Pearson and Stephen Lacey, the modernist, simple asymmetrical lines preferred by John Brookes, the abundant, colourful herbaceous borders loved by Christopher Lloyd, where plants can "spill out from the borders and self-seed freely". At the other end of the spectrum are the stylised large landscape gardens with long axial views favoured by Penelope Hobhouse with more cosy, smaller-scale vistas enjoyed by Rosemary Verey.

If you are a keen gardener and are familiar with most of the names in this book you will delight in the designers' views on gardens that you may know well yourself. There is nothing extremely controversial or starkly modern, no brightly coloured decking or large steel structures nor indeed a single Japanese garden or anything lushly tropical. These are designers with decades of experience reflecting on their influences over the years from gardens accessible to them. The contrasting styles and the plethora of photographs in the book make it a tempting read and visually satisfying. --Lesley Pace

2001-10-25 Inspiration for garden-lovers

This book may be meant for seasoned gardeners but even for me, who set out up the garden path relatively recently, it is a joy to read and lovely to look at and I recommend it to everyone who loves gardening or visiting other people's gardens. It's refreshing to find out about the way gardeners 'tick' and the air they breathe. Among the 15 chapters by 'the best British garden writers', I like especially the cheekiness of Nigel Colborn's chapter called 'Breaking the Rules' and the photos of his featured garden on the East Coast, with sinister sculpture, dramatic planting in drought-prone Norfolk and a phallic lighthouse. Penelope Hobhouse, my favourite gardener of all time, transports me to a Tuscan villa as well as to her private garden in Dorset and John Brookes to a cool swimming pool garden in California. Mary Keen writes especially eloquently about the 'other-worldly' quality of an enchanted garden in Oxfordshire. I'll visit Kew with Anne Swithinbank's honest words in my mind and see trees and glasshouses with fresh eyes. Vivian Russell's photographs are icing on the rich cake and her own chapter on the conductor William Christie's garden in France reveals much about her magic eye behind the lens as well as his music.
The book was created and edited by Erica Hunningher, who had the idea of inviting such great gardeners as the ones I've mentioned, as well as Beth Chatto, Christopher Lloyd, Anna Pavord and Dan Pearson, etc, to write about gardens that have inspired their lives and work. With good writing, innovative book design and intriguing photography, the book itself is a garden of inspiration.