By Dan Pearson. Edited by Damon Murray, Stephen Sorrell, Huw Morgan. Foreword by Beth Chatto.
Taking inspiration from art, sculpture, Chicago prairies and folk architecture such as tree houses, Dan Pearson--acclaimed garden designer and “green-fingered guru” at the U.K. newspaper The Observer--lays out his design philosophy and working process, giving readers direct insight into his collaborative approach of working with nature, instead of imposing preconceptions upon it. Journeying from New Zealand to Japan via Thames-side barge gardens, Pearson focuses on the spirit of place as it emerges through geography, history, architecture and native flora, extrapolating this sense of place into a new gardening philosophy. Very far from conventional gardening books, Spirit radically expands the genre, inviting us to understand the act of gardening in the light of contemporary needs and with a keen environmental awareness; Pearson particularly stresses the importance of skills such as being able to “read” a variety of landscapes (both wild and cultivated), and of staying open to what those landscapes suggest in terms of cultivation. This long-awaited paperback edition uses 400 of Pearson's own much-admired photographs as reference points. Dan Pearson began his career as a professional designer in 1987. He is co-author of The Essential Garden Book (with Sir Terence Conran) and author of The Garden: A Year at Home Farm. He has presented and appeared in several TV series and has designed five award-winning Chelsea Flower Show gardens.
Featured image of a plant-filled house in Japan is reproduced from the Community Gardening chapter in Spirit: Garden Inspiration. Dan Pearson writes, "As I traveled further afield, I started to take note. I found people tending less than a few feet in alleyways in Tokyo; one little garden running into the next in a chain reaction that eventually greened the street."
"In the opening pages of this extraordinary book you might wonder how such scenes could possibly influence garden design today planned among the glad and concrete jungles of modern living. Yet, through his passion for plant life in all shapes and forms together with his affinity with plants in their natural environment, Dan Pearson shows how the most intimidating situations can be transformed. It takes a rare mind and eye to break away from our traditional view of what makes a garden, but through his many and varied experiences worldwide, Dan's kind has been clearly focused on what truly matters; the relationship between man, the natural world, and his own environment."
FORMAT: Pbk, 8.25 x 10.25 in. / 208 pgs / 400 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $34.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $40 ISBN: 9780956356291 PUBLISHER: FUEL Publishing AVAILABLE: 9/30/2011 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of print AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by FUEL Publishing. By Dan Pearson. Edited by Damon Murray, Stephen Sorrell, Huw Morgan. Foreword by Beth Chatto.
Taking inspiration from art, sculpture, Chicago prairies and folk architecture such as tree houses, Dan Pearson--acclaimed garden designer and “green-fingered guru” at the U.K. newspaper The Observer--lays out his design philosophy and working process, giving readers direct insight into his collaborative approach of working with nature, instead of imposing preconceptions upon it. Journeying from New Zealand to Japan via Thames-side barge gardens, Pearson focuses on the spirit of place as it emerges through geography, history, architecture and native flora, extrapolating this sense of place into a new gardening philosophy. Very far from conventional gardening books, Spirit radically expands the genre, inviting us to understand the act of gardening in the light of contemporary needs and with a keen environmental awareness; Pearson particularly stresses the importance of skills such as being able to “read” a variety of landscapes (both wild and cultivated), and of staying open to what those landscapes suggest in terms of cultivation. This long-awaited paperback edition uses 400 of Pearson's own much-admired photographs as reference points. Dan Pearson began his career as a professional designer in 1987. He is co-author of The Essential Garden Book (with Sir Terence Conran) and author of The Garden: A Year at Home Farm. He has presented and appeared in several TV series and has designed five award-winning Chelsea Flower Show gardens.
