The Contemporary Garden by Phaidon editors (Phaidon Press Inc.) is a comprehensive survey of today’s modern gardens and the designers and landscape architects who created them. Three hundred entries spanning the globe will introduce you to people and places you’ve never imagined. The book encompasses gardens from the late 1990’s to the present day, including some landscapes you’re likely familiar with, i.e., The Monk’s Garden at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, but you will see many others (a private garden in Guadalajara, Spain by designer Fernando Martos with hummocks of rock rose and lavender complemented by ornamental grasses and spring blooms).
Each entry consists of a photo of the landscape, followed by a brief text identifying the designer and explaining the main concepts or themes that make the garden a standout. The editors chose these gardens not only for their lovely design, but also for considerations of sustainability, conservation, health and wellbeing. In the introduction to the book, designer and author Annie Guilfoyle quotes designers Terence Conran and Dan Pearson back in 1998 as saying “Gardens have never been as important in our lives as they are today. In our stressful world, the garden has become a sanctuary.” That’s as true today as it was back then, and you’ll find inspiration on every page in this book — in rejuvenated historic gardens, on rooftops and on former industrial sites, and in private spaces all over the world.
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