I find it hard enough choosing Cotswold gardens when asked for recommendations so making a list when there are no geographical boundaries must have been challenging. Yet, that’s what Dorling Kindersley have done in Gardens of the World, a wide-ranging tour of every kind of garden imaginable.
Some are internationally famous, such as Sissinghurst and Kew, others less familiar – Lambey Gardens in Australia, or Giardini di Ninfa in Italy. All fit the remit of the book in that they “tell a unique story, have been pivotal in the history of design or are reinventing what it means to be a garden”.
Rather than curating them in an obvious geographical way, Gardens of the World divides its subjects by way of theme: Carefully Curated, Mindful Spaces, Wild and Wonderful, Urban Oases, Innovators and Influencers.
Some gardens, such as Versailles, are given several pages, while others get a much shorter entry. All are illustrated with images that give as much of an understanding of the gardens as the text. There are also interesting ‘Focus On’ details, ‘Try it at Home’ ideas, and ‘If You Like This’ suggestions of other gardens with a similar feel.
Along the way, we learn that Germany’s Herrenhäuser Gärten has one of the biggest collections of orchids in the world, discover the Blue Poppy Glade at Jardins de Métis in Canada, and look around Ōtari-Wilton’s Bush, a New Zealand garden that unusually concentrates solely on indigenous plants.
A common theme is the sheer determination of gardeners to create, no matter what the climate or surroundings. So, Tromsø Arctic-Alpine Botanic Garden in Norway is the world’s most northernmost botanic space, while The Butchart Gardens have been made in a former Canadian quarry.
Urban gardens include those that occupy a bomb-damaged London church, a former steelworks in Germany and a disused Australia reservoir.
Writers from many countries have contributed to Gardens of the World yet there’s no jarring as we move between the gardens and the tone is conversational.
The introduction tells us, “we’ve been spoilt for choice when compiling this book”. I’m now spoilt for choice when it comes to places I want to visit.
Gardens of the World is published by Dorling Kindersley with an RRP of £25. You can buy it here for £18.29. (If you buy using this link, I receive a small commission. The price you pay is not affected.)
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Despite my promise not to buy any more books, especially gardening books, this does sound appealing. I’m not likely to travel to any of these places now. One of the most amazing gardens I have seen is in Hamilton, New Zealand.
Now, New Zealand is high on my list of places to see.