Chicago Botanic Garden

Education — Lenhardt Library

Current Books & Book Reviews

PHOTO: bookcover

Tim Richardson.
Avant Gardeners.
New York: Thames & Hudson, 2008.
paper, 352 pp., ISBN 978–0–50028–826–9, $34.95.

British landscape critic Tim Richardson draws attention to contemporary landscape design in a collection of photographs of the cutting-edge works of 50 prominent landscape architects and designers from around the world. Referring to the direction of these endeavors, he calls the movement conceptualist landscape design, and explains that it is “characterized by the use of colour, artificial materials and witty commentary on a site’s history and culture.” He discusses these visionaries in a series of short essays that accompany views of individual sites. Readers will find a directory listing the names and addresses of the designers in the concluding pages.

— Marilyn K. Alaimo, garden writer and volunteer, Chicago Botanic Garden.