This is a big book weighing in at around 5 pounds and filled to the brim with beautiful photographs and detailed descriptions of the elements and styles that comprise today’s garden designs.  Musgrave, an independent scholar and garden designer living in the UK, has given the reader 212, alphabetically ordered ‘elements and styles’ from ‘allee’ to ‘zeitgeist’.  For each one, he provides a detailed definition and description, several striking photographic examples, and references to gardens which utilize that element.  Gardens in 32 countries are presented with the large majority being in the UK, many public but also many private as well.

I love to read garden books as the temperatures fall and snow covers the gardens in Vermont, and this was no exception.  It’s weight and bulk made it a challenge to figure out how and where to read it—no bedtime curl up with this mighty tome.  Musgrave’s take on the garden as a ‘work of art….a delight to the senses and the imagination, aesthetically pleasing, visually stimulating, and a haven of tranquility’ are all spot on, and his book provided hours of enjoyment while reading and identifying elements in the photos that might be replicated in Vermont.

Highly recommended for any enthusiastic gardener, especially as the days grow shorter and the temperatures grow colder.