The thoughtful gardener / Jinny Blom.

Seeing. Trusting your instincts -- Understanding. Respecting what you unearth ; Geology ; The plant matrix ; Studying old maps ; Case study : the anti-garden -- Structuring. The necessary corsets ; Orientation ; The fundamentals of planning a layout ; Protection ; Routes and views ; Structures ; Walls and boundaries ; Green structure ; Water : Case study : an ordered estate -- Harmonizing. Loving the tune ; Creating context ; Texture and colour ; Making things ; Art and sculpture ; Case study : raw and sensitive landscape -- Rooting. The gardener is the garden ; Soil ; Structuring and layering planting ; Trees ; Topiary ; Shrubs ; Climbing plants ; Rose gardens ; Flowers and subshrubs ; Grasses ; Ferns ; Bulbs, corms, and rhizomes ; Plant groupings ; The kitchen door ; Meadows ; Hedges ; Case study : planting in tune with history -- Liberating. When it is all over, it can begin ; Conservation ; The art of gardening ; The patient protector ; Beauty is essential ; Down to earth ; Case study : an emancipated landscape.

"In The Thoughtful Gardener, Jinny Blom shares insight into the creative process she has developed while designing more than 250 gardens around the world. Jinny believes that garden design should lead from a house and its context. For her, design is more a matter of intelligence and appropriateness than imposing a particular style. As such, Jinny s approach, which she demonstrates in this book in the many and varied gardens she has created, can be applied to any garden in any situation. The reader can take inspiration from Jinny s principles and apply them to their own garden, whatever the shape, size of plot or aspect, to create a garden that will work for them and for their situation, giving enormous satisfaction for years to come."--Publisher's description.