The English Garden by Ursula Buchan

I am doing a Botanical Block of the Month through Quiltfolk this year--the reason is that there are interviews each month with Kaffe Fawsett that take place in his home and studio and while he is not completely my cup of tea as a designer, he is a well deserved icon and I couldn't pass up the chance to spend nine months hearing what he has to say and seeing where he works and what his process is. So while he is American, he lives and works in England and since we are doing botanicals one of the people in the group suggested looking at English gardens as a source of inspiration for the quilt that we produce for this project, and that resonated with me. It has been 30 years since we did a pass for the National Trust and toured houses with large English gardens but I was impressed with them then and this book is a great visual walk through the various styles of English gardens, from traditional to contemporary, those with water features and those with ornamental sculpture. I would recommend this--it is both visually beautiful and informative. This book, along with The English Gardener's Garden, are excellent visual displays of what is a centuries old practice.