The Authentic Garden

Project Title: The Authentic Garden: Naturalistic and Contemporary Landscape Design (Book)
Landscape Architect: Land Morphology
Category: Category V - Analysis and Planning
Location: Seattle, WA
Description: The Authentic Garden explores the reemergence of sophisticated planting design. The book examines highly-regarded innovators and their influence on contemporary planting design movements. The book describes these significant planting design movements, including meadow, naturalistic, architectural, graphic, and ecological planting. Nationwide interest in planting design has been rekindled. The authors comprehensively capture and contextualize the impact of this development, utilizing expository essays and engaging photography to celebrate modern American landscape architecture.

Masterful planting design must consider resource management, geographical and historical context, use, climate and an artful interpretation. The book highlights meadow and matrix planting, which is a significant trend in sustainable design. The book includes examples of contextual design for historic projects, residential gardens, and public projects. A narrative explains who pioneered the various planting styles and how they are being interpreted today.

The Authentic Garden covers all climatic regions of the United States and illustrates sixty projects by nearly thirty firms. It was written to celebrate the re-emergence of plants in contemporary design as an important trend in the profession.

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