John Brookes has over forty years’ experience of garden design, whose first book was published in 1969. He trained with Dame Sylvia Crowe and Brenda Colvin, two of the greatest garden designers of the Twentieth Century. His work has taken him across the globe, giving him the opportunity to create gardens in all locations and climates.

Garden Masterclass draws on this experience and looks at every aspect of garden design. Each lavishly illustrated chapter covers a single element from setting to the final touches of furniture and lighting. Rather than being a blow-by-blow account of designing a garden, John Brookes gives you the tools of good garden design. It is then up to you to choose the path you wish to take. There are no rules, just a very broad range of ideas, backed up with lots of photographs, diagrams and sketches.

To begin with, we should all consider the setting of a garden and how it reflects the landscape around it. We should think of ourselves in that environment as well as the plants and wildlife. From there you learn how to create the bones of a garden, the defining features. The chapter on direction looks at creating movement with grand avenues or meandering cottage garden paths. He explores levels, from an elegant fan of steps with a rill running down the middle to terraces and decking, which all add interest. If you have the space, you might be tempted into some contouring but be careful not to fall into a trap. It is all too easy to create what looks like a dump of earth, rather than a grassy hillock.

John Brookes professes not to be interested in horticulture per se and so only one chapter is given over to plants. With plenty of photographs and some planting plans, you will find something to mull over but he is looking at the bigger picture. Why compete with the many other books that deal with this subject so well? The message in Garden Masterclass is to get your design in order first and then think about filling it with roses.

The last chapter looks at detail, the finishing touches from garden chairs, which he is partial to painting an Aegean blue at the moment, to lighting. The book finishes on a high note with this invaluable piece of advice. ‘Where possible, always up-light, as a light placed high at night creates shadows which can be as dangerous as unseen obstacles.’

Garden Masterclass is a one stop book in garden design and will be used by students and amateurs alike. It is a huge resource of ideas, which should keep you going for years. Buy this book before you buy a spade.

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Publication details:
352 pp. £25
ISBN 0751314331. Published by Dorling Kindersley
2002

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