A New Book Cultivates a Rich Survey of 300 Magnificent Gardens

From the humble backyard plot to the royal Water Theatre Grove at Versailles, gardens have long been a source of sustenance, beauty, and spiritual communion. A forthcoming book from Phaidon sprouts from this history as it celebrates how these sites of joy and grandeur endure throughout the ages.

The Contemporary Garden travels to 300 green spaces across 40 countries, surveying the everlasting link between horticulture, nature, and aesthetics. Included in its 300-plus pages are private and public spaces in a wide array of styles, from wild plots in urban centers to impeccably trimmed topiaries to designs that prize water features as much as foliage.

a spread from the book 'The Contemporary Garden' with a photograph of Little Island in the Hudson River

While the book peers into some gardens only accessible to a few, many of its pages highlight well-trodden areas open to the public, like New York’s elevated Little Island, designed by Heatherwick Studio. Perhaps unsurprisingly, several spaces also double as outdoor galleries—including the High Line in Manhattan—or are artworks themselves. In the latter category is Gabriel Orozco’s The Orozco Garden, which bridges sculpture and horticulture through intricately laid brickwork and overgrown grasses at South London Gallery.

Bridging natural sciences with art and design, The Contemporary Garden showcases how, even in this increasingly digital age, green spaces continue to be one of humanity’s perennial fascinations.

Slated for release in late September, The Contemporary Garden is available for pre-order in the Colossal Shop.

a square garden with depression ponds Kim Wilkie for the 10th Duke of Buccleuch, Orpheus, Boughton House, Kettering, Northamptonshire, England, 2009. Photo by Kim Wilkie

a spread from the book 'The Contemporary Garden' with a photograph of a colorful landscape composition

a aerial view of a lush garden with a pond Louis Benech and Jean-Michel Othoniel, Water Theatre Grove, Château de Versailles, Versailles, France (2015). Photo © EPV/Thomas Garnier

a wood walkway through a green forest with scaffolding made of branches Dominique and Benoît Delomez, Jardin intérieur à ciel ouvert, Athis-de-l’Orne, Normandy, France, (2000–11). Photo courtesy of Benoît and Dominique Delomez

a white building with circular trimmed trees in the background with a stream flowing in the foreground Erik Dhont, Bonemhoeve, Damme, West Flanders, Belgium, (2005). Photo © Jean-Pierre Gabriel

a largely tile and stone garden in a courtyard Gabriel Orozco, The Orozco Garden, South London Gallery, London, England, (2016). Photo by Andy Stagg

the cover of 'The Contemporary Garden'

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A New Book Cultivates a Rich Survey of 300 Magnificent Gardens — Colossal

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