What Makes a Garden, by Jinny Blom: A Review of Her Second Book
It is not often that one can say with confidence that a coffee table book is “long awaited,” but nothing that landscape designer and writer Jinny Blom creates is so easily boxed, not even her books. Photography by Britt Willoughby, from What Makes a Garden. Instead What Makes a Garden is a glorious compendium that takes readers deep into the nitty gritty amply demonstrating... ...that a garden is much more than a collection of things and not limited to a particular ecological manifesto A landscape in Italy, repaired and designed by Jinny Blom. This is not an eco-memoir or a rallying cry to ditch the old ways. “Garden planting that can semi-naturalize a place is my personal preference. It seems to give a relaxed quality that I enjoy.” Steering clear of terms like closed loop gardening she incorporates these ideas in a more everyday manner I hate... ...taking material to landfill and we are on the whole very proactive recyclers Truth be told most muck has value A project in the English countryside. A wall in Italy that was topped with marble coping, in a response to the local vernacular. Agastache foeniculum stands up to the breezes of an English garden. So much to do, so little time. She was able to channel that need to unblock things into her former career as a psychologist, and is still addressing blockages in her own way. “Light is a vital consideration in small gardens.” Lest you feel that Jinny Blom has the answer to everything, she talks about her own garden as a work in progress. What Makes a Garden: A Considered Approach to Garden Design by Jinny Blom is published by Frances Lincoln, $50.