? Lifelong Landscape Design by Mary Palmer Dargan (Gibbs Smith Publishers, 207 pages) $35
A garden can be a reflection of the health and well-being of the people who nurture it.
Author Mary Palmer Dargan views garden design as an ongoing exploration and the opportunity to create a harmonious outdoor space that can reduce stress and uplift the body and soul.
Following the principles she lays out for a lifelong approach to landscape design, Dargan structures the chapters based upon her nine essential components of healthy living. She titles the chapters: The Web of Life, Social Places, Be Active, Passive Places, Freedom of Access & Choice, Activate Your Senses to Reduce Stress, Gardening is Therapy, The Healthy House & Living Communities, and The Master Plan. Within each chapter she offers suggestions for how to achieve that component, such as creating depressions in the earth to plant a rain garden for a more sustainable approach.
Beautiful colour photographs appear throughout the book showing stunning examples from Dargan's own garden and projects she has worked on.
