Alex Ramsay

Some 28 important gardens in Japan are covered off in this book by Helena Attlee. Basically it is a picture book with some details about each garden ...mainly historical details. There is very little about any theories of garden design or layout , but maybe the is unnecessary with a book like this. The photographs are great...though, in a few cases, I noticed the perennial problem of photographing Japanese gardens; you need to be there at the right time. So the photos of the gardens in Okayama...Koraku-en appear to be taken in early winter. I had the same problem. Visiting there at the wrong season....before all the azaleas come out and the grass turns green. But, in it's own way, each of these great gardens has something to offer to the visitor in every season. And the constant march of the seasons.....so evident in Japan.....lends a unique charm to every garden. Still....it's hard really to beat these gardens in spring when the cherry blossoms are in flower or in Autumn when the leaves turn to bright red and yellow. I think Helena and her photographer husband have done a pretty good job with this book. It's a good overview of a large number of very beautiful gardens ...and they have not neglected to pick up on a few of the small details that make these places so lovely:....moss around the base of trees; roof tiles inserted in the ground; a rock tied with string to mark a no-go area. Great pictures.… (plus d'informations)