Dreamscapes: Inspiration and Beauty in Gardens Near and Far
Gardening Reference Nature Photography Art & Design Landscape Design Travel
Claire Takacs’ Dreamscapes: Inspiration and Beauty in Gardens Near and Far (Hardie Grant Books, 2018) is a 304-page, oversized hardback that doubles as a coffee-table art book and a serious reference for anyone who loves plants, landscape design, or arm-chair travel. Weighing nearly four pounds and printed on heavy stock, every spread showcases Takacs’ award-winning photography—misty morning shots of English perennial borders, sun-drenched Australian dry gardens, Japanese moss temples under snow, and Moroccan courtyards glowing with bougainvillea. The images are grouped thematically rather than geographically, so readers can compare how different cultures handle water features, topiary, color palettes or naturalistic meadow planting on a single set of pages—an approach designers routinely call “the quickest visual master-class in contemporary garden style.”
What sets this copy apart for collectors is its immaculate interior: pages are crisp, unmarked, and free of the library stamps or inky sidelines that often plague ex-library books. While there are discreet withdrawal stickers on the rear cover, the iconic dust-jacket artwork and all 300+ plates remain vibrant, making the book gift-worthy straight out of the box. The sewn binding is still tight, so the heavy book will lie flat on a drafting table or lap without pages loosening—vital for landscapers who’ll return to it again and again for palette ideas or client presentations.
Beyond the pictures, Takacs weaves short, poetic essays on why certain gardens move us: the role of scent at dusk, the emotional pull of decayed stone, or the way moonlight recolors silver foliage. Gardeners seeking practical take-aways will find plant lists keyed to climate zones, sketches showing sight-line tricks, and captions that name cultivars pictured. Whether you’re redesigning a suburban backyard, planning a public rooftop, or simply day-dreaming in midwinter, Dreamscapes delivers an instant dose of chlorophyll-charged inspiration and the reassurance that sustainable, breathtaking beauty is achievable almost anywhere on earth.
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