Phillip Johnson: book review - and DVD giveaways

Sometimes I wish I had used a proper, professional garden designer instead of the painful, stumbling process of learning as I go. If I did go the professional way, there would only be two possible candidates. As far as I know, there have only ever been two outstandingly creative, important, original, innovative, inspiring, thoughtful and ethical garden designers. One of them is Edna Walling, who died in 1973. The other is Phillip Johnson, whose stellar career culminated in winning the Chelsea Garden Show last year.

Philip's signature curved boardwalk slicing through the natural pool
(from the book)

 Edna Walling's influence stemmed from her writing as well her garden creations. In this new book, Connected: the Sustainable Landscapes of Phillip Johnson, the garden designer lays out the ideas, ideals and philosophy underpinning his garden design work.

Phillip's philosophy and aim is to connect with nature in a sustainable way. This means creating chemical free environments, sustainable water management practices and thriving habitats for indigenous plants and animals, thoughtfully connecting the landscape to the home.

He writes about his early influences - as a child digging in the dirt in his grandparent's garden, as a boy climbing rocks and hanging out in the Grampians, as an adult buying a bush block in Olinda and using it to develop his ideas. In Olinda, he created a natural swimming pool, complete with waterfall, all looking as natural as if it had always been there.

play of light and reflection in billabong
(from the book)

Phillip Johnson's gardens, like natural landscapes, are based around rocks and water. All his gardens contain billabongs - water features that are not filled from mains water and often don't even need a pump. They are filled by rainfall collected from the roof. Even if they dry out they are still beautiful features in the garden, as dry creek beds.

These gardens belong in a hot, dry climate, designed to conserve our precious water resources. They are meant for humans to live in, but they are also habitat for frogs, birds and all wildlife.

Ideas are one thing but putting them into practice is another. One of Phillip's ideals is to bring nature back to the city and suburbs. The book contains stunning photos to show what can be done in an ordinary suburban garden, and includes plant lists and plans to help as well.

the Chelsea Garden Show exhibit
(taken from the book)

Now to the giveaways ...  a documentary that follows the work of Phillip Johnson and his team around the winning exhibit at Chelsea. It took years of dedication and planning to transform a bare flat block in an urban park in London into a multi layered slice of the Australian bush. Apparently Her Majesty the Queen of England was particularly taken with the frogs, that in actuality were recorded sounds placed discreetly in the garden!

DVD front cover

If you would like to be in the draw for winning one of the 10 DVDs on offer, let me know either in comment to this post or via email.  Winners will be drawn on January 26th - Australia Day - and notified by email. Unfortunately the competition is only for people in Australia. Everyone who put up their hands for this will be notified of the result.

Connected: the sustainable landscapes of Phillip Johnson
Publisher: Murdoch Books
Photography by Claire Takacs
Publication: November 2014
RRP: $59.99 (Aus)