Ancient Myth & Modern Magic

About the Book

 
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Overview

 

GARDENS of CORFU

Text by Rachel Weaving
Photographs by Marianne Majerus
preface by Mary Keen

hardbound with dust jacket

256 pages, 290 photographs
Includes Index
250 x 350 mm

published by Impress
impress-publishing.com

ISBN 978-1-9997825-1-1
ASIN 1999782518

£49.95 / €55 / $65

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Greenest of the Greek islands, Corfu has long inspired artists, writers, and travellers with the beauty of its natural landscapes and intrigued them with its unusual cultural history. Magnificently illustrated and a delight to read, this first-ever book on Corfu’s gardens focuses entirely on private gardens, which range from romantic old estates and highly personal ‘grandmothers’ gardens’ to stunning contemporary works by international designers. Rich with stories about the gardens and their creation, the text brims with insights into the island’s unusual social and natural history. A series of in-depth portraits shows how design ideals have evolved, influenced by global and mediterranean design trends but respecting the local spirit of place and drawing on local craft traditions. The newer gardens are designed for sustainability, conserving water and drawing inspiration from the surrounding natural landscape. Tracing the roots of their inspiration, the book’s last chapter explores the island’s varied wild landscape and the procession of wildflowers through the seasons. The illustrations are by Marianne Majerus, who won the 2018 IGPOTY European Garden Photography award for one of the photographs in the book. The Preface is by Mary Keen, garden columnist for the UK Daily Telegraph.

From the Preface by Mary Keen: “There is no doubt that Corfu is the most magical of all the Greek islands. Corfu has also been called ‘The Garden Isle’. Blessed with more rainfall than anywhere in the Aegean and with a legacy of ancient olive trees from the Venetian rule, the place and its flowers have always enchanted visitors…. It is good to read that so many garden makers in this book have respected the spirit and beauty of the island… Lovers of Corfu and of gardens will find plenty of magic in the pages that follow.”

 

Contents

 
 

Chapter One

Corfu Gardens: Ancient Myth and Modern Magic

 

Chapter Two

Garden Making in Corfu—Elements of Style

Dialogue with the landscape
Soil, water, and weather
Sunlight and shade
Elements of Corfiot style

 

Chapter Three

Heritage Gardens

Historical gardens

San Stefano
The Theotoky garden in Doukades
Kouloura
The British Cemetery
Krevatsoula
Afra
A Gastouri estate

Green spaces in Corfu Town

Village gardens

 

Chapter Four

Contemporary Gardens

A garden in Nissaki
Kassiopia Estate
Sto Dasos
A garden in Sgombou
Cavo Alkyoni
Rou
Lamari
Bellerbe
A garden in Lafki
A garden in northeast Corfu
Levanta
Soukia
Zetouna
Villa Principessa
Agnos House
Kanonas and Strongilo

 

Chapter 5

The Wild Garden

The Corfiot landscape

Wildflowers through the year

Useful plants

 

Works cited

Index

Acknowledgements

 
 

About the Authors

 

text by

Rachel Weaving

 

Rachel Weaving is an author, garden maker, and adviser on garden design who divides her time between Washington, DC and Corfu. She has an RHS certificate in Horticulture and studied at the Oxford College of Garden Design. She began creating her current garden twelve years ago on a Corfiot hillside. The challenge of doing so led her to study the island’s gardening conditions and traditions and their roots in its culture, history, and natural environment.

 

Photographs by

Marianne Majerus

 

Marianne Majerus is one of Europe’s finest garden photographers; her artistic and sensitive images are sought-after by publishers and private clients. She has won many awards including International Garden Photographer of the Year and Photographer of the Year by the Garden Media Guild. She is a founding member of the Professional Garden Photographers’ Association and an RHS judge. Recent books include Gardens of the Italian Lakes, Great Gardens of London, and Garden Design: A Book of Ideas, for which she was awarded the title of Book Photographer of the Year by the Garden Media Guild. She won the 2018 European Garden Photography Award with an image from this book.

 

Preface by

Mary Keen

Mary Keen is a garden designer, author, and lecturer. She is a frequent contributor to garden magazines and a columnist for the UK newspaper The Telegraph. The most recent of her five books is Paradise and Plenty: A Rothschild Family Garden.

 

Design by

Phil Cleaver

Phil Cleaver, designer of the book, has won many awards for book design and typography. A principal at the Oxford and London design consultancy et-al, which he founded in 1992, he is also Professor of Creative Industries in the School of Art and Design at Middlesex University. Phil is a fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers, a founding trustee of The Monotype Museum, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He lectures worldwide on design, and his early typographical work is archived in St Bride’s Printing Library. His book design is in the permanent collection of the V&A Museum’s National Art Library.