A quartet of garden books celebrates the rhythms of nature and the simple pleasures of strolling through a garden, offering a gentle reminder to pause and “smell the roses.”
COMPILED BY Gina Dionisio PHOTOS Supplied
The Avant Gardens
by gestalten & John Tebbs
Championing the out-of-the-ordinary, The Avant Gardens showcases a collection of unusual gardens that blur the lines between the natural and the cultivated world. This comprehensive guide takes the reader through a wide range of projects that reflect the shifting mindsets and cultures of their locale, challenging our notion of what gardens can be and how these verdant landscapes can make us feel. | gestalten.com
The Contemporary Garden
by Phaidon Editors, Annie Guilfoyle, Sorrel Everton, Tovah Martin (Phaidon, 2025)
Showcasing a curated selection of striking contemporary gardens from more than 40 countries, The Contemporary Garden celebrates the beauty and creativity of garden design. Curated in collaboration with an international team of horticultural experts, this wide-ranging collection includes iconic public gardens such as the High Line and Changi Airport Garden, as well as private gems, such as a dreamy hillside garden in Morocco by Umberto Pasti and Anna Wintour’s elegant garden inupstate New York by Miranda Brooks.
This unique, curated collection features the work of renowned garden designers and landscape architects, such as Fiona Brockhoff, Dan Pearson, Sarah Price, and Bernard Trainor, alongside projects by rising stars and owner-makers.
Through its beautifully designed pages, The Contemporary Garden celebrates each garden by demonstrating how our evolving stylistic and horticultural aesthetic fosters an increasingly strong connection with the natural world. phaidon.com | jonathanball.co.za
Brahman Hills: The Making of a World-class Garden
by Michele Magwood, with Iain Buchan and Tim Steyn (Johnathan Ball Publishers)
Created by Iain Buchan, his wife Carol, and landscaper Tim Steyn, the gardens at Brahman Hills are truly magical – but that wasn’t always the case.
Brahman Hills: The Making of a World-class Garden delves into the backstory of the spectacular garden. Originally a property featuring a run-down motel, the Buchans bought the land in 2011 and transformed it into a wedding venue with the idea of one day creating a grand garden. In 2020, landscaper Tim Steyn was asked to draw up plans, and four years on, an audacious, magical garden has been rendered from the fertile Midlands soil.
Today, Brahman Hills boasts a moat, a grotto, a magnificent sculpture garden, water features, paths, and 16 beehives that are works of art in themselves. In fact, the gardens are so beautiful that they caught the attention of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) in the United Kingdom, which selected them as a Partner Garden in 2023. It then went on to win the RHS Regional Winner award for that year. brahmanhills.co.za | jonathanball.co.za
150 Gardens You Need to Visit Before You Die
by Stefanie Waldek (Lannoo)
150 Gardens You Need to Visit Before You Die is the ultimate bucket list for all garden lovers.
Featuring gardens from six continents, this collection is an oasis in book form. From Kew Gardens in London to the Singapore Botanical Gardens, and from Monet’s garden at Giverny to the Zen garden of the Ryoan-ji Temple in Kyoto, this tome profiles a selection of the most beautiful gardens in the world, renowned for their exceptional flora, imaginative designs, and inspiring locations. shop.babylonstoren.com | lannoopublishers.com/en
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