The Prairie Spirit in Landscape Gardening (American Society of Landscape Architects Centennial Reprints series)

By Wilhelm Miller

Subjects: Landscape gardening, Prairie gardening

Description: "In 1915, Wilhelm Miller (1869-1938), an influential author and editor, published The Prairie Spirit in Landscape Gardening, a profusely illustrated book that championed the "prairie style" of landscape gardening. It was the first book to address the question of a truly American style of landscape design and remains one of the most significant early treatises on that topic.". "This volume features several projects by Jens Jensen, a Danish immigrant whose ecologically based, conservation-oriented approach to park and residential design had strong impact in Chicago and formed the foundation of the stylistic school Miller was promoting. The book also features photographs of O. C. Simonds's designs for Chicago's Graceland Cemetery and midwestern landscapes by Walter Burley Griffin and Warren H. Manning among others. Before and after images vividly demonstrate Miller's taste for abundant use of hardy native plants in landscape design. His emphatic captions - "Away with Gaudy Foreigners and Artifical Varieties!" "Restore the Native Vegetation!" - leave little doubt about his aesthetic position."--BOOK JACKET.