Garden Design Magazine

Recent slightly disappointing covers and the new one on the right.

I got a bit bewildered surfing the net the other day, I was quite certain I was going to the Garden Design magazines web site but when I got there I had a bit of whoa-moment before I realized I was in the right place, but Garden Design had done themselves a bit of a makeover. I got the actual issue the other day as well and it looks as it isn’t just the surface that has gotten a redesign.

I’m a bit on the fence, it’s interesting and its line with certain mega trends that have the most impact on gardening. At the same time the first cover with this new look is very black and has the headline “The New Victorian Age” on it. Underneath follows: “Rare plants, smart design, and a passion for the natural world: the 19^th century looks new again”. That’s not a summation or a path I would have taken.

On the other hand James Oseland, the editor-in-chief does state that they “wanted to honor the horticulturist inside us – that person, who is obsessed with, say, the technical aspects of propagating- while at the same time speaking to our sense of romance, our wanderlust, our ravenous curiosity.” That sounds good to me. But then I get my doubts, supposedly the new garden design wants to have a literary voice and even though I’m going to go to China later this year I thought the review on “The Emperor’s Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City” was very elitist, both the choice of book and the issues that the reviewer chose to highlight.

There were a few others things that I didn’t like that much either, some of the photographs were quite odd and not beautiful in a way that I’ve come to expect from GD. The worst was an overhead shot of Aloes. It was not pretty and if it was “arty”, then, no thanks.  The feature on black plants felt a bit ten years ago and I didn’t like the absence of pots and the feature on Marfa didn’t interest me in the least. The whole Victoriana thing was a bit of a theme so really, I hope the next issue will be different.

Some covers that I have liked recently: I like the mix of garden furniture and features in combination with plants. Orange works really well in gardens.

I’m really hoping things take another turn; Garden Design has been one of my favorite magazines for a long time. I like the commitment and the knowledge and most of the time the photography is excellent. The styling has always been first class and the subjects have been interesting.

Occasionally a few things have struck me as slightly pandering to an audience: such as doing features on Hollywood stars’ gardens, but I’d rather read about that than that Marfa feature that seemed like it was really low on garden substance. At least the Hollywood stars knew how to hire good garden designers…

A few favorite covers with plants in focus: the one in the middle is my all time favorite, it was a great issue as well.

Pientä pohdinta Garden Design lehden ympärillä, en käännä koska lehti on kuitenkin englanniksi 

 Lite funderingar kring Garden Design tidningen, jag ids inte översätta eftersom tidning är på engelska i vilket fall som helst.