By Patrick Blanc
W.W. Norton & Company, $65.00, 208 pages
The Vertical Garden by author, artist and botanist Patrick Blanc is a book beyond your typical garden book. The book opens with nine chapters devoted to natural habitats such as waterfalls, cliffs and epiphytes, just to name a few. Blanc has traveled the world and has captured some stunning photos of plants and their habitats. The book then moves to the impact of plants on architecture. Again, Blanc has countless photos detailing superficial, hazardous and destructive impacts. For many of the pictures, you must look at them several times in order to believe they are real.
Blanc’s passion is obvious. He invented the concept of the vertical garden in 1991 and believed he could make a building transparent or invisible with plants. He offers step-by-step photographs detailing the incredible process. The book then closes with almost 100 pages of photographs and details of many of his works. This book is a testament to Blanc’s vision, dreams and artistry in a life-altering way. You will be mesmerized from beginning to end with the intricate plans and the attention to detail that is not often seen.
Reviewed by Seniye Groff
[amazon asin=0393733793&text=Buy On Amazon&template=carousel]