Public Planting Resources: Publications


This is the first in a series of posts designed to make up the new Public Planting Resources Page. This overview gives you an idea of how I anticipate it'll work.

Newspapers, Magazines and Journals

Out on the Streets - a Twitter newspaper I publish on a weekly basis. It comprises the tweeted links made by various organisations concerned with the quality of our open spaces which I've found on Twitter. There's a mixture of news, views and resources considered to be of note at the time of tweeting. NB there may also be off topic links depending on what's been tweeted!

Horticulture Week - the trade paper of the gardening industry which regularly features news concerning public planting which is also accessible online. As well as relevant articles highlighted the Latest News on the Home page when appropriate, it has a section dedicated to Parks and Gardens, plus a resource list of key research articles which help to put forward the case for our green spaces. There's also a debate on whether Parks Trusts are the way forward for ensuring the future of our major green spaces following the recent budget cuts.

Update: From April 2011, you'll need to subscribe to Horticuture Week to see the articles in detail. You can still get an idea of the content from the links and there's also a 14-day free trial for you to see whether a subscription's for you.

Green Places - the charity Green Space's magazine dedicated to looking at the issues and news surrounding our open spaces. The Green Places link takes you to a summary page where you can also view a copy of the magazine (not necessarily the latest) online. A dedicated website is also under construction. I've just signed up for a subscription and also volunteered to be one of their book reviewers. They also have an email news service called The Bench which you can sign up for on the above Green Space link. I'll be telling you more about this organisation when I write the Charities/NGOs section.

Garden Design Journal - the journal of the Society of Garden Designers which often has news and articles concerning major open spaces commissions. You don't need to be a member of the society to subscribe, though it is quite expensive. I found a very cheap deal via a flyer in Gardeners' World magazine a while ago, so it might be worth keeping an eye open for something similar in the future or asking them for an old copy to see if this one's for you.

Books

Good Parks Guide 2006-2007 - a joint publication from Green Space and the RHS details more than 500 free parks and other open spaces around the UK for you to enjoy. It looks like this was envisaged as an annual guide, but I've only found a copy for 2006/7 priced at 1p + p&p on Amazon. It's a bit like the parks equivalent of the Yellow Book and I was surprised at how many different types of open space are counted as a park for this guide.

On Guerrilla Gardening - a controversial entry for this resource page perhaps, but Richard Reynold's handbook for gardening without boundaries is worth a look not only for dedicated guerrilla gardeners like me, but for anyone contemplating an 'official' community led initiative to look after a local public space.

Parks, Plants and People - Lynden B Miller's personal account of her work dedicated to transforming New York's parks and other public spaces since the mid-1980s. The link takes you to my book review on ThinkinGardens.

The Planting Design Handbook - Nick Robinson's definitive text aimed at landscape architects and amenity horticulturalists on the principles and practice of designing with plants for public and institutional landscapes. NB it's a textbook, so is rather lacking in inspirational photos (most of which are in black and white), but is packed with information about this aspect which is often overlooked on many landscape architecture courses. It's also available as a free eBook.

NB This post is a work in progress which will be added to as and when new items suitable for inclusion are found. If you have a useful resource to add to this category, then do contact me at vegplotting at gmail dot com with the details and I'll add it to the list.

Comments

  1. The bike shed21 December 2010 at 15:31

    Merry Christmas VP - my google reader is showing another posts by you, but won't let me see it on your blog. It is a one saying Merry Christmas :)

    Weird?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Threadspider21 December 2010 at 17:04

    Mine too- and either way-a wonderful Christmas to you and NAH. Hoping to catch up when normal service resumes-sometime in January I reckon.x

    ReplyDelete
  3. Quail1 January 2011 at 13:13

    I got the Guerrilla Gardening book for Christmas. It was a used copy that Husband picked up as one of my silly presents at a charity shop. It included a hand drawn map/plan, of, presumably, the prior owner of the book. Which is all rather romantic...no indication where on earth the guerilla-ing took place though! Shame! It is now a bookmark!

    ReplyDelete
  4. VP16 January 2011 at 19:55

    Mark - that was because I pressed th epublish button instead of the save one. All the auto updates of RSS etc go out before I can get to the post to put it back into scheduled or draft mode as appropriate.

    TS - good to see you last week!

    Quail - welcome! I love the extra bits and bobs you find in 2ndhand books. Enjoy your read and guerrilla gardening too - I hope!

    ReplyDelete

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