Gardens of Persia - Softcover

Investigating the evolution of the Persian paradise garden from its ancient beginnings to today's modern design, "Gardens of Persia" explores how buildings, water and plants combine to give the gardens of Persia a beauty and spiritual quality, which have inspired garden design throughout time, and in diverse cultures. World-renowned author Penelope Hobhouse begins with the oldest existing garden, Pasargadae, created by Cyrus the Great more than 2,500 years ago. With the coming of Islam, gardens became places for sacred contemplation and spiritual nourishment, and developed in later centuries as settings for romance and, in Mughal India, as symbols of the afterlife. Penelope Hobhouse links the development of these gardens to Persia's great heritage and breathtaking historical architecture. Meticulously researched in Iran and drawn from a profound understanding of gardens throughout the world, this wide-ranging account offers a stimulating new appreciation of gardening. The volume is beautifully illustrated with Jerry Harpur's specially commissioned photographs of gardens in Iran, India, Europe and the United States.

Penelope Hobhouse is one of gardening's brightest stars. She is holder of the Royal Horticultural Society's Victorian Medal of Honour and the Garden Writers' Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, and her garden designs throughout Europe and the United States, as well as her authoritative books, include Colour in Your Garden, Garden Style, Plants in Garden History and The Story of Gardening, have brought her international acclaim. She is an associate editor of Gardens illustrated and an accomplished teacher and lecturer. In 2000 and 2001 she led groups of gardeners and garden historians in Iran and made further research trips in 2002 to visit the gardens featured in Gardens of Persia.