"'The Curious Gardeners' are acclaimed for their stylish and original approach to landscape design. They became better known with their first television series in 2000 and its accompanying book, which featured an engagingly idiosyncratic selection of traditional, eccentric and contemporary British gardens. Now they delve deeper into the principles of garden design. Taking us on a tour of more than forty British gardens, they focus on the six essential elements of successful garden-making through the centuries: time, form, materials, water, sculpture and -- last but by no means least -- plants. They explore their themes in gardens small and simple and magnificently grand. As they elegantly demonstrate in their own design for a new London garden, there are as many lessons to be learned from the classic early landscape gardeners as from the most contemporary of today's designers. Bringing their irreverent eye and outspoken point of view to some of the most inspiring gardens in Britain today, the Curious Gardeners show how a garden's natural beauty can be dramatically enhanced by following simple principles of effective design. Book jacket."--BOOK JACKET.