A showcase of Britain's most extraordinary gardens and landscapes from the twentieth century to present day.

100 20th-Century Gardens and Landscapes highlights the evolution of gardens and landscapes over the past century, tracing how these distinctive creations complemented buildings of their period. Entries in this book are grouped in chronological periods, documenting changing styles and techniques in a visual timeline. The examples chosen take the story from the Arts and Crafts garden and the garden city, through the landscapes created for mid-century housing and the new towns, to the low-maintenance gardens of the 1980s and contemporary trends for community and wildlife gardens.

Designed landscapes were often integral to the conception of twentieth-century developments; the inclusion of a handful of particularly successful landscapes for memorial gardens, offices, industry, transport and parks demonstrate a changing attitude to public green space during the century and its increasing importance as private gardens have become ever smaller. Designers and architects such as Piet Oudolf, Charles Jencks, Frederick Gibberd, Geoffrey Jellicoe, Vita Sackville-West and Gertrude Jekyll are all featured, alongside more detailed essays on the history of gardens, planting styles, the importance of modern landscapes, and the career of Geoffrey Jellicoe.

The text is written by architectural, landscape and garden historians including Elain Harwood, Barbara Simms and Alan Powers. Beautifully illustrated throughout with photography, illustrations and garden plans, this book is ideal for gardeners and landscape lovers alike.



The Twentieth Century Society is a British charity that campaigns for the preservation of architectural heritage from 1914 onwards. They provide support and advice to architects and planning authorities to protect the best twentieth-century architecture and design, whether through listing or sympathetic development and management. In 2023, the society launched a campaign to protect Britain's few remaining cooling towers.



'Refreshingly wide in scope … intelligent and thought-provoking'



'This enjoyable and colourful guided tour through landscapes from the Arts and Crafts via the Barbican to Derek Jarman's Dungeness cottage might make an enticing gazetteer for a summer spent closer to home than usual.'



'A catalogue of private and public gardens that well illustrates how garden design and landscape architecture emerged together during that century.'



'A shorthand way to appreciate the way garden designers, town planners, landscape architects and others help shape the world around us. And that is certainly worth celebrating.'



'Casts a much needed light on why it is so important now to discuss, protect and preserve these spaces'



'An absorbing history of a much-loved but much overlooked part of our lives'