Books by Vivian Russell

This is a story of two journeys, separated by almost a century, yet both focusing on Italian gardens. In 1903, Edith Wharton was commissioned by "Century Magazine" to write a series of articles on Italian villas and gardens. Nearly 100 years later, Vivian Russell follows in her footsteps.

A collection of classroom study materials which focus on the diverse African cultures. Includes replica maps, reproductions of art, and broasheets.

This behind-the-scenes exploration looks at the history of Claude Monet's garden at Giverny in France, and links the world of Monet the artists with Monet the gardener. Four chapters trace the garden as it reveals its horticultural treasures throughout the year.

Season by season, Monet's Garden charts the splendor of the world-renowned garden Monet cultivated and then translated into more than 500 paintings. Here is a unique and visionary portrait of one of the most frequently visited places in all of France. Starting with the story of how Monet acquired and transformed the land, author Vivian Russell details the history of the garden and traces the development of Monet as an artist and gardener. She presents a vivid account of the evolution of Giverny, with insights from the people who restored the garden to its former glory, as well as from its current caretakers.

Monet's Water Lilies explores Monet's fascination with the water garden and why it was for him an inexhaustible inspiration for hundreds of studies and paintings. Monet spent his last thirty years attempting to capture on canvas the luminosity and transparency of water lilies. Vivian Russell's superb photographs reflect the quality that Monet sought in his paintings -- "the emotional and physical experience of being by the pond". Monet's water lily paintings are shown here juxtaposed with contemporary photography of plants and ponds and archival photos of the painter and his famous garden at Giverny. Russell has photographed many of the varieties Monet ordered for his pond in dramatic close-up to show their extraordinary beauty. Her sensibility as a writer and her expertise as a photographer combine to make Monet's Water Lilies a wonderfully fresh vision of Monet's art.

Allow yourself to be taken on a gently paced tour of 33 beautiful gardens in England, Scotland, France, Italy and the United States, in the company of Peter Beales and Vivian Russell. The warmth and wisdom of rose-grower extraordinaire Peter Beales, who explores the many roses that live and thrive in their different settings, brings the gardens alive, while Vivian Russell's superb visual sense has resulted in the evocative pictures that accompany every one. In addition, for every garden, two classic roses are profiled with a close-up photograph and an in-depth description. Elsewhere in the book, a chart enables you to match roses to sites and conditions, and the essay "The Rose in the Landscape" offers further inspiration for your own gardening.