Book Review: Outside by Jamie Durie

Creating the Perfect Outdoor Room in Your Own Backyard

Nov 9, 2008

Outdoor spaces need not be simply practical and useable, they can also bring the exotic nations of the world into the suburban backyard.

Fans of popular television personality and landscaper Jamie Durie will enjoy his latest book offering, Outside (HarperCollins, 2008). In the style of his previous book The Outdoor Room (Allen & Unwin, 2003) and accompanying his latest TV program of the same name screening on Channel 7, Outside offers suggestions for homeowners who want to transform their humble backyards into exotic-themed havens.

For homeowners who love to travel and have a favourite foreign destination, Outside offers ideas and inspirations for bringing these locations closer to home. Featured designs include:

Each design features an introduction and explanation of the location that inspired the end result. There is a design layout and lists of plants and materials and a summary of furniture and accessories used in building and implementing the design.

Several pages of beautiful colour photographs include images of a completed garden as well as location shots in the places that inspired the design, including some of Jamie Durie’s own travel photographs.

Outdoor Design Inspiration

Outside works best as a reservoir of ideas and inspiration for homeowners who want to turn their outdoor living space into an extension of their home. Ideal for outdoor entertaining and climates and lifestyles that allow maximum use of outdoor areas, the designs are not likely to appeal to families who simply want an outdoor area where there is room for children to play and the family barbecue.

Specific design details are limited to the design layout and lists of plants, materials, furniture and accessories. Instructions for actually implementing the design are not included and the layout would need to be adapted and modified to suit individual yard dimensions and landscape needs.

Establishing his landscape business PATIO Landscape Architecture and Design in 1998, Durie has a passion to connect people with plants and to encourage people to make the most of the outdoor living areas in their own homes. In recent years Durie’s PATIO brand has extended into a range of affordable home merchandise available through major retailers in Australia.

In addition to several popular television projects in Australia including The Outdoor Room, Australia’s Best Backyards and Backyard Blitz, Durie has made a successful transition into the landscaping arena in the US, hosting the long running The Victory Garden and appearing on Oprah.

Durie is passionate about the environment and encouraging others to care for and enjoy what nature has to offer. He has completed the Al Gore Climate Project Training course and is now an official Al Gore Climate Change Presenter. He hosted the Australian Conservation Foundation’s Spirituality and Sustainability Forum with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 2007.

Exotic Inspired Designs, Beautifully Presented

For those seeking inspiration and proof that it is possible to bring a little bit of the exotic into the humble backyard, Outside is the perfect book. Jamie Durie offers enough information to show that an outdoor area can be transformed, although the nuts and bolts of achieving the final result are left in the hands of the householder.

Outside is an ideal Christmas gift for a keen traveller who might like to bring their favourite destination a little closer or as a coffee table book for those who like to dream of the numerous possibilities open to them for transforming their outdoor areas.

The copyright of the article Book Review: Outside by Jamie Durie in Gardening Books is owned by Susan Whelan. Permission to republish Book Review: Outside by Jamie Durie in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.