The world of plants is comparable with an apparently infinitely large library of books. How else can we describe the abundant shapes, colours, sizes and smells? In everyday reality we are helped by the manageable qualities of a garden, whose contained dimensions and resources have a liberating effect. Our attention is drawn not by the totality of the plants, but by the selection. Hence a perfect garden can move us more than untouched nature. But the magic of a garden does not lie only in the accumulation of plants, for our perception of the texture of the leaves, the fragrance of the blossoms and the shadow of the trees is immediate and direct.

The book was published as a catalogue for the exhibition “About Books and Trees”, a monographic exhibition about Vogt Landscape, shown by the Architekturmuseum Basel between 27 November 2004 and 30 January 2005.

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