"Gardens of the Gods" reveals the symbolic language of garden design, exploring the gardens of China, with their moon gates and immortal rocks, the Zen gardens of Japan, the paradise gardens of Islam, those of Renaissance Italy with their richly mythological imagery, the landscaped parks of England, the gardens of New Harmony in the US and some striking, modern examples of symbolic gardens, including the Tarot Garden of the sculptress Niki de Saint Phalle in Italy. This illustrated book also includes a chapter with suggestions for creating a "garden of meaning" and a selected catalogue of plants with symbolic or mythological associations. Based on ten years of research, travel and curiostiy, this text is also the result of a personal quest - to reveal the mystical codes written in the astonishing worlds of gardens worldwide.

Christopher McIntosh studied at the Universities of Oxford and London, and has worked as a journalist, a publisher and as an international civil servant. He has written fiction, history, biography and travel writing and his works include Ludwig II of Bavaria (I.B. Tauris and Tauris Parke Paperbacks). Gardens and gardening have been a major pursuit of his for more than two decades.