One year ago…

Vertical gardens, secret courtyards and mist-spraying pools were in the news this time last year: a forested skyscraper was proposed for Nantes in France (above) and a foliage-clad house was completed in Brussels (below).

London was enjoying a somewhat warmer summer than the current rainy one and the secret garden inside Peter Zumthor’s Serpentine Gallery Pavilion was proving a welcome respite from the heat (below).

Meanwhile Tadao Ando was cooling pedestrians in Mayfair, London with a mist-generating pool with trees growing out of it (below).

Finally a half-glass, half-plant showroom opened in Bangkok (below).

See all our stories about gardens | See all our stories from July 2011