A superlative analysis of contemporary gardens as well as a fascinating collection of landscapes around the world, Making the Modern Garden is a definitive study of the philosophy and practice of garden design at the outset of the twenty-first century. Author Christopher Bradley-Hole, himself a landscape designer of note, discusses the process of garden design in a presentation of modern landscapes at all sizes and locations. Among the designers in the book are Fernando Caruncho, Peter Walker, Kathryn Gustafson, and Vladamir Sitta; different types of gardens include roof gardens, courtyards, urban and country gardens, and dramatic landscapes.

Bradley-Hole also reviews the ever-changing palette of plants used in the modernist garden as well as materials and landscape features. A point of reference throughout is the modern art, design, and landscape architecture of the twentieth century, represented by artists and architects including Carl Andre, Dan Flavin, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, and Roberto Burle Marx.