Of Gardens

Paula Deitz has delighted readers for more than thirty years with her vivid descriptions of both famous and hidden landscapes. Her writings allow readers to share in the experience of her extensive travels, from the waterways of Britain's Castle Howard to the Japanese gardens of Kyoto, and home again to New York City's Central Park. Collected for the first time, the essays in Of Gardens record her great adventure of continual discovery, not only of the artful beauty of individual gardens but also of the intellectual and historical threads that weave them into patterns of civilization, from the modest garden for family subsistence to major urban developments. Deitz's essays describe how people, over many centuries and in many lands, have expressed their originality by devoting themselves to cultivation and conservation.During a visit to the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden in Seal Harbor, Maine, Deitz first came to appreciate the notion that landscape architecture can be as intricately conceived as any major structure and is, indeed, the means by which we redeem the natural environment through design. Years later, as she wandered through the gardens of Versailles, she realized that because gardens give structure without confinement, they encourage a liberation of movement and thought. In Of Gardens, we follow Deitz down paths of revelation, viewing "A Bouquet of British Parks: Liverpool, Edinburgh, and London"; the parks and promenades of Jerusalem; the Moonlight Garden of the Taj Mahal; a Tuscan-style villa in southern California; and the rooftop garden at Tokyo's Mori Center, among many other sites.Deitz covers individual landscape architects and designers, including André Le Nôtre, Frederick Law Olmsted, Beatrix Farrand, Russell Page, and Michael Van Valkenburgh. She then features an array of parks, public places, and gardens before turning her attention to the burgeoning business of flower shows. The volume concludes with a memorable poetic epilogue entitled "A Winter Garden of Yellow."

Paula Deitz has delighted readers for more than thirty years with her vivid descriptions of both famous and hidden landscapes. Her writings allow readers to share in the experience of her extensive travels, from the waterways of Britain's Castle Howard to the Japanese gardens of Kyoto, and home again to New York City's Central Park. Collected for the first time, the essays in Of Gardens record her great adventure of continual discovery, not only of the artful beauty of individual gardens but also of the intellectual and historical threads that weave them into patterns of civilization, from the modest garden for family subsistence to major urban developments. Deitz's essays describe how people, over many centuries and in many lands, have expressed their originality by devoting themselves to cultivation and conservation.During a visit to the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden in Seal Harbor, Maine, Deitz first came to appreciate the notion that landscape architecture can be as intricately conceived as any major structure and is, indeed, the means by which we redeem the natural environment through design. Years later, as she wandered through the gardens of Versailles, she realized that because gardens give structure without confinement, they encourage a liberation of movement and thought. In Of Gardens, we follow Deitz down paths of revelation, viewing "e;A Bouquet of British Parks: Liverpool, Edinburgh, and London"e;; the parks and promenades of Jerusalem; the Moonlight Garden of the Taj Mahal; a Tuscan-style villa in southern California; and the rooftop garden at Tokyo's Mori Center, among many other sites.Deitz covers individual landscape architects and designers, including Andre Le Ntre, Frederick Law Olmsted, Beatrix Farrand, Russell Page, and Michael Van Valkenburgh. She then features an array of parks, public places, and gardens before turning her attention to the burgeoning business of flower shows. The volume concludes with a memorable poetic epilogue entitled "e;A Winter Garden of Yellow."e;

IntroductionPrologue. The Lure of the Porch in Summer:Privacy and PleasureCHAPTER ONE. LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS AND DESIGNERSDesigning Women: In-Depth View of Twentieth-Century Women Landscape DesignersBeatrix Farrand and The Bulletins of Reef Point GardensThe Private World of a Great Gardener: Rachel Lambert Mellon"Make the Land Work for You": Russell Page in AmericaProfile of Dan KileyGrounded in History: Deborah Nevins's LandscapesPrivate Visions: The Gardens of Michael Van ValkenburghA Cultivated Civilization: Barbara Stauffacher Solomon's Drawings of Classical GardensPlanting Plastic: Martha Schwartz Looks to Art for InspirationResurrection: The Built Landscapes of George HargreavesA Twinkling Terrace that Reaches for the Stars: Kathryn Gustafson in New York and FranceLandform Future: Laurie Olin and the Integration of Architecture and LandscapeA Feminist View of Landscapes: A Partnership with NatureCHAPTER TWO. PARKS AND PUBLIC PLACESA Bouquet of British Parks: Liverpool, Edinburgh, and LondonCentral Park's Bethesda Terrace and Its RestorationSummer in Central ParkFor This Movie, Step into the GardenRooftop Formal Gardens at Rockefeller CenterHortus Conclusus: The Gardens at the CloistersThe IBM Garden PlazaA Crystal Palace: Final Portrait of the Palm HouseGardens Fit for a QueenHartford's 1896 Rose Garden, Whose Ancestors Were Born in France2,700 Roses Re-create Old Garden: The Peggy Rockefeller Rose GardenA Victorian Gem Restored: The Enid A. Haupt ConservatoryA Centennial Bouquet: The Botanic Garden of Smith College, 1895-1995The Rose Garden at the White HouseA New Memorial Squanders a Sparkling OpportunityThe Green Gardens of Jerusalem: Parks, Squares, and PromenadesGarden Letter from Greece: The AgoraThe Moonlight Garden at the Taj MahalA Rare Garden in Barbados: Andromeda GardensAlong a Nature and Garden Trail in BermudaA Walk in the Park Around Jinji LakeCHAPTER THREE. AMERICANThe Poetics of the American Garden1680 Formal Garden Discovered in the SouthA Historic Colonial Plantation Recovered from the RoughFairsted: At Home with Frederick Law OlmstedAt Old Westbury, Gracious GardensStately Views: A 1920s Garden Inspired by the Villa d'EsteMediterranean Light: A Classic Italian Garden in CaliforniaWethersfield: In the Style of an Italian Villa GardenThe American Academy in RomeThe Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden: A Blend of Far Eastern and English InspirationFar East, Down East: A Classic Asian LandscapeA Cultivated Coast: The Garden at Somes MeadowOn Maine's Coast, Vistas Are Cast in StoneAutumn in New EnglandCHAPTER FOUR. BRITISHThe Painted Garden: William Kent's RoushamPainshill Park: Charles Hamilton's Folly GardenThe Waterways of Castle HowardReclaiming Noble Gardens of the Towy ValleyClassic Garden Tames a Fierce Welsh Crag: Powis CastleBuckhurst Park: From Humphry Repton to EdwinLutyens and Gertrude JekyllLanning Roper's English Gardens with a U.S. FlavorMachine in the Garden: Charles Jencks's Garden of Scottish WorthiesSitting in the Garden: A HistoryCHAPTER FIVE. FRENCHThe Gardens of VersaillesAn Echo of a Memory: Recultivating the TuileriesThe Formal Farm: Pascal Cribier's Vision of Rural GeometryThe Désert de Retz: Cultural History Through ArchitectureCHAPTER SIX. JAPANESEAutumn in JapanJapanese Screens and the Gardens of KyotoBalancing Act: A Contemporary Garden for Kyoto's Oldest HouseTea and Empathy: The Japanese House, Shofuso, in Fairmount ParkRice Paddy in the Sky: Rooftop Garden at the Mori CenterPlum Blossoms: The Third Friend of WinterCHAPTER SEVEN. FLOWER SHOWSCourson: French International Flower SaleAt Chelsea Flower Show: Gardens in Romantic RuinsFree to Grow Bluebells in England: British Prisoners Win Gold MedalA Garden Festival in LausanneEpilogue. A Winter Garden of YellowAfterwordJohn Dixon HuntAcknowledgmentsIndexPhotography Credits