In this Book

summary

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."

Table of Contents

restricted access Download Full Book
  1. Cover
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Title Page
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Copyright Page
  2. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Table of Contents
  2. pp. vii-x
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Introduction
  2. pp. xiii-xvii
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Prologue: The Lure of the Porch in Summer: Privacy and Pleasure
  2. pp. 1-5
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Chapter One: Landscape Architects and Designers
  2. pp. 6-75
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Chapter Two: Parks and Public Places
  2. pp. 76-165
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Chapter Three: American
  2. pp. 166-219
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Chapter Four: British
  2. pp. 220-263
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Chapter Five: French
  2. pp. 264-291
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Chapter Six: Japanese
  2. pp. 292-317
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Chapter Seven: Flower Shows
  2. pp. 318-327
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Epilogue. A Winter Garden of Yellow
  2. pp. 328-331
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Afterword
  2. pp. 332-335
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. 337-338
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Index
  2. pp. 339-362
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
  1. Photography Credits
  2. p. 363
  3. restricted access
    • Download PDF Download
Back To Top

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Without cookies your experience may not be seamless.