1001 Gardens You Must See Before You Die by Rae Spencer-Jones, Elizabeth Scholtz

Synopsis

Garden lovers and discriminating travelers will relish this armchair tour of the most beautiful and interesting gardens around the world. Succinct descriptions with stunning color photos showcase the creations of the world's outstanding landscape gardeners, architects, and garden designers. From Spain's famous gardens of the Moorish Alhambra at Granada to San Diego's Healing Garden, created for patients at the San Diego Children's Hospital, this lavishly illustrated guide will delight both lovers of natural beauty and hands-on gardeners. Among the many gardens pictured and described in this beautiful volume are—

• In the United States and Canada: Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, Boscobel in New York's Hudson Valley, Williamsburg Gardens in Virginia, Magnolia Plantation and its Gardens near Charleston, South Carolina, Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin in Wisconsin, the Toronto Botanical Garden, Pacific Undersea Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia, and many more. . .
• In England: The Japanese Garden in London's Holland Park, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, Shakespeare's Garden in Stratford, London's Victoria and Albert Museum Gardens, and many more. . .
• In France: The Gardens of Versailles outside Paris, the Garden of Claude Monet at Giverney, Chateau de Vauville in Cherbourg, and many more. . .
• The rest of the world: Boboli Gardens in Florence, Italy, Potsdam Gardens near Berlin, Germany, the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto, Japan, and hundreds more.

In addition to photos and a textual description, each entry cites special features such as fountains and architecture,the garden's size in acres, and the names of the garden's designers. The garden descriptions are organized geographically by country. More than 800 breathtaking color photos and illustrations.

Publishers Weekly

This gorgeous volume is like porn for horticulturists. Gardens from all around the world in every possible climate, style and size fill this book to bursting. Here are public spaces everyone knows—like Central Park in New York City, Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens in Canada and Les Jardins des Tuileries in Paris—as well as gardens only the most well-traveled ever get to see; such as Bagh-e Eram in Iran or Jargu Jui Sculpture Park in Romania. Many privately owned, rarely viewed gardens are featured as well, such as Brook Cottage Garden in Oxfordshire, England; Vico Morcote in Ticino, Switzerland; and Rustenberg Farm Gardens in Western Cape, South Africa. Whether one prefers modern sculpture gardens, formal flower gardens or Japanese Zen landscapes, Spencer-Jones's impressive team of 70 photographers, writers and horticulturists have captured them all in concise detail. While some readers might have preferred more and bigger photos (sadly, some entries don't come with pictures at all), most garden lovers will appreciate the comprehensive history, design and climate information that accompanies each entry. (Mar.)

Biography

Rae Spencer-Jones studied horticulture before joining the editorial team of Gardens Illustrated magazine in the U.K. Now a freelance horticultural journalist, Ms. Spencer-Jones's articles appear in a wide range of publications, including London's Daily Telegraph and The Times.