Distributed for Hirmer Publishers
New York City Gardens
New York may be most easily recognized by its trademark skyscrapers and brick tenement buildings, but the truth is that the city is actually teeming with luxurious roof gardens and private courtyard oases. Creative gardeners and architects have risen to meet the unique challenges of the urban landscape, designing spaces that celebrate the city while providing a restful escape.
New York City Gardens presents New York’s evolving tradition of garden culture through images and discussions of thirty of its most outstanding gardens, from world-famous botanical gardens to richly re-cultivated public urban spaces, luxurious penthouse terraces, and innovative art gardens without soil or plants. Many of the gardens are set against vistas of the quintessential New York—Central Park, the Empire State Building, skyscrapers of Midtown, and the sensational skyline of Lower Manhattan. Other gardens reveal surprising and exotic intimate retreats from the bustle of the city. While most were designed by noted landscape architects, including Dan Kiley, Hideo Sasaki, Ken Smith, and Halsted Wells, many others were created over decades by talented homeowners themselves.
As more and more city dwellers in New York and beyond look to cultivate their own kitchen and container gardens and individual outdoor sanctuaries, this book provides hundreds of inspiring images as well as historical background and insight into the practical and imaginative solutions of city garden designers.
Reviews
Table of Contents
Symphony in Green
Central Park South / Manhattan
Garden Picture with Frame
West Village / Manhattan
Barefoot Bliss at the End of Town
Wave Hill / Bronx
Scent of Roses at Vertiginous Heights
Fifth Avenue / Manhattan
A Wonderful Transformation
Brooklyn Heights
The Art Garden
Museum of Modern Art / Manhattan
Exotic Erratics
Fort Greene / Brooklyn
Harbor Garden with a History
Brooklyn Heights
The Glory of the Shady Garden
Central Park South / Manhattan
Far Eastern Flair in the City Hubbub
Brooklyn Botanic Garden / Brooklyn
Romance with Neighborly Blessing
Chelsea / Manhattan
Ensemble of Balcony Seats
Manhattan
Village Idyll between Skyscraper Canyons
Upper West Side / Manhattan
Bauhaus on the Roof
Upper East Side / Manhattan
Scholars’ Paradise
Rockefeller University Campus / Manhattan
Island of Flowers in a Sea of Buildings
Chelsea / West Side Manhattan
Jewel in Central Park
Conservatory Garden / Manhattan
Where Realtors Take a Break
Madison Avenue / Manhattan
Nostalgia in Pastel
Upper East Side / Manhattan
Splendor for All
New York Botanical Gardens / Bronx
Variations on More Than One Level
Manhattan
A Cozy Place by the Waterfall
Greenacre Park / Manhattan
Hospitable Elegance
Park Avenue / Manhattan
Mirror of the Soul
Upper West Side / Manhattan
The Ha-ha
Metropolitan Museum of Art / Manhattan
Flower Frenzy Above the River
Heather Garden / Manhattan
Garden Loft with Skyline Backdrop
Long Island City
A Walk with Miss Liberty
Battery Park / South Manhattan
Many-splendored Miniature
Long Island City / Queens
Gardens for the View
Rockefeller Rooftops / Manhattan