Pioneers of American Landscape Design by Birnbaum and Karson

Pioneers of American Landscape Design by Birnbaum and Karson

As Heard on The Daily Gardener Podcast: Pioneers of American Landscape Design by Charles A. Birnbaum and Robin Karson. This book profiles the designers who shaped how America thinks about landscape — not just as decoration, but as structure, intention, and public good. It introduces the people behind parks, estates, campuses, and civic spaces still walked…

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The Lost Gardens by Anthony Eglin

The Lost Gardens by Anthony Eglin

As Heard on The Daily Gardener Podcast: The Lost Gardens by Anthony Eglin This cozy mystery follows Lawrence Kingston, a retired botany professor, and Jamie Gibson, who inherits a neglected estate in the Cotswolds. Along with the crumbling house comes a garden that has slipped out of time. Paths are lost, borders have gone feral,…

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The Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen

The Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen

As Heard on The Daily Gardener Podcast: The Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen Set in England during World War One, this novel follows a young woman who becomes a land girl, tending the gardens of a country estate after loss reshapes her life. The garden here is not decorative. It is working ground, a place…

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Literary Gardens: How Edith Wharton Designed with Words and Flowers

A very proper Edith Wharton with Miza and Mimi c. 1895.

This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast: Click here to see the complete show notes for this episode. June 1, 1937 My dear readers, on this most peculiar day, the eminent American authoress Edith Wharton suffered a rather inconvenient heart attack while gracing the country estate of her friend and co-author…

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Eloise Ray: Connecticut Landscape Architect and Garden Artist

Eloise Ray's Earthplace garden

The Connecticut Architect January 26, 1905 Today is the birthday of the Connecticut landscape architect Eloise Ray. In Ruth Harley’s book Pest-Proofing Your Garden, we get a little glimpse into Eloise’s approach to gardening: “Eloise confesses that she long ago gave up her battle with the local groundhog. Over the years, she determined which plants…

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Edith Wharton’s Garden Magic: The Mount and Timeless Design

Edith Wharton thumbnail image

Gardens: A Series of Outdoor Rooms  Today is the birthday of the American novelist, short story writer, playwright, and designer Edith Wharton. In 1904, Edith wrote Italian Villas and Their Gardens. Edith thought gardens should be a series of outdoor rooms and she wrote, “…In the blending of different elements, the subtle transition from the…

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Richard Morris Hunt: The Architect Behind America’s Gilded Age Gardens

Richard Morris Hunt thumbnail image

The Gilded Age Architect Today is the anniversary of the death of Richard Morris Hunt, who was an American architect during the gilded age.  Gardeners know Hunt for his collaborations with the Frederick Law Olmsted. They worked together on the Vanderbilt mausoleum and the Chicago world‘s fair. Their ultimate collaboration occurred in Asheville, North Carolina,…

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