It’s been more than forty years since the second edition of this landmark guide to the preservation and restoration of gardens and landscapes at historic sites was published. Since the last edition came out, author Rudy Favretti, the nation’s foremost authority in this area, has worked on many significant sites including both Monticello and Mount Vernon. New to this edition are: Personal case studies from the authors’ extensive experience in landscape restoration-preservation An in-depth look complete with color images of the archaeological excavations at Bacon’s Castle and Monticello in Virginia Seventy-three illustrations including eight color photos An enlarged and comprehensive bibliography Fully updated and added chapters based on new and emerging information in the field Further, Landscape and Gardens for Historic Buildings covers a wide array of topics including researching and planning, maintaining restored landscapes, identifying authentic flora, and selecting the right historical period, or a series of periods to show the evolution of the historic landscape.
This comprehensive guide on historic garden and landscape conservation will help landscape professionals familiarise themselves with what the conservation of historic gardens, garden structures and designed landscapes encompasses. The aim of the series is to introduce each aspect of conservation and to provide concise, basic and up-to-date knowledge within five volumes, sufficient for the professional to appreciate the subject better and to know where to seek further help. Gardens & Landscapes in Historic Building Conservation is an essential guide for everyone with an interest in the conservation of historic gardens and designed landscapes worldwide. The latest assessment of the origins, scope and impact of gardens and designed landscapes is vital reading. Covering history and theory, survey and assessment, conservation and management and the legislative framework the book considers all aspects of garden and landscape conservation and related issues. It explores the challenge of conserving these important sites and surviving physical remains and a conservation movement which must understand, protect and interpret those remains. This book demonstrates how the discipline of the history and conservation of gardens and landscapes has matured in recent decades, recognising the increased participation of professional contract and curatorial managers in the management of these sites and in conserving and interpreting landscapes. Drawing on a wide range of sources, combining academic and professional perspectives, the book provides information and advice relevant to all involved in trying to preserve one of England’s greatest cultural contributions and legacy for future generations to enjoy. With chapters by all the leading players in the field and illustrated by copious examples this gives essential guidance to the management and conservation of historic gardens and designed landscapes.
Well-illustrated chapters describe how to select the right period design for the garden, yard and grounds of a historic building, how to research and plan development, how to find and identify authentic plants, and how to maintain the landscape once it's restored. Included is the most complete list ever published of plants and flowers and the dates they came into popular use. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
“Delve into this beautiful book. You’ll come away sharing his passion for the beauty that gardens bring into our lives.” —Sigourney Weaver, environmentalist, actor, trustee of New York Botanical Garden How does an individual garden relate to the larger landscape? How does it connect to the natural and cultural environment? Does it evoke a sense of place? In Spirit of Place, Bill Noble—a lifelong gardener, and the former director of preservation for the Garden Conservancy—helps gardeners answer these questions by sharing how they influenced the creation of his garden in Vermont. Throughout, Noble reveals that a garden is never created in a vacuum but is rather the outcome of an individual’s personal vision combined with historical and cultural forces. Sumptuously illustrated, this thoughtful look at the process of garden-making shares insights gleaned over a long career that will inspire you to create a garden rich in context, personal vision, and spirit.
For more than seventy-five years, The Garden Club of Virginia has undertaken garden research and preservation work at numerous historic sites across the Old Dominion, restoring and creating beautiful landscapes for the education and enjoyment of all, from backyard gardeners to design professionals. Historic Virginia Gardens documents in breathtaking fashion this important contribution to the Commonwealth's botanical and architectural heritage. Picking up where an earlier volume, dedicated to the period from 1930 to 1975, left off, this new book brings the Club's work from the period 1975 to 2007 to life through a graceful and informative text by Margaret Page Bemiss, a host of historical and contemporary drawings, extensive native and heritage plant lists, and 125 splendid new color photographs from the award-winning garden photographer Roger Foley. The gardens highlighted here range in location from the Eastern Shore to Blacksburg, and date from the seventeenth century to the twenty-first. Margaret Bemiss describes not only the preservation of the gardens, but also each place, its builder, and its historic context. Giving the reader a fuller understanding of why each particular garden or landscape was worth restoring or re-creating, Bemiss explains the site's significance, in Virginia's rich history as well as in the history of gardening and landscape design. In addition to Foley's photographs, each narrative is also accompanied by bird's-eye-view drawings and site plans for the gardens, along with working drawings of garden buildings, furniture, fences, and gates. Of particular interest to practicing gardeners and garden historians is the comprehensive list of native and imported plants that were utilized in the gardens. The significance of the projects, from George Washington's Mount Vernon and Gari Melcher's Belmont to the Prestons' frontier home in Blacksburg and Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, make this book of interest not only to gardeners and landscape architects, but also to anyone with an interest in American history. Historic Virginia Gardens is sure to find a treasured place on the library shelf beside its predecessor, which was praised by the Virginian-Pilot as a "book [that] will please any gardener, be it a group restoring grounds around a shrine or a suburbanite pondering whether to plant phlox or periwinkle along the front walk."
Designing the beautiful: General Washington's landscape improvements, 1784-1787 / Adam T. Erby -- George Washington's gardens: under the watchful eye of the Mount Vernon Ladies / J. Dean Norton -- "Laid out in squares, and boxed with great precission": uncovering George Washington's upper garden / Esther C. White -- Gardens et groves: a landscape guide / Adam T. Erby -- The views: bowling green, upper garden, greenhouse and slave quarter, lower garden, botanical garden, outbuildings, the lost deer park.
The theory of preservation assumes that humans are different from and opposed to the rest of nature. The contributors to "Beyond preservation", on the other hand, explore their belief that humans are inextricably entwined with nature and therefore have an unavoidable impact on the entire ecosystem. The comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach employed by the editors addresses the possibilities of and problems with the restoration of damaged landscapes and even the invention of new ones. William R. Jordan III, a botanist by training, is committed to ecological restoration, and in the keynote essay he advocates the premises on which his theory is based. Poet and essayist Frederick Turner is fascinated with the construction of new landscapes and proposes a more rather than less ambitious human effort to shape nature. Turner contributes an essay that, together with Jordan's, serves as a cornerstone of the volume. Both Turner and Jordan urge us to use our intelligence and our creative faculties to manage nature by restoring damaged landscapes and creating mutually beneficial relationships among all species. The lead essays are followed by a series of broadly interdisciplinary critiques that confront a host of contemporary issues having to do with our attempts to preserve or restore landscapes. Individual essays address the theoretical issues entailed in restoration; examine case studies of the application of restoration/reclamation/preservation theory and techniques; and finally, reflect on the implications and consequences of environmental restoration. Taken together, these essays are as important for the questions they raise as for their individual assessments of Jordan's and Turner's programmatic statements. A. Dwight Baldwin, Jr., is Professor of Geology at Miami University. Judith De Luce is Professor of Classics, affiliate in women's studies, and fellow in the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University. Carl Pletsch is Associate Professor of History at Miami University.
Today's gardeners have more plants and design ideas to choose from than ever before. But is there something missing in their gardens if they ignore their ties to the past? Denise Wiles Adams has written a remarkable book of history and horticulture that documents the changing plant palette of American gardens. From the colonial era to the pre-World War II period, no region of the country is neglected and no major plant group unrepresented. From a database of more than 25,000 plants and hundreds of antique nursery catalogs, she has distilled a unique survey of American ornamental gardens. Nobody concerned with historic homes and properties can afford to be without it. An important resource that will be consulted for generations, Restoring American Gardens is a vital link between gardeners and their predecessors throughout history. This book is only available through print on demand. All interior art is black and white.
Intended for professionals, agents, owners, designers, and managers concerned with various aspects of managing historic gardens, parks, and design landscapes, this book emphasizes the importance of the principles of management, and the historic, scientific, botanical, horticultural, economic, legal, and technical aspects essential for success.
