California Gardens: Creating a New Eden [Hardcover]

David C. Streatfield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1994

With its lush photographs and authoritative text this definitive history captures the exuberant past and dynamic present of the California garden. Ranging from the pragmatic plantings of the Spanish missions through Victorian fantasies and Hollywood extravagances and culminating in up-to-the-minute drought-tolerant gardens, California Gardens: Creating a New Eden provides a thought-provoking, eye-dazzling chronicle of the state's diverse garden traditions. Offering ideas and examples that will inspire all gardeners and garden lovers, David C. Streatfield recounts how amateurs, architects, landscape designers, and nurserymen have created the gardens of their dreams. His ground-breaking text - in preparation for over twenty years - illuminates how California's ecology, economy, and the importation of exotic plants and styles have shaped its gardens and ultimately influenced garden design around the world. The various ways that landscape architecture and architecture have intertwined in the last two centuries are explored with particular insightfulness. Some of the finest architects and landscape architects of this century - Charles and Henry Greene, Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, Thomas Church, Lockwood de Forest, Garrett Eckbo, and Florence Yoch - have shaped the landscape of California in distinctive ways. Contemporary and historical color photographs by some of the country's best garden photographers are complemented by rare black-and-white archival illustrations and detailed plans. Two invaluable appendices provide biographies of the major designers and information about visiting the public gardens cited in the book.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Almost everyone knows that California has incredible gardens, but not everyone knows that California landscape architecture dates back to the mission era, when priests imported the olive tree and Mexican fan palm. California Gardens depicts the high points of California gardening over the last century and a half, from the mission gardens to the custom-designed lawns and flower beds of the wealthy and tasteful. David Streatfield's text explains how the state's ecology and evolving architectural styles borrowed from other areas have influenced garden design. The book's final chapter, "Old Realities, New Possibilities," addresses the modern problems of designing for space and water efficiency. This is a scholarly and thought-provoking work, but is also exuberantly beautiful.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Abbeville Press; 1st edition (February 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558594531
• ISBN-13: 978-1558594531
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #891,626 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Gardens of California, Four Centuries of Design from Mission to Modern by Nancy Goslee Power, June 13, 2009

By 

Jon P. Bish "organ aficionado" (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: California Gardens: Creating a New Eden (Hardcover)

An excellent book which shows an historical progression to landscape
architecture with Mediterranean influences from Spain and Italy. Shows notable gardens such as Mission La Purisma Concepcion, Casa del Herrero, Classic gardens of Lockwood de Forest at Val Verde, his own garden, the
Blake sisters in their garden, Florence Yoch's Il Brolino, Bruce Porter's
Filoli, naturistic gardens such as Western Hills Nursery, Rosmini garden
in Los Angeles, Dennis Shaw's garden for the Slaters in Santa Barbara, cottage gardens such as Hamilton garden in Pasadena, Nancy Goslee Power's
garden in Santa Monica, Lotusland in Montecito, and the Newton garden in
St. Helena. Many good ideas in different styles are shown which effectively can be used in different parts of the United States.