Customer Reviews

Garden Guide: New York City (Garden Guides)

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This book is filled with beautiful photos and short descriptons of gardens from all five boroughs of New York City. Leafing through it, once again I realized how special this city is. Garden Guide: New York City is a must for anyone who wants to know the city better; for those of us who live here and for those who are just visiting.

Small enough to carry in one's purse, it is concise and well researched. It is pleasure to read and makes you want to explore the city through its gardens. Be careful, if you are not already a garden lover it might make you one. From the Chinese Scholar's Garden in Staten Island to the Botanical Garden in Queens; from Rincon Criollo in the Bronx to The Conservatory Garden on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, even in its gardens the diverstiy and creativity of New Yorkers is evident and that makes New Yorkers like me burst with pride.

This thorough book organized gardens in New York city by location, gave subway and/or bus directions, and a wonderful description of each garden so it was easy to decide whether I wanted to go see that garden. It was amazing and I saw gardens big and small throughout my visit to the city in a short period of time. I'm going to check to see if the book is available for other places I tend to visit.

If you're from out of town, gardens may not be the first word that comes to mind when you think of New York City. But "Garden Guide: New York City (Revised Edition)" will set you straight and take you to lovely spots, big and small, around all five boroughs. Some sites are relatively well known, especially those in Manhattan: The Cloisters, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for example. But there are little hidden gems to be found everywhere, not to mention the can't-be-missed High Line, a converted elevated train line that runs through Downtown Manhattan. And then there are the marvelous sites in the Bronx (the County Courthouse green roof, Taqwa Community Farm), Queens (the Curtis "50 cent" Community Garden, Gantry Plaza State Park), Brooklyn (Brooklyn Heights Promenade, Red Hook Gardens) and Staten Island (Bayview Habitat, Snug Harbor Cultural Center.)

The size and complexity of the scores of gardens listed vary greatly: some cover acres of ground, are open to the public year round and attract tourists and residents alike. Others are tiny, protected by gates or difficult to locate, open only occasionally or to limited numbers of visitors. But each adds to New York's green spaces. Directions, hours, photos and a history accompany each garden listing. The book is quite complete yet small enough to tuck into a bag or big pocket.

This little book was a hit in its first edition and now it's been updated with 25 new garden spots to visit and enjoy in New York City. Its small size and vinyl cover make it easy to slip into a purse or jacket pocket to carry around town.

I purchased this as a gift for a botanist friend who knows from whence she speaks when it comes to gardens. She pronounced it an essential resource and is very happy to have added this book to her extensive collection.

This is a great book only useful for some people and useless for others.
It has very tiny print and is therefore impossible to read for some people.
unfortunatly there have been many books with miniature-print published
since the new computer-type setting allowed to condense everything.

The revised edition of Garden Guide: New York City is a 'must' for gardeners planning a visit to the Big Apple. It identifies unexpected small gardens nestled throughout New York City - even those on rooftops, hidden behind facades, and just beyond a gate or inside a museum. This revised second edition features over twenty new gardens and pairs their histories with stories, maps and complete visitor information, making for a compact take-along tote for any gardening enthusiast.