Chicago Botanic Garden

Education — Lenhardt Library

Current Books & Book Reviews

PHOTO: bookcover

Scott J. Tilden.
The Glory of Gardens: 2,000 Years of Writings on Garden Design.
New York: Abrams, 2006.
hardcover, 256 p., ISBN 0–810–95541–5, $50.00.

It takes the patience and perseverance of a dedicated historian such as Scott Tilden to collect the writings of more than one hundred tastemakers who influenced landscape design in different periods over two thousand years. With superb color photographs of gardens around the world, this diverse, valuable collection includes the works of poets, statesmen, scientists, and philosophers, as well as landscape designers from different cultures. The author has wisely organized the essays by general subjects, making their writings and principles in garden design easily accessible to all those who love gardens. Destined to become a classic, this volume documents the intellectual evolution of garden making.

— Marilyn K. Alaimo, garden writer and volunteer, Chicago Botanic Garden.