Is there a better way to welcome and remember nature’s gift to us than beautiful gardens?
Not likely, according to garden design expert and noted horticultural author Jack Staub, whose latest book, “Private Edens, Beautiful Country Gardens” (Gibbs Smith, $50), is a testament to his love of such beauty.
Three years from research to publication, it’s not a how-to garden book. Rather, it’s a book filled with wonderful photographs and vivid text, providing an intimate look at 20 unique private gardens on the East Coast.
As a bonus, it’s filled with inspirational views and ideas for gardeners thinking about enhancing their property, regardless of its size.
Because Staub grew up in Litchfield County, Pergola, a home and gardens shop at 7 East Shore Road, New Preston, is hosting a launch/book-signing for “Private Edens” on Saturday, April 27, from 2 to 5 p.m.
Staub and his photographer, Rob Cardillo, visited and photographed gardens in Virginia, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Massachusetts, as well as in northwest Connecticut, in Lakeville, Washington, New Preston and Southbury.
None are open to the public and, for purposes of privacy, their locations and owners’ names are omitted. So checking out Staub’s book is your chance to peek beyond their gates.
The properties were chosen, said Staub, “because they have features that are most interesting to me. They are large and small, with a variety of gardens and there was a personal story behind each owner.”
Staub highlights the variety found within each garden, including Asiatic flair, Zen features and classic English garden motifs. Many of the gardens also boast such specimen shrubbery and trees as maples and a host of conifers.
All are dotted with colorful ceramic pottery and/or small statues or figurines, with pieces placed to invite the eyes to rest.
Staub, who with his life partner, landscape designer Renny Reynolds, owns Hortulus Farm, a historic property in Wrightstown, Pa., was raised in New Preston, near Lake Waramaug, on land that had been in his family for four generations.
“If you look at the picture of Lake Waramaug in the section of the book titled `A New Perspective,’ you can see where my great-grandfather, Nicholas Staub, pastured his cows,” he said.
Creating a garden on that property, as well as all the properties featured in the book, took time, devotion, planning, taste, money and a passion for gardening.
Today that land is home to a modernist Tuscan villa. Staub writes that one particular garden features an “informality of plantings, tucked as if by nature in rock and gravel.” Those tucks, he added, give this garden deceptively unstudied charm.
Asked what was common to all the gardens they visited, Staub said, “Everybody had to learn to deal with their own space. What they created was site-specific. They realized the challenges on their property and worked around them and have dealt with them in a most interesting and successful way.”
The Litchfield County launch and signing for “Private Edens, Beautiful Country Gardens” will take place Saturday, April 27, 2 to 5 p.m., at Pergola, 7 East Shore Road, New Preston. 860-868-4769, pergolahome.com.
Sybil Blau is a freelance writer in Connecticut; sibby3@yahoo.com
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