If you've never been to Wave Hill, you definitely need to plan a trip there the next time you're in NYC, but in the meantime you can enjoy the best of the gardens in this comprehensive new book, Nature into Art: The Gardens of Wave Hill
The new horticulture director, Marco Polo Stufano, and his gardening partner John Nally toured the great gardens of Britain for inspiration and then decided to make plants the central focus of the garden's design. As author Thomas Christopher writes, "Given the founders' aversion to master plans, it's no surprise that the landscape at Wave Hill grew organically and incrementally." He explains that the tropical plants that are in the conservatory during winter "ornament the open-air gardens during the warmer months, adding a flamboyance that is very un-English and thoroughly New York."
Christopher profiles all the garden's main elements (accompanied by the beautiful photos of Ngoc Minh Ngo), from the Flower Garden and the Gold Border to Aquatic Gardens, Herb Gardens, Annuals, the Elliptical Garden, the Shade Border, the Wild Garden, and more. If there's one thing you'll take away from the book, it's that you must return to Wave Hill again and again to appreciate the succession of plantings and its glory in season after season. It's never the same twice, and its artistry never stops creating indelible impressions with each and every visit.
