From its beginning, Flower has shared beautiful gardens in its pages. From the humble cottages and backyards of friends to historic estates and even palace grounds, our writers and photographers take readers inside some sort of garden in every issue. For our 15th anniversary, we gathered some of the most popular gardens from the magazine.
As our Editor-in-Chief Margot Shaw wrote in a recent column, “We’ve experienced a perfect storm of sickness, isolation, unrest, helplessness, fear, uncertainty, and frustration. …however, there’s been the nurturing sanctuary of nature. In summer, we had warm days with the benefits of lots of vitamin D, the cool green of the generous shade of a favorite hardwood, and time on the porch watching our children or grands at play. In autumn, crisp, cinnamony days were filled with the explosive palette of leaves. In winter, a bracing walk down a country road or a scenic vista from indoors onto the romantic landscape of hay-colored grasses; the green of evergreens; the charcoal sculptures of deciduous trees; and, in Alabama, the unlikely increase in the bird population as they broke their travels south nourished our spirits. …I urge you all to enjoy the riches of the outdoors, and hopefully by now, with others. …May the magic of these gardens give you wonder, hope, and joy.”
Flower Magazine’s Most Popular Gardens
At Haseley Court, Nancy Lancaster planted an allée of laburnum that still enchants today. British designer David Hicks once called Nancy—a native Virginian— “the most influential English gardener since Gertrude Jekyll.” Photo by Charlotte Moss
In his garden at Hummelo, world-renowned Dutch landscape designer Piet Oudolf brings home the essence of his aesthetic. In mid- and late summer at Hummelo, the combination of Lythrum virgatum, ‘Visions in Pink’ astilbe, wild indigo, tufted hair grass, and ironweed commands attention. Photo by Sabine Bungert/Living Inside
Drawn to Nantucket’s allure, a Philadelphia couple created a classic cedar-shake home with an enviable garden full of layered color, texture, and cottage charm. The courtyard garden features perennials such as echinacea, buddleia, liatris, and various biannuals and annuals. And with a photo like this, how could it not be one of the magazine’s most popular gardens? Photo by Kindra Clineff
Sharon Santoni has found heaven on earth in Normandy, France, but rather than keeping the treasures of the region to herself, she’s on a mission to spread the ambience. Thanks to the many parterres, the property belonging to Sharon Santoni and her husband, Eric, feels much larger than its modest one acre. Photo by Kindra Clineff
One of the great things about Charleston gardens is the element of surprise they hold. That’s what Mark Maresca wanted to create with this one at the John Blake House (ca. 1800). Mark worked with landscape architect Hugh Dargan to re-create much of the 18th-century garden by restoring the parterres and laying out an overall square with subdivided spaces. Photo by Julia Lynn
When a garden is built on hopes and dreams, there are no limits. Explore the rose-bowered arbors, evergreens, and chorus of annuals and perennials of a 3-acre Connecticut paradise. At regular intervals, in the rooms created by the archways and conifers, benches offer a place to sit, chat, and enjoy the garden. Feverfew and silene line the walkways. Photo by Kindra Clineff
Conceived for the pleasure of a king, with grand avenues, fantastical water features, and rows and rows of blooms, the gardens of Versailles continue to reign supreme. Versailles’ Orangerie, designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, looks out on four quadrants of parterres de broderie and boasts trees from Spain, Portugal, and Italy. Photo by Arden Ward
When New York designer and author Charlotte Moss needs to relax, recharge, and refuel, she heads to the garden of her East Hampton getaway, Boxwood Terrace. Stone steps and a parade of urns and cypress lead from main house to the pool house. Photos by Michael Mundy
Newton Vineyard in Napa Valley boasted some of the most distinctive and delicious wines in the world, but the gardens were equally exquisite. Before the 2020 wildfires destroyed it, the winery possessed breathtaking views of the corkscrew topiaries and cypress trees that frame the parterre garden, which cleverly covered the Chardonnay cellar and acted as natural insulation. Photo by Eric Wolfinger
Interior designer Bunny Williams transformed her 12-acre Connecticut garden into a progression of spaces as beautiful and livable as the rooms she creates. The garden’s perennial borders change colors with the seasons. Late spring is a symphony of blues and purples. Photo by Erik Kvalsvik
Behind the centuries-old houses that front Amsterdam’s iconic canals lie verdant spaces rarely seen by the public. The main room of four parterres at Herengracht 460 features a circular lily pond with a bronze figure of baby Hercules. Photography by Tom Elst
Most coastal landscapes look outward, but Rose Cove in Maine also brings the foreground into focus. Professional gardener Michael Walek’s landscape design pays homage to previous gardeners and honors the location’s roots. Photo by Kindra Clineff
The book Italian Gardens of Lake Como (Mondadori Electa, 2019) takes us along captivating shores to explore the history and landscape of majestic villas. Flower readers love this view of the nymphaeum with the prospect that ends with the temple and statue of Hercules and Lichas at Villa d’Este. Photo by Dario Fusaro
Famed for its topiaries, Ladew Gardens in Maryland is both whimsical and formal, capturing its creator’s sense of fun. Seen here, the Cottage Garden, the first garden you see upon arriving at Ladew, shows the exuberant nature of the property and its original owner. Photo by Helen Norman
With a lot of study and careful selection of plants, landscape architect Jamie Purinton designed a sweeping Hudson Valley landscape that looks as if it’s always belonged. Even in late fall, the meadow continues to be a rich, vibrant tapestry composed of plants such as showy goldenrod. Photo by Kindra Clineff
See more of this meadow garden and tips for growing a meadow.
As Gioia Browne set to work creating gardens around her new home at an old Rhode Island farmstead, she was guided by her strong sense of style and savvy feel for color. But paramount in her priorities was always a reverence for stewardship because Little Compton, Rhode Island, has a beauty worth preserving. Photo by Kindra Clineff
Tucked into the picturesque Cotswolds countryside, Highgrove Gardens at the home of Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, sits surrounded by gardens, wispy meadows, marching allées, and ancient walls with fragrant climbing roses. Photo by GAP photos/Highgrove/A. Lawson
In Andrew Grossman’s Seekonk, Massachusetts garden, the last vestiges of a former driveway became a crescent-shaped gravel patio adjacent to the sunroom addition. This landscape designer trained as a dancer, but he currently expresses movement with plants. Photo by Kindra Clineff
Tucked into rolling farmland in Dutchess County, New York, Wethersfield offers one of the country’s finest classical gardens. Lupines and columbines edge the Citrus Lawn overlooking the Pine Terrace. Photo by Toshi Yano.
Fletcher Steele designed some 700 gardens, principally in the Northeast. One of the few open to the public is Naumkeag in the Berkshires. The garden has recently seen a $3.5 million restoration that began with bringing back the iconic Blue Steps. These concrete steps, an Art Deco interpretation of an Italian water staircase, cut a swath of high drama down the steep hillside, through a grove of white birch trees. Photo by Gross & Daley Photography
This elegant house designed by Willis Polk was much bigger than anything that Jon Kaplan and Julie Billings had been considering buying, but they were attracted to its graceful lines and its 105-year old, 1.5-acre garden. Teucrium, golden oregano, and lavender mingle in the beds beside the path. A rich mix of leaf color, including red berberis and loropetalum, ensures that the vibrant mood continues as the garden flows down the hill from the house. Photo by Marion Brenner
The restoration of a historic Newport, Rhode Island, property brought its monochromatic Blue Garden—conceived by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.—back to its original splendor. The Blue Garden was planted along a central water feature of blue-tiled pools connected by a water runnel, surrounded by formal planting beds. Photo by Marianne Lee
Boasting prolific gardens with deep green roots, Rowallane speaks to the beauty of the Emerald Isle. The walled garden stacks a series of perennials such as daylilies and gooseneck loosestrife beside shrubs such as lacecap hydrangea and viburnums framing the walkway. Photo Kindra Clineff