Gardens
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Middleton Place- Charleston, SC
Just a few miles from Drayton Hall’s dramatic Palladian architecture and Magnolia Plantation’s impressive bridges sits Middleton Place, home of the oldest landscaped gardens in the United States. Based on classic design principles and precise geometric measurements, it’s a perfectly proportioned garden, with symmetry, vistas, and focal points. And yet, it is the house and outbuildings that excite me at this property. Here, the ghosts of the past speak loudest through the built structures, and they all have interesting stories to tell.
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Magnolia Plantation & Gardens-Charleston, SC
A world away from downtown Charleston, Magnolia Plantation sits quietly on the banks of the Ashley River. A sprawling estate owned by the same family for three centuries, the primordial property appears frozen in time. Wild and untamed, the gardens here are like few others you will encounter in the United States.
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Vizcaya Gardens- Miami, FL
John Deering’s Gilded Age Miami mansion is absolutely lovely, and architecturally interesting. The gardens, however, are nothing short of magnificent- transcendent even. Unquestionably European in design, arranged as a series of outdoor rooms, they are perhaps the finest Italian Renaissance gardens in the United States.
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Hillwood Estate Gardens- Washington, DC
The gardens at Hillwood are so fabulous, they deserve their own entry. Beautifully designed and maintained, they are a spectacular verdant escape, worlds away from the surrounding city chaos. A collection of distinct outdoor rooms, it is an absolute dream to wander the grounds. The original garden at Hillwood was designed by renowned landscape architect Willard Gebhart in 1926. He created vistas with broad sweeping views and formal gardens surrounding the neo-Georgian mansion. In 1955, the property was purchased by Marjorie Merriweather Post, who hired landscape architects Umberto Innocenti and Richard Webel to expand and customize the garden to reflect her interests. Across the property, several outdoor rooms were added,…
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Kingwood Center Gardens- Mansfield, OH
I love grand estate gardens. A planted piece of the past, frequently with fountains, stone paths, and statuary. Truly, no country home is complete without elegant, intricate landscaping, and perhaps a folly or two. The Kingwood Center Gardens were an unexpected find; a reminder of an area’s more prosperous past, a beautiful estate transformed into a botanical garden. The 47 acre property was once owned by Charles Kelly King, an electrical engineer who made his fortune manufacturing fittings for railroads and trolleys. At the center of the estate, a grand Colonial Revival/French Provincial mansion, constructed in 1926 by Cleveland architect Clarence Mack. Surrounding the house, formal gardens designed by Pitkin…
