Chasing Eden

"Chasing Eden: Design Inspiration from the Gardens at Hortulus Farm" is a new book from Timber Press by Jack Staub and Renny Reynolds. Since this book is from Timber Press, you know it is beautifully designed with high quality printing. Reynolds was a big floral and event designer whose name was everywhere in the 1980s and beyond. I remembered his Bucks County, PA farmhouse and was curious about the garden he created there with his partner.

PHILADELPHIA CITY LIFE MAGAZINE

Reynolds is the half of this couple who had the high-end floral background, but it is Staub who wrote the book; one off many gardening books he has penned over the years. The writing is informative and personal, with lots of interesting and amusing stories. At the end of each chapter are a pair of facing pages with lists of “Dos” and “Don’ts” that are an attractive design element as well as a useful compilation of the high points of the chapter.

Though this is a beautiful garden, full of evocative allees of shrubs and trees, water features and sculpture, not much of it deeply appealed to me which was a bit of a surprise. Though  my garden is large at half an acre, Hortulus Farm is essentially a country estate of about 100 acres. For those of us with smaller gardens, it is a lovely book to inspire dreams. I found more useful ideas and inspiration by looking at small sections of it that could easily translate to an urban garden. Imagine this path, for example, of River Birch trees with Hostas and ferns framing a front walk or the path on the side of a house into the back yard. 

Hortulus Farm is open to the public and is an Affiliate Garden of the national group, The Garden Conservancy. Sadly Jack Staub died just as the book was being published. When I was online looking for Staub's obit, I noticed that the property was listed for sale in 2019; whether it ever sold was unclear. 

Comments

[Lisa at Greenbow]

How nice it would be to have 100 acres to play with. I wouldn't know where to begin but I wouldn't mind the chance to try. :) Lovely photos. I am sure the book would be fun to peruse.

[Kris P]

I took a look at the book on Amazon. The photos are beautiful but I feel as you do: it's more a depiction of an unattainable dream than something I could glean a lot of practical advice from, especially with the difference in climate. As I'm trying (REALLY!) not to buy every garden book I see, this one isn't going on my wish list.

[Barbara H.]

Hah! I can finally read and comment while using Safari. I unchecked cross-site tracking in Safari preferences. No doubt this solution will have cons as well as pros, but I'm going to go with it.

[Linda Brazill]

I can barely imagine having that much property to play with. I think I would run out of ideas.

[Linda Brazill]

I think the financial crisis is going to seriously cut into my book buying.

[Beth @ PlantPostings]

That looks like a great coffee-table book. Maybe a few ideas here and there, but mainly beautiful to view.