Secret Gardens of Hollywood: And Other Private Oases in Los Angeles

by Adele Cygelman and Erica Lennard

Book Overview

A behind-the-scenes tour of some of the most beuatiful private gardens of Los Angeles presents a series of creative gardening retreats, from Joni Mitchell's whimsical Bel-Air garden to a collection of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0789308819
• ISBN13: 9780789308818
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Universe Publishing(NY)
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 2.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 9.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Real Southern Californian Gardens

After reading the reviews, I passed on this book. But I am glad I changed my mind and ordered it. These are real L.A. gardens, with the combination of plant materials, they could be nowhere else but Southern California. Yes, the pictures are not fabulous by artistic standards but the do show the plants well and how it all works. (One of the things I hate about some garden books is pictures that look great but are so staged as to be unreal.)Yes, the writing is more about an odd collection of pseudo-celebrities but, again, it tells you what you want to know about the origin and composition of the gardens. I loved this book, and if you live in Southern California, it is a very valuable addition to a gardening library for people who really do garden.

Beautiful and exotic

It is not often that one sees a beautiful book with such a varied array of garden designs and plant material. Of course, it is southern california where so many plant types can grow. L.A. is the perfect place to choose to illustrate how many things a garden can be. The gardens chosen range from the eclectic, to the architectural and come in many sizes. This is not a book that only heralds huge estates that are for most of us to enjoy only within the pages of a book. Rather, this book shows us intimate spaces that inform what we also may do with our private spaces. The writing does not describe the plant material or process so do not think of this as a 'how to' book. This book is a visual study and can inform the gardeners sense of making space and style. Take it in with your eyes.

WOW

Do you want to get back to the garden??Joni Mitchell's,Ted Dansen and Mary Steenburgen's, Director Nancy Meyers or Roland Emmerich's and all sorts of other HollywoodLuminaries under the eye of Photographer Erica Lennard,give us a lush voyage around the world in our favorite fantasy land, it is rare for one garden book to have such ,variety and give us so many ideas not to mention satisfy our curiosity.