Monty Don's American Gardens.

[Mindful]

The best gardens in the US, 
according to Monty Don:

Vizcayai Museum and Gardens, Miami.
An American garden typically pioneering in spirit, Vizcaya is built on marshland. A National Historic Landmark, it was the waterfront estate home of James Deering, a businessman, and was built in 1916. “As a pastiche of an Italian renaissance garden, built on a swamp, Vizcaya has such pizzazz and chutzpah,” says Don.

Federal Twist, New Jersey
“Creator James Golden calls this the ‘good-for-nothing garden’: I loved his modesty and wit. He had to cut down a wood to make it, the soil is terrible, it has thick snow in winter and is burning hot in summer – and yet it looks as if it’s just fallen into place.”


Steve Martino’s desert gardens, Arizona
“In the desert, the greatest luxury is shade. The shadows cast are often as important a feature as the plants themselves. According to Martino [the landscape architect] the secret is to balance just four elements – water, tree, chair, wall.”

The Sheats Goldstein residence, Los Angeles
“The garden of multi-millionaire James Goldstein [the ‘NBA superfan’ who bought the residence in 1972] features a giant structure of glass and steel, and a bevy of women draped around his statue – but he’s a talented gardener who has also created a jungle of exotic species over the years.

Monty Don: 'In America, gardening isn't part of the culture. Why do something yourself when you can pay someone else to do it?'

 

[Mindful]

This is a beautifully presented show, running on the BBC right now.

I've visited a few public gardens myself in the US, and was very impressed.

 

[Mindful]

^“I’ve been going to America since the early Eighties, and thought I knew it well: I’d already visited a few American gardens to film Around the World in 80 Gardens,” says Don. “But until you travel a lot in America, you just don’t realise how big it is: the geographical expanse, the mountains, the deserts.”

During his travels, Don found himself gazing in awe at “possibly the most beautiful” trees he’s ever seen. “It was extraordinary. The coastal redwoods, the tallest trees in the world, run a narrow strip down the coast of California and up into Oregon, and can only exist there, because they need the moisture of the sea mist and that particular climate to grow. They shade out everything else, so nothing grows under them – you find yourself walking softly and silently through the giant pillars.

“While California has its redwoods, in the south there are southern live oaks (Quercus virginiana) dripping with Spanish moss, and huge southern magnolias; in Seattle, there are Douglas firs and pines, and in Arizona, of course, there are cacti. These are localities bigger than the whole of the UK: the Sonoran Desert alone stretches over 100,000 square miles.”

 

[Mindful]

Jefferson's gardens at Monticello in Virginia, where Don encounters the still "raw" history of the civil war CREDIT: THOMAS JEFFERSON FOUNDATION AT MONTICELLO.

 

[Dekster]

I saw the first two episodes. Kind of bummed he didn't do the Biltmore gardens. They are far more impressive and amazing than Monticello.