Power of Gardens By Nancy Goslee Power; foreword by Bunny Williams (preview)

Page 1


U.S. $60.00 Canada $78.00 U.K. £35.00

Power of Gardens Nancy Goslee Power is to landscape what Frank Gehry is to architecture, or Bunny Williams to interiors—a master, a visionary, a seasoned professional at the very pinnacle of her craft. The designs Power creates—whether for parklands, playgrounds, or private sanctuaries—reflect the meticulous attention she pays to each place’s particularity and to the desires and living patterns of those who will use and enjoy her gardens. From residential gardens in Beverly Hills and Malibu to a Giverny-inspired sculpture garden in Pasadena and outdoor learning environments for L.A.’s Kidspace museum, the selection of Power’s work in this beautiful book reveals her multidimensional aesthetic. Her approach can range from the lavishly leafy to the meditatively restrained, from the comfortably homey to the superlatively (though always quirkily) formal. But no matter what the look, no matter who the client, each of her projects reminds us of the power that gardens have to refresh the body, center the mind, and liberate the spirit.

Nancy Goslee Power is a celebrated garden designer based in Santa Monica, California. She has spent the last thirty years in the field of design, first as an interior designer in New York, then as West Coast editor for House Beautiful and as contributing editor to Food & Wine. For the last twenty years, she has been passionately involved in garden design. Her firm, Nancy Goslee Power & Associates, has designed countless public and private landscapes in the United States, Australia, France, and Germany.

Author photograph by Victoria Pearson Cover photographs by Tim Street-Porter and Marcia Lee Additional photography by Lisa Romerein Book design by Doug Turshen, with David Huang Printed in China

200 full-color photographs 240 pages, 10½ x 10½" Hardcover with jacket iSbn 978-1-58479-757-9 uS $60.00 / CAN $78.00 / UK £35.00 Gardening Rights: World Pub month: october

To place an order Please call your sales representative or Hachette Book Group USA at (800) 759-0190 or fax (800) 286-9471

More than 200 brilliant photographs of Power’s work by such well-known photographers as Tim StreetPorter—along with plans, sketches, and “before” images of the sites—bring the gardens and the designer’s process to vivid life.

To inquire abouT publiciTy Please call (212) 229-8823 or fax (212) 366-0809 Stewart, Tabori & Chang An imprint of Abrams 115 West 18th Street New York, NY 10011 www.stcbooks.com

Nancy Goslee Power foreword by bunny williams


Contents I. Foreword page 8

II. Introduction page 10

III. Art Center Rooftop Garden page 15

IV. Beverly Canon Garden page 21

V. Boxenbaum Garden page 27

VI. Doheny Garden page 35

VII. Faring House Garden page 55

VIII. Gehry House page 71

IX. Ganz Garden page 75

X. Harte Gardens page 95

XI. Gardens at Live Oaks page 109

XII. Mailbu Gardens page 129

XIII. Moraga Vineyard page 145

XIV. Norton Simon Sculpture Garden page 168

XV. Casa Nancina page 183

XVI. Price Garden page 203

XVII. Schnabel Garden page 215

XVIII. Martin-Sykes Garden page 221

XIX. Children’s Gardens page 227

XX. Plant Lists page 232

XXI. Bibliography page 234

XXII. Resources page 236

XXIII. Index page 238


Martin-Sykes Garden


Martin-Sykes Garden


The center patio is a perfect extension of the house, a space in which I spend a huge amount of time puttering, daydreaming, eating, entertaining, reading, and, most important, napping. I call the plumcolored banquette my napatorium. I encourage my friends to fall asleep in every chair, chaise, or sofa the way my friends did when I was a teenager in my family’s house on the beach. A little nap after a long lunch with wine before my guests drive back to their own homes is offered with very soft throws to take care of the afternoon chill. This patio and garden has a lot going on yet doesn’t feel busy or nervous. I know that the more you define a space, the larger it becomes. Little bronze Javanese tigers trickle water into the central pond with an attached Jacuzzi spa. I designed the water to be seen all the way through the house and make a strong central axis that pulls you outside. The water also helped organize the adjoining spaces. It would look very intricate if put on paper, but seems calm and orderly when experienced. The jungle created by the wild tropical plants coming right up to the edge of the terrace and pond is enhanced by the uncertainty of not knowing where the garden begins or ends. That illusion was achieved by painting the west wall of the garden

I transformed the dilapidated shack into a garçonnière, as it is called in New Orleans, for my eighteen-year-old son, by moving the entrance door to the side. The front wall became the backdrop for the spa/pond, which is the focal point of my house with its surrounding garden.


The center patio is a perfect extension of the house, a space in which I spend a huge amount of time puttering, daydreaming, eating, entertaining, reading, and, most important, napping. I call the plumcolored banquette my napatorium. I encourage my friends to fall asleep in every chair, chaise, or sofa the way my friends did when I was a teenager in my family’s house on the beach. A little nap after a long lunch with wine before my guests drive back to their own homes is offered with very soft throws to take care of the afternoon chill. This patio and garden has a lot going on yet doesn’t feel busy or nervous. I know that the more you define a space, the larger it becomes. Little bronze Javanese tigers trickle water into the central pond with an attached Jacuzzi spa. I designed the water to be seen all the way through the house and make a strong central axis that pulls you outside. The water also helped organize the adjoining spaces. It would look very intricate if put on paper, but seems calm and orderly when experienced. The jungle created by the wild tropical plants coming right up to the edge of the terrace and pond is enhanced by the uncertainty of not knowing where the garden begins or ends. That illusion was achieved by painting the west wall of the garden

I transformed the dilapidated shack into a garçonnière, as it is called in New Orleans, for my eighteen-year-old son, by moving the entrance door to the side. The front wall became the backdrop for the spa/pond, which is the focal point of my house with its surrounding garden.





U.S. $60.00 Canada $78.00 U.K. £35.00

Power of Gardens Nancy Goslee Power is to landscape what Frank Gehry is to architecture, or Bunny Williams to interiors—a master, a visionary, a seasoned professional at the very pinnacle of her craft. The designs Power creates—whether for parklands, playgrounds, or private sanctuaries—reflect the meticulous attention she pays to each place’s particularity and to the desires and living patterns of those who will use and enjoy her gardens. From residential gardens in Beverly Hills and Malibu to a Giverny-inspired sculpture garden in Pasadena and outdoor learning environments for L.A.’s Kidspace museum, the selection of Power’s work in this beautiful book reveals her multidimensional aesthetic. Her approach can range from the lavishly leafy to the meditatively restrained, from the comfortably homey to the superlatively (though always quirkily) formal. But no matter what the look, no matter who the client, each of her projects reminds us of the power that gardens have to refresh the body, center the mind, and liberate the spirit.

Nancy Goslee Power is a celebrated garden designer based in Santa Monica, California. She has spent the last thirty years in the field of design, first as an interior designer in New York, then as West Coast editor for House Beautiful and as contributing editor to Food & Wine. For the last twenty years, she has been passionately involved in garden design. Her firm, Nancy Goslee Power & Associates, has designed countless public and private landscapes in the United States, Australia, France, and Germany.

Author photograph by Victoria Pearson Cover photographs by Tim Street-Porter and Marcia Lee Additional photography by Lisa Romerein Book design by Doug Turshen, with David Huang Printed in China

200 full-color photographs 240 pages, 10½ x 10½" Hardcover with jacket iSbn 978-1-58479-757-9 uS $60.00 / CAN $78.00 / UK £35.00 Gardening Rights: World Pub month: october

To place an order Please call your sales representative or Hachette Book Group USA at (800) 759-0190 or fax (800) 286-9471

More than 200 brilliant photographs of Power’s work by such well-known photographers as Tim StreetPorter—along with plans, sketches, and “before” images of the sites—bring the gardens and the designer’s process to vivid life.

To inquire abouT publiciTy Please call (212) 229-8823 or fax (212) 366-0809 Stewart, Tabori & Chang An imprint of Abrams 115 West 18th Street New York, NY 10011 www.stcbooks.com

Nancy Goslee Power foreword by bunny williams


U.S. $60.00 Canada $78.00 U.K. £35.00

Power of Gardens Nancy Goslee Power is to landscape what Frank Gehry is to architecture, or Bunny Williams to interiors—a master, a visionary, a seasoned professional at the very pinnacle of her craft. The designs Power creates—whether for parklands, playgrounds, or private sanctuaries—reflect the meticulous attention she pays to each place’s particularity and to the desires and living patterns of those who will use and enjoy her gardens. From residential gardens in Beverly Hills and Malibu to a Giverny-inspired sculpture garden in Pasadena and outdoor learning environments for L.A.’s Kidspace museum, the selection of Power’s work in this beautiful book reveals her multidimensional aesthetic. Her approach can range from the lavishly leafy to the meditatively restrained, from the comfortably homey to the superlatively (though always quirkily) formal. But no matter what the look, no matter who the client, each of her projects reminds us of the power that gardens have to refresh the body, center the mind, and liberate the spirit.

Nancy Goslee Power is a celebrated garden designer based in Santa Monica, California. She has spent the last thirty years in the field of design, first as an interior designer in New York, then as West Coast editor for House Beautiful and as contributing editor to Food & Wine. For the last twenty years, she has been passionately involved in garden design. Her firm, Nancy Goslee Power & Associates, has designed countless public and private landscapes in the United States, Australia, France, and Germany.

Author photograph by Victoria Pearson Cover photographs by Tim Street-Porter and Marcia Lee Additional photography by Lisa Romerein Book design by Doug Turshen, with David Huang Printed in China

200 full-color photographs 240 pages, 10½ x 10½" Hardcover with jacket iSbn 978-1-58479-757-9 uS $60.00 / CAN $78.00 / UK £35.00 Gardening Rights: World Pub month: october

To place an order Please call your sales representative or Hachette Book Group USA at (800) 759-0190 or fax (800) 286-9471

More than 200 brilliant photographs of Power’s work by such well-known photographers as Tim StreetPorter—along with plans, sketches, and “before” images of the sites—bring the gardens and the designer’s process to vivid life.

To inquire abouT publiciTy Please call (212) 229-8823 or fax (212) 366-0809 Stewart, Tabori & Chang An imprint of Abrams 115 West 18th Street New York, NY 10011 www.stcbooks.com

Nancy Goslee Power foreword by bunny williams


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