Himalayan plants in Scotland? An ambitious Japanese garden in Quaker country? For some of the best and most beautiful private gardens that AD has ever published, anything is possible. In honor of the summer season, we rounded up 18 of our favorite such spaces from our 101-year-old archive. In our edit you’ll find the hidden escapes of world-famous talents and the works of legendary landscape architects. So sit back, relax, and scroll on: Because where nature’s bounty is concerned, the only rule just might be to expect the unexpected.
A Calming Fountain in New York State
Rees Roberts + Partners created this dreamy, fountain-focused private garden in upstate New York. It accompanies a home designed by AD100 decorator Sheila Bridges. “My process always starts with a lot of research and design reconnaissance,” Bridges told AD at the time. “It’s about discovery and learning.” Undoubtedly, the same effort was required of Roberts in order to create this tranquil space.
Troye Sivan’s Melbourne Oasis
Singer Troye Sivan has a clear passion for design, as evidenced by his Melbourne home. It’s “unquestionably Australian, from the plantings in the garden to the art on the walls,” the star said. Florian Wild handled the landscaping pictured here. The finishing touch? An outdoor wine cellar in the garden was converted into a whimsical powder room designed by decorator David Flack.
A Pretty Hamptons Perch
“It was really nice to have the experience of trusting someone else with control,” designer Patrick McGrath noted when speaking of his Hamptons garden. The home it accompanies is one that McGrath shares with architect Reinaldo Leandro. But as involved as the two creatives were with their own abode, they gave landscape architect Perry Guillot free rein in the great outdoors. “Perry even selected the gravel,” McGrath noted. Nonetheless, the outdoor furniture was a selection all McGrath’s own.
Arne Glimcher’s Winding Hamptons Garden
Deep in the lush Hamptons garden of Pace Gallery founder Arne Glimcher sits Goslar Warrior, a 1970s bronze sculpture by Henry Moore. Though it’s no huge wonder that Glimcher’s grounds would feature such a stellar piece of art, the dense plantings seen here can’t help but rival it. “Ten acres of garden on five acres of land” is how Glimcher’s wife, Milly, described the property to AD. “It does seem larger than it is, with the multiple gardens and the routes that go through them. It’s full of surprises,” he said. In the background his modern house, designed by architect Ulrich Franzen, can be seen.
The Los Angeles Dream Garden of One Designer
Tucked away in the Los Angeles hills, the garden of Jean-Louis Deniot is a world all its own. The charming space has it all: newly planted trees, manicured hedges, gravel, and an outdoor fireplace perch. “In L.A., people tend to build the biggest possible houses their land can accommodate,” Deniot commented to AD. “I did the opposite. I kept the house modest and extended the gardens.” Certainly an excellent (if rare) choice. “We literally carved out space,” landscape architect Scott Shrader added. “Jean-Louis wanted the garden to be romantic, meandering, and filled with lovely smells and the sound of water. He had a vision of relaxed al fresco entertaining that unfolds from one discrete space to the next.”
A French Fashion Designer’s Urban Oasis
Tucked away in the courtyard of a Paris building sits one very special house. Not only does it belong to Julie de Libran, creative director of Sonia Rykiel, but it also includes this glorious outdoor space. The merits of any city green patch aside, this urban oasis also features some stellar designs. Chief among them are the Pierre Jeanneret chairs and the Josef Frank pillows. “I can sit and talk to plants,” de Libran told AD when speaking of the Louis Benech–designed area. “After being in the office all day, I need to be around vegetation.”
A Private Palm Beach Pool
French decorator and AD100 legend Jacques Grange described this home as “happy and comfortable, not traditional.” Indeed, those words certainly suit his Palm Beach creation—but the outdoor area and private pool exude nothing but dreamy tropical escape.
A Lavender-Filled California Garden
Stephen Suzman may have designed this California space, but the bench pictured—a Sir Edwin Lutyens–style piece—is a design-world classic. “There’s a similar one that he must have seen at a [Christopher] Wren building in London,” Lutyens’s granddaughter Candia Lutyens once mused to AD when asked about its origins. “But we know nothing more about where he got the idea. There is no surviving drawing.” Reflecting on the timeless design, landscape architect Deborah Nevins added, “The proportions are just perfect.”
The Work of an Italian Landscaping Maestro
Paolo Pejrone is one of the most renowned landscape designers in Italy. And while compositions like this sprawling, sculptural greenscape take constant maintenance—see that tall ladder, used to trim shrubbery—Pejrone doesn’t believe in overly fussy designs. “A garden that’s too elaborate, too sophisticated, too neat will eventually become a nightmare,” he told AD. Another pearl of wisdom? “The superfluous alone will not bring harmony.” Good words to live and plant by, indeed.
A Secret Garden on Long Island
What happens when the kids leave the Long Island suburban nest? In the case of this homeowner, you redecorate. Charming and colorful as the interiors may be, it’s the garden that’s most likely to take guests’ breath away. A private gate opens onto the yew-hedged space, which can be gazed upon from a freestanding bathtub indoors.
The Luxurious Minnesota Haven
Arne Maynard Garden Design reworked this lush retreat, which centers on an elegant pool. Its location? Neither Tuscan countryside nor the California suburbs, as you might expect, but Minneapolis. The home it accompanies was inspired by the owner’s favorite Merchant Ivory film and was designed by AD100’s Michael S. Smith.
Julianne Moore’s Pocket of Greenery
“I had several goes at the garden, and it was just a disaster,” actress Julianne Moore told AD of her New York City abode. “It looked like a dog run. Tragic. Everything kept dying.” Ultimately, Moore tapped Brian Sawyer of the architecture and landscape firm Sawyer|Berson to reimagine the outdoor area of her Greenwich Village townhouse. The end product is all about a limited color palette and plantings that don’t need too much sun. “It’s about ivy—Boston ivy and English ivy—and staghorn ferns and moss. And boxwood,” Sawyer expounded at the time.
A Delightfully Lush Scottish Garden
“After 100-year-old trees blew down during the storms, the craters left by their massive roots filled with black, peaty water,” Nicky Macpherson, the owner of this garden, explained to Architectural Digest. “And I realized that by enlarging them to form pools fed by an old millstream, I could create a perfect habitat for bog plants such as water lilies and primulas.” Landscape architect Michael Innes assisted in her effort, which included creating this “perfect habitat for plants from the Himalayas, Madeira, and Tasmania, thanks to the Gulf Stream.” Nonetheless, the location of this compound is in fact the banks of Scotland’s Loch Carron. Go figure.
The French Chateau Grounds of Designer Timothy Corrigan
“There are 10 acres of gardens, including an Italian garden and a kitchen garden to the east of the château,” Los Angeles–based AD100 designer Timothy Corrigan told Architectural Digest of this stellar project. Nonetheless, this lower area, which features a 17th-century fountain and a serpentine boxwood parterre, is a surely a highlight of the 150-acre property that is Château de Gallerande. The Loire Valley estate was quite the undertaking: “I was so caught up in the whole adventure that I didn’t really think of the risks attached,” Corrigan said. “I’d lived in France before, and I’d bought and redesigned a couple of other properties—but nothing on this scale. From the beginning I knew I was looking for something exceptional. It wasn’t about needing a place to live; it was more about fantasy.”
A Sunken, Shady, and Sunny Garden in Cape Town
One of the owners of this Cape Town, South Africa, home is an accomplished gardener. So it makes perfect sense that her property’s oak-studded grounds would sparkle with dappled light. “Symmetry is the essence of the garden—and restraint,” she commented to Architectural Digest at the time. In 1989 she planted the sunken formal garden, pictured here. It includes “geometric beds and profusions of flowers” and was based on a design gifted by the eminent David Hicks. A Lutyens-style bench can be seen in the foreground of this photograph.
A Bucolic Japanese Composition in Quaker Pennsylvania
Surprisingly, this Japanese garden is located not far from an 1870s Quaker fieldstone farmhouse. The home’s owner decided to create an ambitious project of this scale after being inspired by the property’s hilly 58-acre landscape. Hiroshi Makita was tapped to spearhead the design and execution of the extensive grounds. “After [architect] Martin Rosenblum opened up the farmhouse to the beautiful surrounding countryside with large picture windows, balconies, and terraces, we were thrilled that views from inside the house revealed no horizon line because of the valley’s steep slopes, and so we began work on a Japanese cup garden in front of the house,” the homeowner explained to Architectural Digest. “The bottom of the cup was formed by two ponds that were regraded to give the shoreline a more natural shape.”
A Rose-Tinted Parterre
“It was a very romantic ruin, and I have a passion for ruins,” Clara Yust said of the experience of discovering her L.A. home. “I could see the formal garden and fountain through the fence, and the fact that it was so abandoned. It was very tempting to take over.” That fleeting thought came to full fruition when Yust and her husband purchased and meticulously restored the 1920s abode. The hedges seen were maintained by the same gardener from 1921 to 1986 before experiencing a dormant period of care. The Yusts revived them, and brought the roses pictured here with them from their former home.
Linda Ronstadt’s Perfect Pretty Outdoor Area
“Her yard is incredible—there are many unique spots,” interior designer Christy Martin commented to Architectural Digest of her client’s Tucson garden. That client was none other than singer Linda Ronstadt. Local firm Harlow Gardens created the space, which Ronstadt’s cat, Sally Mae, clearly enjoys. Ronstadt also puts its bounty to good use: “Linda loves fresh flowers, and she places them all over the house,” Martin reflected at the time.
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