Gardens of Nantucket

A celebration of Nantucket's gardens of distinction—sumptuous, visual inspiration for gardeners looking for planting and design ideas. Gardens of Nantucket celebrates the island's impressive range of beautiful gardens. Expertly and passionately written and illustrated with over 300 magnificent photos, the book covers every type of garden found on the island: - early colonial herb and “physic” gardens - historic gardens that mimicked fashionable European styles - the islanders' famous love of hydrangeas and roses - productive and conservation gardens - sublime, modern wildscapes The authors have documented the four-hundred-year history of how Nantucket gardens originated and proliferated, how gardeners have preserved the traditions of the past, while respecting new concerns surrounding sustainable gardening. Chapters are devoted to the elegant gardens in the town of Nantucket, the more informal gardens of the cottages in the charming village of 'Sconset, and gardens that magically interact with the island's stunning landscape. Nantucket is a small island about 30 miles south and east of Cape Cod, with the wild Atlantic Ocean to the south and east and the calmer, shallower waters of Nantucket Sound to the north. Although only 105.3 square miles (14 miles long and 3- miles wide), the island has a remarkably varied landscape with beautiful, isolated beaches, wind-sculpted dunes, and lush wetlands along its extensive shoreline and moorland, cranberry bogs and freshwater ponds on its interior. Its proximity to the Gulf Stream gives the island a milder climate and a longer growing season. It is in this environment that Nantucket gardeners have succeeded in creating gardens of distinction. With the publication of Gardens of Nantucket, readers everywhere can be inspired by the island's gardens, a rare opportunity not to be missed.

Paula Henderson has a PhD in architectural history from the Courtauld Institute of Art (London) and has published over seventy articles on English architecture and gardens in both academic journals and more popular magazines, such as Country Life, The World of Interiors, Gardens Illustrated, and The Magazine Antiques. Her first book, The Tudor House and Garden, won the Berger Prize for the outstanding contribution to the history of British art. After living in England for forty-three years, she now splits her time between Williamsburg, Virginia, and Nantucket, where she is a member and on the board of the Nantucket Garden Club. Kathleen Poole is known for her exceptional cutting garden, featured on numerous tours, and creating a remarkable and fragrant rose garden with approximately one hundred antique and David Austin roses. Kathleen has built four successful businesses, was president of the Nantucket Garden Club and the Johns Island Garden Club, where she chaired multiple committees that contributed to the community beautification and educational initiatives, and has received multiple awards for Horticulture and Floral Design. Kathleen winters in Vero Beach, Florida and spends her summer months on Nantucket. Marcella Zimmerman is an avid gardener and a Master Gardener. She resides in Nashville, Tennessee, serves on numerous boards and committees, and has chaired the Swan Ball Auction, raising funds for Cheekwood, Nashville's botanical garden. Marcella summers on Nantucket and, as a member of the Nantucket Garden Club (NGC), she has held various board positions, including co-chairing the NGC's Annual House and Garden Tour and participating in NGC's judged flower shows. She has served on the 'Sconset Trust Board, chairing a capital campaign to raise funds for the preservation of land in the village of 'Sconset. In the winter, Marcella is a member of the John's Island Garden Club in Vero Beach, Florida. The Nantucket Garden Club promotes better knowledge and love of gardening, plants, flowers, and horticulture, contributes to the beauty of Nantucket, and supports conservation initiatives that protect the island's fragile and historic environment. Peter Crane is President of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation in Virginia (osgf.org), an estate of Rachel Lambert Mellon that includes an exquisite garden as well as an exceptional library focused on the history of plant science, plant exploration, and the development of gardens and landscape design. He is known internationally for his work on the diversity of plant life – its origin, fossil history, current status, conservation and use. Peter Crane was elected to the Royal Society – the UK academy of sciences in 1998 and was knighted in the UK for services to horticulture and conservation in 2004. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences, a Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and a Member of the German Academy Leopoldina. He is the recipient of several honorary degrees from universities in the UK and US, including honorary doctorates of science: in the US from the University of Connecticut and from Sewanee: The University of the South; in the UK, from the University of Portsmouth, and from Cambridge University. He received the International Prize for Biology in December 2014 and the Darwin-Wallace Medal of the Linnean Society of London in 2024. In 2024 he also received the Garden Club of America Medal of Honor.

Preface and introduction Chapter 1. “Historic Nantucket Gardens" Chapter 2. “Gardens in town” Chapter 3. “Gardens of 'Sconset” Chapter 4. “Gardens by the Sea" Chapter 5. “Productive Gardens” Chapter 6. “Conservation Lands and Gardens” Chapter 7. “Elements of the Garden” Chapter 8. “Final touches” Chapter 9. “Hydrangeas and Roses” Chapter 10. “Seasons of Nantucket”