Foreword by
Audrey Hepburn
GARDENS OF
THE WORLD: The Art & Practice of Gardening
(Written in the
summer of 1990)
"We all
have within us a need to create beauty. And we all can in a
garden, however small. It is this need which has written
the history of gardens. By looking at our world through its
gardens today, we reaffirm the simple human capacity to
create beauty on this earth.
We are most fortunate to have a truly fine group of writers
and photographers dedicate their talents and expertise to
Gardens of the World. Each garden included has been
carefully selected to illustrate a particular aesthetic,
practice or concept.
After years of challenge and reward in my own garden, I
greatly looked forward to spending time in some of the
world’s most beautiful gardens. I never imagined they would
reveal the diverse range of expression they did.
The garden of old roses at Mottisfont Abbey contrasts
delightfully with the orderly abundance of layout of the
French rose gardens, yet each garden helps us know a new
dimension of this most revered of flowers. The Japanese
stroll garden at Shinshin-an in Kyoto challenges our sense
of detail and nuance in the natural world. The Italian
Renaissance gardens appeal to our sense of order and
proportion, even hundreds of years after they were
conceived and created. George Washington’s gardens at Mount
Vernon are a lovely statement of simplicity and lack of
pretense. Tulips in spring eternally bring a sense of
renewal and hope; in the soft, blue light of Holland one
can glimpse the elements that inspired great Dutch and
Flemish painters over two hundred years ago. And
mysterious, romantic Ninfa, south of Rome, a country garden
so artfully and carefully realized, that one would think
nature alone had created it.
In the early planning meetings, when gardens were being
selected with Penelope Hobhouse and Elvin McDonald, we
realized that it would be simply impossible to include all
of the world’s most beautiful gardens in one book or
television series. We were, at first, disappointed. But
then we were heartened – even in these threatened
environmental times, there are more beautiful places on
this earth than any one of us may hope to see.
Perhaps if we now take a closer look at our gardens we will
better understand how to find a way to save our lovely
earth. Have we not lost sight of our only source of life?
Or have we at last awakened to the fragility of our
beautiful planet?"