teen private gardens belonging to residents of New York City. These private worlds are the work of 10 major landscape designers who brilliantly balance visual pleasure with ecological sustainability in challenging urban settings.

Design historian Lisa Zeiger tells lively stories about the designers and their plants bringing her eye for historical precedent and contemporary aesthetics to their work.

These distinct gardens are by landscape designers:

• Michael Van Valkenburg
• Thomas Woltz, Nelson Byrd Woltz
• Kim Hoyt
• Klaus Brooking
• Julie Ferris, XS Space
• Michael Trapp
• Stephen Eich, Holland Design Landscape Architects
• Billie Cohen
• Steve Tupu, Terrain-NYC
• Rees Roberts + Partners

Readers will appreciate their individual ways of highlighting plant life with architectural structures, natural stone and repurposed woods, old and custom vessels, and carefully curated furniture. The gardens answer to the lives of plants, and to the residents' desire for private outdoor space that enhances quiet time and social life.