Design With Culture: Claiming America's Landscape Heritage

For some time landscape preservation seemed a lost concept in America. Historic gardens were dug up for tourists' parking lots, legendary landscapes fell under ribbons of freeways, and for some reason people took to planting plastic pink flamingos on their outdoor spaces rather than preserving heritage plant materials and trees. In these nine essays, activists and designers buck the trend and describe their efforts to preserve historic and significant landscapes, including pioneering southern garden club projects, Mount Vernon and the landscape along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The collection also includes reflections on noted designers and preservationists such as Morley Jeffers Williams, Arthur A. Shurcliff, Frederick Law Olmstead, Jr. and Thomas C. Vint. Annotation c2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Charles A. Birnbaum is coordinator of the National Park Service Historic Landscape Initiative in Washington, D.C., and the founder of the Cultural Landscape Foundation. He is the coeditor of Pioneers of American Landscape Design and Preserving Modern Landscape Architecture 1 and 11. Mary V. Hughes is University Landscape Architect for the University of Virginia, where she also serves as a lecturer in the Department of Landscape Architecture. In addition, with Peter Hatch of Monticello, she is codirector of the Historic Landscape Institute.