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In Love with a Hillside Garden
It all began when architect Daniel, then a bachelor, built his own house on a wild hillside lot, developing his garden as next―door―neighbor, Ann, was developing a garden around natural springs in her backyard. We married, and together with our growing son, Benjamin, continued these gardens as we also fought through blackberries, horsetails, and morning glories to push intersecting paths through the adjacent two―lot wilderness we later purchased, creating a little park which we planted and nurtured and ultimately gave to the City of Seattle in 1996, with our promise to maintain it through our lifetimes.from the Introduction
"It all began when architect Daniel, then a bachelor, built his own house on a wild hillside lot, developing his garden as next-door-neighbor, Ann, was developing a garden around natural springs in her backyard. We married, and together with our growing son, Benjamin, continued these gardens as we also fought through blackberries, horsetails, and morning glories to push intersecting paths through the adjacent two-lot wilderness we later purchased, creating a little park which we planted and nurtured and ultimately gave to the City of Seattle in 1996, with our promise to maintain it through our lifetimes." -from the Introduction
This richly illustrated book offers timely inspiration to gardeners in an increasingly urban world. In an engaging narrative, the Streissguths show the emergence of their gardening partnership during forty years of marriage, and their philosophy that developing a site along a public stairway gave them the opportunity to share their garden with neighbors and passersby. They offer practical insight into concepts of linking inside and outside rooms and of combining private and public spaces, and they describe the process through which they transformed a steep forested hillside in the heart of Seattle into a deciduous woodland garden with banks of perennials, a dell, vistas of the city and lake, and a site for ornamental and food-producing plants.
Finally, they consider the future stewardship of the Streissguth Gardens, a park linking the wild and tamed sections of a unique greenbelt garden shared with joggers, strollers, fellow gardeners, schoolchildren, and those who call it "a touch of Eden in a big city."
"It all began when architect Daniel, then a bachelor, built his own house on a wild hillside lot, developing his garden as next-door-neighbor, Ann, was developing a garden around natural springs in her backyard. We married, and together with our growing son, Benjamin, continued these gardens as we also fought through blackberries, horsetails, and morning glories to push intersecting paths through the adjacent two-lot wilderness we later purchased, creating a little park which we planted and nurtured and ultimately gave to the City of Seattle in 1996, with our promise to maintain it through our lifetimes." -from the Introduction
This richly illustrated book offers timely inspiration to gardeners in an increasingly urban world. In an engaging narrative, the Streissguths show the emergence of their gardening partnership during forty years of marriage, and their philosophy that developing a site along a public stairway gave them the opportunity to share their garden with neighbors and passersby. They offer practical insight into concepts of linking inside and outside rooms and of combining private and public spaces, and they describe the process through which they transformed a steep forested hillside in the heart of Seattle into a deciduous woodland garden with banks of perennials, a dell, vistas of the city and lake, and a site for ornamental and food-producing plants.
Finally, they consider the future stewardship of the Streissguth Gardens, a park linking the wild and tamed sections of a unique greenbelt garden shared with joggers, strollers, fellow gardeners, schoolchildren, and those who call it "a touch of Eden in a big city."
- GenresGardening
118 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
About the author
Ann Streissguth
3 booksAnn Streissguth is professor emerita at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Daniel Streissguth is professor emeritus at the University of Washington College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Benjamin Streissguth has a degree in landscape architecture from the University of Washington and lives in Seattle.
Together, they established Seattle's Streissguth Gardens."
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 13, 2018
I was so happy to find this book about an amazing Seattle garden that I accidentally discovered in the late 80s.
February 1, 2020
I enjoyed the history and the details about specific plants. I would have liked to see more information on how they dealt with the blackberries, ivy and other invasive plants in order to make a garden out of the steep hillside.
February 19, 2010
This book describes the history and production of the Streissguth Gardens, located in the Capitol Hill region of Seattle. Unfortunately there was too much description of the plants that went into the garden (at times it felt like I was simply reading a list) and not quite enough of their solutions to problems like invasive Himalayan Blackberry and boggy land. But still I bet everyone wishes they had a similar book full of information about their local park.
March 14, 2015
I enjoyed this book almost as much as I enjoy visiting these gardens! A sweet story, with excellent information.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews