Botanic Gems Indiana Public Gardens: including Greater Chicago, Dayton, Cincinnati & Louisville

by Alan McPherson

Throughout Indiana, Hoosiers in increasing numbers are discovering the joys of creating their own private gardens, as well as visiting public gardens; verdant sanctuaries where they often find ideas and inspiration. As we all realilze or should know, spending time in a garden, private or public, can be a rewarding experience of horticultural enrichment, beauty and inner peace. The author, Alan McPherson, has spent considerable time wandering Indiana, seeking out the most outstanding gardens or "botanic gems" whose gates are open to the public. He shares his findings of these Eden-like public retreats in this readable companion guide. The rich array of garden types found in Indiana and neighboring cities include historic, estate, ethnic, educational, commercial, arboretum, conservatory, and pleasure gardens. These public garden settings are designed with international landscape styles that include English, Italian, French, Japanese, American influences and an eclectic mix of several. Brought to life by numerous color photographs and a delighful informative text, this guide book directs readers to Indiana's diverse public gardens with ease.

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Sheryl]

This is the bestest book! Lots of small-but-pretty pictures, little quotes sprinkled through out, good information, and plenty of maps. Printed in 2009, but I haven't caught anything seriously outdated yet. Maybe gardens don't change as fast as other attractions.

The first map is of Indiana's counties with 42 Indiana gardens (and a couple just across the border in other states) marked on it; each of these gardens gets at least two pages each. The first page has an Indiana map with the county the garden is in darkened, a map or two on how to find the garden, and a map of the garden itself. The second page has a color picture and a write up on the garden, describing the garden and giving some history, along with parking tips and other info, then at the bottom of the page is the Garden's address, a phone number and web page, the hours, the size, any possible fees, and the strengths of the Botanical Collection.

Then it has four pages of info on other Indiana gardens (the Garden's address, a phone number and web page, the hours, the size, any possible fees, and the strengths of the Botanical Collection).

After that is a map of the Chicago Area with 14 gardens marked on it (one is the Chicago Park District, where he gives a bit of info on 7 different parks); there are a couple of pictures before and after, but most of the gardens get a one paragraph write up and then the same general information as before. Dayton, Ohio (five gardens), Cincinnati (7 gardens), and Louisville, KY (6 gardens) get the same treatment.

Finally, there is a list of Helpful Books and an index.

The only thing I don't like about it is the price -- apparently I'm not the only one who thinks it's great stuff, because all the second hand copies I've found cost more than it did originally!