PHILADELPHIA PA – If you’ve ever driven through fashionable neighborhoods of the Main Line or elsewhere in Philadelphia’s suburbs, you may have occasionally hoped to see behind the fences, and across the gardens and landscaped spaces, of selected homes.
“What are those places like?,” is the common question. A soon-to-be-released book promises some answers.
“Private Gardens of Philadelphia” claims to be “the first-ever coffee table book on select private gardens in Philadelphia.” Written by garden designer Nicole Juday, and illustrated by multiple award-winning photographer Rob Cardillo, the 320-page book is said to bring readers inside “21 private gardens behind tall hedges, down quiet lanes, or tucked into bustling neighborhoods” within the region.
“These gorgeous private gardens are products of years of hard physical labor,” the book’s publisher, Gibbs Smith, stated in a recent promotional notice. Like those whose resources are likely far more limited, it also contends private garden owners face similar challenges: “financial trade-offs,” and responding “to constant threats of damage by tornadoes, floods, deer, and unwanted development.”
They benefit, however, the publisher acknowledges, from “gardening knowledge and plants themselves (that) have been passed down through generations, culminating in a wonderful depth of expression.” Among the gardens included in the book, according to Gibbs Smith, are those owned by artists, designers, writers, conservators, and other experts.
The book’s release date – it goes on retail sale at a price of $60 on March 12 (2024; Tuesday) – immediately follows this year’s Philadelphia Flower Show, scheduled for March 2-10 at the Philadelphia Convention Center. Cardillo and Juday will make appearances around the area to promote the release, including at the flower show and the Morris Arboretum and Gardens.
About the author and photographer
Author Juday’s career “has encompassed her own garden design business, working as landscape curator at Wyck Historic Garden, and running the renowned Arboretum School at the Barnes Foundation,” the publisher said. She also served as director of audience engagement at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Juday has published several articles, and won a silver medal for writing from the Garden Writers Association.
Photographer Cardillo has work published in Gardens Illustrated, Garden Gate, Flower, and The New York Times. He is a partner in Blue Root Media, which provides content for GROW, published quarterly by the horticultural society. He was inducted into the Garden Writer’s Association Hall of Fame during 2015.
Book cover photo provided by Gibbs Smith;
background photo in collaboration with Margaret Jaszowska on Unsplash+, used under license
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