Beautiful Gardens in America

Beautiful Gardens in America (both the 1915 and 1924 editions) is Louise Shelton’s most important work and a noted work of twentieth century American gardening and cultural history. This 1924 edition includes 11 color and 274 half-tone photos (a large increase from the 1915 edition) of notable American gardens of the time. Both photos and gardens were carefully selected by the author and cover many regions of the country and varying climatic conditions. The Rocky Mountain region was left out because she thought it was not “in nature open to the cultivation of formal gardens.” The book has brief discussions of gardening in the different regions, but is fascinating mostly for the photos of the many famous properties.  One such house and garden is Grey Gardens, located in the Village of East Hampton, Long Island, New York.  Two photos in the book depict the property by the original garden designers, before its scandalous and sad history of decline in the 1970’s under the ownership of Edith Beale and her daughter Little Edie,  relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.