Ive also sojourned far and wide in search of the perfect garden destination.
I know Im not alone.
InFounding Gardeners,Wulf depicts George Washington and Thomas Jeffersons shared horticultural obsession.
Their gardening passions would produce much more than the verdant landscapes of Mount Vernon and Monticello.
Urban leaders would honor this botanical focus by cultivating magnificent public gardens in American cities.
Included is information and insight gathered from experts describing each gardens mystique, beginning with Wulf.
Oh, thats a difficult question too much choice, Wulf says.
But I think Ill go forJeffersons Monticelloand gloriousMiddleton Place[outside of Charleston], South Carolina.
Jefferson created a garden that was an expression of his vision of America.
It brings together the sublime vastness of Americas landscape with the productivity of the land.
And Middleton Place what a spectacular space.
The grand formal Butterfly Lakes there never fail to blow my mind.
Wulf adds that walking through Monticello provides as much insight into Jefferson as reading his letters.
Gardens are windows into the world of science, culture and politics, she says.
The Founding Fathers created gardens as a political statement, planting native species to illustrate Americas independence.
When Im here, I save the most time for the Japanese Garden.
I cant get enough of the rock-pine-maple visual drama playing out in beautiful detail above the small pond.
The gardens also energize me and get my adrenaline flowing.
Northwest themes are exemplified in the Moss Garden.
The garden was established in the early 1980s when over 275,000 1-inch-square Irish moss starts were planted.
Native mosses soon moved in, and colonized the site within five years.
