Lisa Romerein - Böcker

Pools made private by lush plantings, bedrooms open to the back yard, bar seating by the outdoor oven. California native and exterior architect Scott Shrader is known for creating covetable outdoor rooms for clients including Ellen DeGeneres and Patrick Dempsey. In his first book, he shares the grounds of twelve beautiful properties, all designed to be lived in and enjoyed as extensions of the homes they surround, rich with creature comforts. Shrader shows us how to connect the landscape outside with interior decor; resulting in an exterior environment that flows naturally, stylishly and serenely from this core. He also inspires us to think of the way these outdoor spaces will be used, and plan ahead for ways to keep our family and guests fed, warm, and entertained in them. Folded in between the featured gardens which range in style from Hollywood Regency to Modern Moroccan are meditative essays on topics including Sustainability, Lifestyle, and Pathways, as Shrader reflects on the ways that gardens change constantly in small ways, shifting mood with the light and the weather, transforming dramatically with the cycle of the seasons and the passage of years. These are modern, chic gardens and outdoor entertainment spaces specifically designed for cooking, entertaining, playing, and relaxing.

Variously labelled Eden, one of the 100 gardens you must visit before your die, and among the 10 best botanical gardens in the world, Madame Ganna Walska s Lotusland is magic mixed with paradise in the hills of Montecito, California. Walska, a well-known Polish opera singer and socialite, purchased the estate in 1941 and spent 43 years creating Lotusland. The collections of exotic plants on the 37-acre property are an expression of her penchant for the dramatic, the unexpected, and the whimsical. Home to more than 3,400 types of plants, including at least 35,000 specimens, it is recognized not just for the diversity of its collections, but for the extraordinary design sensibility informing the many one-of-a-kind individual gardens that comprise the whole. As pleasing as its aesthetic and sensorial qualities are, Lotusland is also an important centre for scientific research and conservation. A leader in the field of sustainable practices, it is the first botanical garden in the United States to become entirely organic.