Home > Books > Book details

Gardens of the High Line: Elevating the Nature of Modern Landscapes

By Piet Oudolf and Rick Darke

If you can’t get to the High Line, the image-rich publication is the next best thing. In some ways, it’s better, because its pictures bring home the seasonality of the plants.

Washington Post

Bestseller

Before it was restored, the High Line was an untouched, abandoned landscape overgrown with wildflowers. Today it is much more than that; it’s a central plaza, a cultural center, a walkway, and a green retreat in a bustling city that is free for all to enjoy. But above all else, it is a beautiful, dynamic garden with plantings designed by Piet Oudolf, one of the world’s most extraordinary garden designers. Gardens of the High Line, by Piet Oudolf and Rick Darke, offers an in-depth view into the planting designs, plant palette, and maintenance of this landmark achievement. It reveals a four-season garden that is filled with native and exotic plants, drought-tolerant perennials, and grasses that thrive and spread. It also offers inspiration and advice to home gardeners and garden designers looking to recreate its iconic, naturalistic style. Featuring stunning photographs by Rick Darke and an introduction by Robert Hammond, the founder of the Friends of the High Line, this large-trim, photo-driven book is a must-have for anyone who appreciates the nature of design.

Filed under: bestsellers, garden design, garden tour, travel, landscape architecture, photography, professional, professional design

Format: Paperback
Pages: 320 pp.
Book dimensions: 9 x 12 in. (305 x 230 mm.)
Images: 400 color photos
ISBN-10: 1604696990
ISBN-13: 9781604696998
Product code: 689699

Media reviews

"If you can’t get to the High Line, the image-rich publication is the next best thing. In some ways, it’s better, because its pictures bring home the seasonality of the plants."

—Washington Post

"Exquisite, and a treat for regular High Line visitors and those who can only admire the space from afar.…A plant lover’s dream."

—NYBG Plant Talk

"The text is at its best when sharing practical design and horticultural insights."

—Gardens Illustrated

"Provides what has been missing from this crowd-generating park, a species-by-species detailing of the plants."

—Architectural Record

"Provides a richly illustrated and informative tour through the total expanse of the High Line.…Whether you are a repeat visitor to this unique park or preparing for your initial tour, this book is an engaging and helpful guide. Studying its photographs made me eager to plan yet another visit. I’m willing to bet it will have the same effect on you."

—Gardenista

"[Starred review] A wholly enchanting celebration of the transformation of one sliver of urban industrial landscape."

—Booklist

"[Starred review] Darke’s photos, taken from the park’s start to its end and at all times of day in all seasons, tell the story best.…Oudolf’s aesthetics and mastery of plants will engage gardeners, landscape designers, and city dwellers everywhere and inspire a new regard for the regeneration of abandoned spaces."

—Library Journal

"One of the things the book captures so beautifully is what [the High Line] looks like through the seasons, and the different ways people use it throughout the seasons, and respond to it."

—Cultivating Place

"Lavishly illustrated."

—Mother Nature Network

About the authors

Piet Oudolf

Piet Oudolf is among the world's most innovative garden designers and a leading exponent of naturalistic planting, a style that takes inspiration from nature but employs artistic skill in creating planting schemes. Oudolf's extensive work over 30 years of practice includes public and private gardens all over the world. He is best known for his work on the High Line and Battery Park in New York, the Lurie Garden in Chicago's Millennium Park, Potters Field in London, and his own private garden at Hummelo in the Netherlands.

Rick Darke

Rick Darke is a landscape design consultant, author, lecturer, and photographer based in Pennsylvania who blends art, ecology, and cultural geography in the creation and conservation of livable landscapes. Darke served on the staff of Longwood Gardens for twenty years, and in 1998 he received the Scientific Award of the American Horticultural Society.