Parks, Plants, and People: Beautifying the Urban Landscape

An internationally renowned public garden designer, with 27 years' experience and an artist's eye, Lynden Miller has changed the face of New York City's public places by providing a connection with nature for neighborhoods, rich and poor. Parks, Plants and People describes the elements of successful public space and tells how to design, improve and maintain year-round plantings, how to advocate for increased public funding and how to attract private dollars.

She calls on the general public, gardeners, urban designers, architects, landscape architects and public officials--everyone who cares about the quality of life in urban areas--to create and support well-planted parks and gardens as essential urban oases that reduce crime and have positive effects on the economic welfare of cities and their citizens. Miller demonstrates the power of plants to soften and civilize public life and proves that beautiful public spaces, planted and maintained to high standards, have the power to transform the way people behave and feel about their cities. Her motto is: Make it gorgeous and they will come. Keep it that way and they will help.

Miller is a public garden designer and director of The Conservatory Garden in New York City's Central Park, and she has written this beautifully illustrated volume to describe her vision of a successful public space. Written for landscape architects, designers, city planners and general audiences, this book describes the author's strategies for designing and maintaining year-round plantings, attracting private funding and creating spaces that will have a positive effect on both local economies and the well-being of citizens. The author also describes how the creating of public gardens and parks can lower crime and foster pride in communities. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

An inspirational and practical book about the benefits of enhancing cities with well-planted gardens, parks, and streets.

Lynden B. Miller, is a public garden designer and Director of The Conservatory Garden in Central Park, which she rescued and restored beginning in l982. Her work in New York City includes gardens for Bryant Park, The New York Botanical Garden, Wagner Park in Battery Park City, Madison Square Park, and Columbia University. She has designed landscape improvements to campuses at Stony Brook University on Long Island, Princeton University, and Hunter College, and plantings for the garden at the Museum of Modern Art. She is part of a team designing landscape and gardens for the United States Supreme Court, and her garden in Chelsea Cove Park on the Hudson River will open in Spring 2010.