This book goes where few have gone before, into 14 very different gardens belonging to residents of New York City. These private worlds are the work of 10 major landscape designers, who brilliantly balance visual pleasure with ecological sustainability in challenging urban settings. Design historian Lisa Zeiger tells lively stories about the designers and their plants, bringing to their work her eye for historical precedent and contemporary aesthetics. Readers will appreciate their individual ways of highlighting plant life with architectural structures, natural stone and repurposed woods, old and custom vessels, and carefully curated furniture. Although the gardens are high-end by definition, they are all respites in which nature transcends luxury. They answer to the lives of plants, and to the residents' desire for private outdoor space that enhances quiet time and social life.