The Private Gardens of SMI Landscape Architecture

Posted in From the Library on March 29 2019, by Esther Jackson

Esther Jackson is the Public Services Librarian at NYBG’s LuEsther T. Mertz Library where she manages Reference and Circulation services and oversees the Plant Information Office. She spends much of her time assisting researchers, providing instruction related to library resources, and collaborating with NYBG staff on various projects related to Garden initiatives and events.

The Private Gardens of SMI Landscape Architecture (2018), edited by Jorge Sánchez, features 15 gardens in Palm Beach, Florida, designed or redesigned by the firm. Sánchez, the author of 2017’s The Making of Three Gardens, is a principle partner of SMI Landscape Architecture, a firm that works mostly in Florida and the Bahamas. The book features lush color photos and general design plans for the gardens’ features. For the most part, the plants featured in the landscapes play backup for the hardscaping. Most useful for those in Florida or the Bahamas looking for a landscape design company, this book is nonetheless beautiful and interesting for readers who are curious about gardens of all kinds, and who are delighted to see 15 new examples. Not quite as charming as The Making of Three Gardens, it still offers new views and new landscapes to entice the reader.