Gardeners like the Thomases, as well as Jennifer and Steve Bilt of Doylestown, inherited the bones of palatial landscapes that had to be wrestled into a 21st-century garden. Craig Wakefield installed a garden where one was never intended. He bought a vintage mid-century modern home in Abington whose boxy structure and crisp lines were designed to defy the organic textures of plants.
Wakefield had to design a garden for an architectural concept actively fighting against the idea of a garden.
“There’s no gardening movement for mid-century modern architecture,” Juday said. “He had to make one up.”
“Private Gardens of Philadelphia” is primarily a book of photography. To capture the gardens in photos, Cardillo returned to each property several times through subsequent seasons.
Sitting for an interview at a patio in Miller’s garden, Cardillo noticed the landscape has already changed from when he took pictures about a year earlier.
“To quote an old Greek philosopher, you never step in the same garden twice,” Cardillo said. “That’s part of the beauty of any garden. It’s always a push pull with nature. It’s not static.”
“Private Gardens of Philadelphia” is a peek into beautiful landscapes not normally seen by the public. Some are literally behind walls.
By contrast, Syd Carpenter’s garden spills into the dense suburban street of Mount Airy. Her townhouse on less than half an acre is surrounded by her ever-changing garden practice, one she shares with most of her neighbors. Her lushly planted yard rolls seamlessly into the one next door.
“It is continuous. If you walk the different areas of this neighborhood, you can just see how intense the gardening is,” Carpenter said. “It’s something that is part of the culture of this neighborhood, is to garden.”
