Terrestrial paradise and primeval garden, Eden represents an ideal of innocence and perfection that can only be aspired to today. Yet it has remained a conceptual prototype for gardens worldwide: a place of well-being isolated from the stress of daily life.

Writer and photographer Ovidio Guaita has spent ten years preparing this lavishly illustrated volume, the most vast and complete picture possible of the myriad forms the garden has assumed in every corner of the world. Divided into five sections -- the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania -- the book includes a great number of historic and contemporary gardens. The history of landscape in each region and country is discussed; beautiful color photographs complement the text. Among the important gardens featured are those of the J. Paul Getty Mansion in Malibu, California; the Half Moon Club in Montego Bay, Jamaica; Blenheim Palace in England; the chateau of Fontainebleau near Paris; and the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, as well as many private estates and mansions. Also included are eight botanical interludes showing the flowers and plants of particular locales.

Terrestrial Paradise

Americas

 Quebec

 FLOWERS AND PLANTS OF QUEBEC

 United States

 Mexico

 Antilles

 FLOWERS AND PLANTS OF THE CARIBBEAN

 Venezuela

 Ecuador

 Brazil

 Argentina

Europe

 Great Britain and Ireland

 Sweden

 FLOWERS AND Pl ANTS OF SCANDINAVIA

 Denmark

 Low Countries

 France

 Switzerland

 Germany

 Central Europe and Russia

 Spain and Portugal

 Malta

Africa

 Madeira

 FLOWERS AND PLANTS OF MADEIRA

 Northwestern Africa

 Seychelles

 Madagascar

 Reunion

 FLOWERS AND PLANTS OF REUNION

 South Africa

Asia

 Cyprus

 Syria

 Yemen

 Oman

 Iran

 Maldives

 India

 Sri Lanka

  FLOWERS AND PLANTS Of SRI LANKA

 China

 Hong Kong

 Macau

 Korea

 Japan

 Taiwan

 Thailand

 Malaysia

 Singapore

 Indonesia

 FLOWERS AND PLANTS OF INDOCHINA

 Philippines

Oceania

 Australia

 Hawaii

 FLOWERS AND PLANTS OF HAWAII

 Bibliography

 Acknowledgments