Charles J. Stick And His Gardens

Landscape architect Charles J. Stick lives and works in Virginia's Piedmont region, a land of rolling hills and dramatic vistas that echo America's early history.

Known for his historical and cultural gardens filled with lush blooms, Stick focuses on residential gardens, drawing on the principles of Palladio, Charles A. Platt and Russell Page to connect architecture to terrain and develop attractive pathways between formal planting and the landscape beyond.

This monograph brings together four large properties - Crab Tree Farm on the north shore of Chicago, Illinois, Mount Sharon near Charlottesville, Virginia, Sleepy Cat Farm in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Waverley, a farm in central Virginia - and offers new insights into the design process and the intimacy of Sick's relationships with his clients. Ten smaller gardens also demonstrate the breadth of Stick's creative response to topography and climate.