August 3, 2012
Published by Daily AD at August 3, 2012
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Introducing AD’s new garden blog

Architectural Digest’s recent feature about fashion designer Oscar de la Renta’s garden in the Dominican Republic (“Paradise Found,” July 2012) was the perfect welcome as I took on my new role as the magazine’s contributing garden editor. Almost three decades ago, it was Oscar’s late wife, Françoise, who introduced me to the New York publishing world, taking a risk on this just-off-the-boat garden writer and sending me on my first serious magazine assignment.

My debut was for House & Garden, where she was an editor, and for it I flew to the Dominican Republic, on my way to an elegant, orchid-filled paradise in Santiago de los Caballeros that belonged to the fashion designer’s friend Gustavo Tavares. My introduction to international reportage and etiqueta tropical was a beautiful luncheon in the open-air dining room of Gustavo’s house, Villa Pancha. The Vanda orchids outside were 30 years old and ten feet high. Cattleya, Ascocenda, and Renanthera orchids decorated huge tree ferns, a winding tunnel was draped with Thunbergia, and a tropical jardín blanco brimmed with snowy Rex jasmine. And there I sat with Oscar and Gustavo, in the midst of fresh gardens and crisp linens, grimy and wilted in two-day-old clothes. (The airline had lost my bags. Some things about my work never change.) “I will have something sent over,” Oscar offered. “What are you? A size four?”

 

I have not been a size four since I was age four, but it was the nicest thing he could have said to a nervous neophyte. A bit embarrassed, I looked down at the table only to see an enormous white vegetal disk—almost as big as the salad plate—being set before me. Sensing my wonder, Oscar declared, “Well, Gustavo, these are likely the largest hearts of palm any of us will ever see.” And turning to me, he pronounced the most kind and generous editorial advice anyone could ever give: “Never be afraid to ask questions. You’ll learn so much.”

 

Villa Pancha was my launchpad for a career of worldwide assignments, always in gardens, always with wonderful people. Nine years after that memorable lunch, a bit of star-studded serendipity took me back to Gustavo’s home. I was asked to scout locations and write for the 1993 PBS television miniseries Gardens of the World, hosted by Audrey Hepburn. (I wrote for the companion book, too.) The series producers had decided I would make the trip of a lifetime and travel the globe in search of the world’s most important and beautiful tropical gardens. Apparently they had dug up that old House & Garden article and decided I was an expert.

 

The trip was an astonishing feat. Hard to imagine now, but without the Internet, cell phones, or digital equipment of any kind, we explored ancient and modern gardens and prepared the way for Audrey. Our locations were high in remote mountains of Sri Lanka, in urban Singapore, among the green interior regions of Bali, in a garden in Venezuela that dated from the 1590s, and—circling back around the globe—the Tavares garden in the Dominican Republic. Gardens of the World won an Emmy, but no one realized this would be Audrey’s final on-camera appearance. Yet she left a legacy to all who love gardens: In a seven-minute trailer, the actress spoke beautifully about the age-old urge to create, explore, and enjoy the most ephemeral of all the arts.

 

For me, the garden is any place that’s outside, even when the outside has crept back into the house in the form of greenhouses, conservatories, courtyards, and the like. Curious? Wonderful. Stayed tuned. If you want more details regarding any garden element, designer, landscape architect, or plant you see in Architectural Digest, send me an e-mail. Your queries will drive our choice of topics. Remember: Never be afraid to ask questions.

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August 1, 2012
Published by Daily AD at August 1, 2012
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Michael S. Smith discusses his design philosophy

When I saw Michael S. Smith’s recently renovated apartment in AD’s September issue, I thought it had such an ethereal feel. While the pre-renovated rendition published a few years ago brought my eye in to the seamless blend of fabric and color and ...
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July 30, 2012
Published by Daily AD at July 30, 2012
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Revisiting Marrakech, the Moroccan city where rich tradition meets 21st-century luxury

My husband and I recognized the transformation instantly upon our arrival at Marrakech’s airport for a week’s vacation last April. After six years away from the Moroccan city we once called home—and where our daughter, now ten, learned to convers...
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July 25, 2012
Published by Daily AD at July 25, 2012
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A pastoral estate in upstate New York

Millbrook, NYSTATS 7 BEDROOMS 8 BATHS 8,224 SQ. FT. $17.5 MILLION PEDIGREE: In 1990 this 19th-century Greek Revival Colonial was transported 40 miles from its original neglected site in upstate New York to its current location on a magnificent 197-ac...
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July 24, 2012
Published by Daily AD at July 24, 2012
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A new book examines Long Island’s Modernist homes

Throughout much of the 20th century, New York’s Nassau and Suffolk counties served as an unlikely laboratory for architectural innovation, welcoming projects by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Richard Neutra, and other thought leaders. That design legacy i...
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July 23, 2012
Published by Daily AD at July 23, 2012
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Star Resorts

As punishing summer temperatures transform Manhattan into a barbecue grill, the usual suspects who populate local events—fair-weather socials and peripatetic Hollywood stars—migrate to luxurious hotels and resorts around the globe. (We know because...
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July 19, 2012
Published by Daily AD at July 19, 2012
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Dedon premieres a new resort in the Philippines

The Philippines have always loomed large on Dedon’s cultural radar. Twenty-one years ago company founder Bobby Dekeyser started the outdoor-furniture line after discovering woven-rattan pieces from the isle of Cebu, where Dedon’s manufacturing has ...
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July 18, 2012
Published by Daily AD at July 18, 2012
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Designer David Easton’s rural New York retreat, Balderbrae

Suffern, NYSTATS 4 BEDROOMS 2.5 BATHS 3,650 SQ. FT. $1.895 MILLION PEDIGREE: Built in 1910 by noted horticulturist Louise Bebe Wilder and her husband, architect Robert Wilder, Balderbrae was purchased by interior designer David Easton in 1980. Easton...
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July 17, 2012
Published by Daily AD at July 17, 2012
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Recapturing the Luster

Relaunched a few years ago by private investors dedicated to restoring the brand’s reputation as a maker of singular jewelry, gem-covered eggs, and other precious objects, Fabergé recently unveiled a dazzling store on New York’s Upper East Side. T...
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July 17, 2012
Published by Daily AD at July 17, 2012
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Glass Act

Washington state has long been home to Dale Chihuly, whose organic sculptures and Pilchuck Glass School helped usher in the contemporary-glass movement. Now the artist’s work has a new residence there, as well. Spread over one and a half acres at the...
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