My peonies in their first summer, June 2020. The extravagant ‘Duchesse de Nemours’ (white) and the flirtatious ‘Bowl of Beauty’ (pink).
“Hotel gardens have always attracted me because it’s so charming when the exterior spaces are as stylish and thoughtful as the interiors.”
Creating A Garden Retreat
In a love letter to the art of gardening, illustrated on virtually every page with her delicate and beautiful watercolors, Virginia Johnson chronicles her decade-long adventure in transforming a small urban backyard into a lush retreat — a special place to nourish the spirit, delight the eye, express the seasons and rhythms of nature, and invite solitude and easy socializing in equal measure.
Creating a Garden Retreat, like Johnson’s earlier book, Travels Through the French Riviera, brings together inspiration, artistic beauty, and helpful practical information. Her blank canvas started as an empty 20-by-24-foot construction site with one old pear tree in the corner, and her knowledge of how to garden was almost as bare, giving the book an empowering “if I can do it, anyone can” message. But she also tells how she did it — how to think about scale and proportion, like open spots and shady nooks, areas for planting and areas for playing. How to work in non-plant elements like paths and pergolas. How to use the genius of trees to build the bones of a garden, even such a small one, and then layer in the shrubs, vines and finally flowers — abundance is key! Just like life, the garden is forever a work in progress, and what a joy that is.
Publish date: May 10 2022 by Artisan Books
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Our friend Jorge on tree-planting day, May 2020. I got a garden, overnight!
The early bloomers: crocus, daffodil, peony, hornbeam
The garden at the Palihouse, Santa Monica. There is no better way to spend the early morning than in this slice of heaven.
Summer 2013: a fence, a pergola, grass, and a sandpit - perfect for life with small children.
March 2020 - just after studio construction. The lilacs survived the bobcat, though were dramatically cut down before the machinery came in, and one of the three climbing hydrangeas on the left was severed at the base by heavy equipment.
March 2020 - the hornbeams on the left were just 7 or 8 feet. My “new” wrought iron dining set, and freshly dug planting beds in preparation for the trees I was about to buy.
My Victorian garden chairs, from an estate sale. These lilac trees were the first things I planted when we moved in.
The view south from my studio, with my geranium wallpaper.
My climbing hydrangeas.
The very first illustrations I did for the book, in December 2020.
My favourite Farrow & Ball colours for outdoors.