Gardens of New Orleans: Exquisite Excess

New Orleans is a gardener’s paradise. Fragrant ginger and night-blooming jessamine scent the air. Nary a crack in the cement or divot in the wall is free from rogue ferns, mosses, or draping greenery. For generations, residents from wildly varied cultures and sensibilities have been at work creating magnificent gardens throughout the city. New Orleans Gardens explores this rich history and tours public gardens, as well as opens the doors to lovingly tended private balcony, patio, and mansion grounds. Interviews discuss the environmental and cultural forces that shaped the gardens. In photography as sumptuous as his acclaimed New Elegance and Decadence, Richard Sexton vividly illustrates the many traditions interwoven in this bewitching city’s landscape heritage.