Press Releases from Greater Philadelphia Gardens

Wayne, PA. – R William Thomas, executive director of Chanticleer, the forty-eight acre public garden on Philadelphia's historic Main Line today announced the publication and The New York Times Sunday Book Review recommendation of the new book Chanticleer: A Pleasure Garden. The book, which is brilliantly written by Adrian Higgins and beautifully photographed by Rob Cardillo in a manner consistent with the meticulous care and whimsy found intertwined throughout the gardens and lawns and woods and steams at Chanticleer, was recommended by The New York Times in its June 5, 2011 Sunday Book Review. Published and available through Penn Press, Chanticleer’s first book is sure to be on every garden lovers’ summer reading list.

Thomas Praises Higgins and Cardillo

Chanticleer’s first book of its own making quickly earned its place among must-read garden books. “We’re thrilled that Chanticleer’s story could be written by such a brilliant and accomplished garden editor, columnist, and author as Adrian Higgins, and photographed by such a superb garden photographer as Rob Cardillo, “ stated R. William Thomas, executive director of Chanticleer. “These two extraordinarily gifted professionals deeply understood Chanticleer’s story and purpose and thus were able to capture its many pleasures in something beautiful, tangible and ever-lasting,” reflected Thomas.

Author Adrian Higgins and Photographer Rob Cardillo Reflect on Chanticleer

“I am very proud to have written this book about Chanticleer. It’s such a magnificent public garden,” stated Adrian Higgins.

Gardens and garden books are meant to be savored, and Chanticleer: A Pleasure Garden is purposefully sized to encourage reading it in its entirety. “ I do think this book is best read all at one sitting, ” remarked Higgins, presumably to enjoy and explore all the nuances that are so intertwined within the story, design and landscape of Chanticleer’s forty-eight-acre public garden in Wayne, PA, just west of Philadelphia.

“As a frequent, casual visitor to Chanticleer, and an avid reader of Adrian’s column in TheWashington Post, it was a great joy to work together to capture the beauty and legacy of Chanticleer for generations to come,” remarked photographer Rob Cardillo.

About the Author and Photographer

Adrian Higgins is Garden Editor at The Washington Post and the author of The Secret Gardens of Georgetown: Behind the Walls of Washington's Most Historic Neighborhood and The Washington Post Garden Book: The Ultimate Guide to Gardening in Greater Washington and the Mid-Atlantic Region.

Rob Cardillo has been photographing gardens and the people who tend them for the past twenty years. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Country Gardens, Horticulture, Garden Design, and Organic Gardening, among many other publications.

About the Book

For the synopsis or a copy of the new book, Chanticleer: A Pleasure Garden please visit Penn Press. For the New York Times Sunday Book Review, please visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/books/review/additional-gardening-books.html

About Chanticleer

Chanticleer is a forty-eight-acre public garden on Philadelphia's historic Main Line. Coined as a “pleasure garden”, Chanticleer is a study of textures and forms, where foliage trumps flowers, the gardeners lead the design, and even the drinking fountains are sculptural. It is a garden of pleasure and learning, relaxing yet filled with ideas to take home.

Formerly the private home and estate of the Rosengartens until 1990, Chanticleer was beautiful and green with impressive trees and lawns. Most of the floral and garden development you see today has occurred since 1990, designed by Chanticleer staff and consultants.

For more information about Chanticleer, please visit the website: www.chanticleergarden.org.

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For full pdf media release and high res images, please contact Louise Eliason at GreaterPhiladelphiaGardens@gmail.org

Chanticleer Book Release_Photo credit Lisa Roper

Chanticleer book cover