The Olmsted Parks of Louisville: A Botanical Field Guide - Softcover

Haragan, Patricia Dalton

Softcover

ISBN 10: 081314454X ISBN 13: 9780813144542

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky, 2014

Synopsis

Frederick Law Olmsted, popularly known as the "Father of American Landscape Architecture," is famous for designing New York City's Central Park, the U.S. Capitol grounds, and the campuses of institutions such as Stanford University and the University of Chicago. His celebrated projects in Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Milwaukee, and other cities led to a commission from the city of Louisville, Kentucky, in 1891. There, he partnered with community leaders to design a network of scenic parks, tree-lined parkways, elegant neighborhoods, and beautifully landscaped estate gardens that thousands of visitors still enjoy today.

The Olmsted Parks of Louisville is the first authoritative manual on the 380 species of trees, herbaceous plants, shrubs, and vines populating the nearly 1,900 acres that comprise Cherokee, Seneca, Iroquois, Shawnee, and Chickasaw Parks. Designed for easy reference, this handy field guide includes detailed photos and maps as well as ecological and historical information about each park. Author Patricia Dalton Haragan also includes sections detailing the many species of invasive plants in the parks and discusses the native flora that they displaced.

This guide provides readers with a key to Olmsted's vision, revealing how various plant species were arranged to emphasize the beauty and grandeur of nature. It will serve as an essential resource for students, nature enthusiasts, and the more than ten thousand visitors who use the parks.

About this title

About the Author

Patricia Dalton Haragan is the author of Weeds of Kentucky and Adjacent States: A Field Guide and Wildflowers of the Northeast in the Audubon Fairchild Garden. She is a former botanist for Louisville Olmsted Parks Conservancy and a former curator of the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture Herbarium.

Review

"Haragan provides a comprehensive treatment of the Olmsted Parks in Louisville. A much needed resource for visitors and for anyone interested in plant life, the book is a significant contribution to the literature on the flora of Kentucky, and is unlike any other recent Kentucky book."―Ronald L. Jones, author of Plant Life of Kentucky

"The Olmsted Parks of Louisville will take its place as an important contribution to the botany of the region, spotlighting the flora of a biologically and historically rich set of municipal parks, researched and presented by one of the very best botanists in the state."―Rob Paratley, curator of the University of Kentucky Herbarium

"I admired Pat Haragan's desire to awaken in others a love of plants-'key it, know it, name it and understand why it grows here. Then come back next year and notice how it's grown, how far it's spread. And most importantly why is it here? Tell me about the environment.' She's at it again with her botanical guide of the Olmsted Parks. It will be used far and wide among all ages of budding botanists. Pat continues to be a great teacher. Congratulations to photographers Susan Wilson and Chris Bidwell as well. Your photographs capture details that give amateur plant lovers confidence in sharing plant names they've learned using this incredible resource."―Mary Witt, University of Kentucky Horticulturist

About this edition

• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 081314454X
• ISBN 13: 9780813144542
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 456