A Garden for All Seasons: Marjorie Merriweather Post's Hillwood

Enter the garden paradise of Marjorie Merriweather Post's Washington, DC, estate in this first book on the history and design of the remarkable grounds.

A Garden for All Seasons captures Marjorie Post's garden landscape, set on twenty-five acres in Washington, DC. Working with prominent landscape architects Umberto Innocenti, Richard Webel, and Perry Wheeler, Post envisioned a setting with a diverse and fascinating array of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants, offering something to see in every season.

Thirteen acres of formal gardens extend from the house's terraces and porches in a progression of outdoor rooms. Each of these spaces, meant to complement the mansion's interior rooms, encourages an intuitive flow from the French parterre to the rose garden, onto the Friendship Walk and the vast Lunar Lawn, the location of many of Post's legendary entertainments. Readers will find inspiration in the newly commissioned photography, while historic images bring context to the beautiful landscape. Although she was in residence at Hillwood only in the spring and fall, Post designed the gardens to flower in all seasons. Today, they are even more glorious all year round for the myriad visitors to the property.

Authored by Kate Markert, executive director of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens. Photography by Erik Kvalsvik, a photographer of architecture, interiors, gardens, and decorative arts. Foreword by Charlotte Moss, a New York-based interior designer, author, and philanthropist. Afterword by Ellen Charles, granddaughter of Marjorie Merriweather Post, and president of the board of Hillwood for twenty-five years.

Hardcover or paperback

182 pages

Measurements: Approximately 9 x 12 inches

Published by Rizzoli Electa in 2020