image: np&djjewell via Flickr
In a 2013 survey of ASLA’s Professional Practice Networks (PPNs), the questions focused on the theme of favorite spaces. Throughout the survey, a few locations were consistently mentioned, with nearly all of the most popular responses located here in the United States. But now, we’re setting our sights farther afield: the best places to see abroad. Looking beyond Italy and France, which were the most popular countries among the international responses, there were numerous favorite places located elsewhere around the world:
North and South America
- Machu Picchu, Peru
- Uvita, Costa Rica
- Old Quebec, Canada
- Quetico Provincial Park, Canada
- Mount Royal Park, Montreal
image: Alex DROP via Flickr
Europe
- Kew Gardens, England
- Hidcote Manor Garden, England
- Hyde Park, England
- Sissinghurst Castle Garden, England
- Studley Royal Park, England
- The Alhambra, Spain
- Park Güell, Spain
- Barcelona’s waterfront, Spain
- Alcázar Gardens, Spain
- Lübeck’s marketplace, Germany
- Santorini, Greece
- Thingvellir National Park, Iceland
- Keukenhof Gardens, the Netherlands
- Piet Oudolf’s nursery, the Netherlands
- Jungfrau Mountain, Switzerland
- Stockholm’s Woodland Cemetery, Sweden
- Peterhof Palace Gardens, Russia
image: Alexandra Hay
image: Paul Gagnon via Flickr
Asia
- Great Wall of China
- Xi Tian Di district of Shanghai
- Shisen-do Temple, Japan
- Taj Mahal, India
image: Aidan via Flickr
Australia & New Zealand
- Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens, Australia
- Christchurch Botanic Gardens, New Zealand
image: Diana Robinson via Flickr
Starting to feel a little wanderlust yet? Let’s take a look at what makes a few of these places so remarkable:
Sissinghurst Castle Garden, poet and writer Vita Sackville-West’s rose-filled retreat
“The simple pathway gives access to remarkable vistas, and rare, endangered plant communities can be found in abundance.”
The Alhambra, a centuries-old masterpiece of Islamic architecture set amidst stunning gardens
“Amazing use of water in an arid climate. Such a sense of history and strong design elements.”
“The Alhambra engages all the senses in a way that no other designed open space that I know of does. Listening to the loud rush of water flowing down the runnels flanking the wide entrance walk as we ascended the hill to the Alhambra complex is one of the most powerful landscape experiences of my life. Viewing the Alhambra from across the valley, one can more fully appreciate the numerous topographic challenges that have been overcome in the building of this vast complex.”
Piet Oudolf’s nursery, a laboratory for new ideas in planting design
image: Tony Spencer via thenewperennialist.com
“Situated among fields, the garden is Oudolf’s experimental plot; species of ornamental perennials are used like a painter’s palette.”
Stockholm’s Woodland Cemetery, architects Gunnar Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz’s exquisite evocation of the Nordic landscape
image: Adam Ojdahl via Flickr
“So emotionally resonant. I’ve never had such an immediate and powerful emotional response to a designed landscape.”
Shisen-do Temple, a 17th-century hermitage in the mountains of Japan
image: np&djjewell via Flickr
“Perfection of the Japanese garden and relationship of interior to exterior, at a scale that is domestic. Great in all seasons, with elements of sound, too.”
image: Patrick Vierthaler (PV9007) via Flickr
At the start of 2013, a questionnaire was sent out to members of ASLA’s Professional Practice Networks (PPNs). The theme: favorite spaces. As you can imagine, responses were varied, and included many insightful comments and suggestions. Synopses of the survey results were originally shared in LAND over the course of 2013, and we are now re-posting this information here on The Field. For the latest updates on the results of the annual PPN Survey, see LAND’s PPN News section.