The Olmsted Parks of Louisville
The Olmsted Parks of Louisville: A Botanical Field Guide
Patricia Dalton Haragan
Susan Wilson
Chris Bidwell
Copyright Date: 2014
Published by: University Press of Kentucky
Pages: 456
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wrrqz
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Book Info
The Olmsted Parks of Louisville
Book Description:

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.

eISBN: 978-0-8131-4456-6
Subjects: Botany & Plant Sciences, Biological Sciences
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Table of Contents
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  1. Front Matter
    Front Matter (pp. i-vi)
  2. Table of Contents
    Table of Contents (pp. vii-viii)
  3. Foreword: Reading a Place
    Foreword: Reading a Place (pp. ix-xii)
    Daniel H. Jones

    Stories fill our landscapes—from the densest urban core to the wilds of Montana—but finding and reading those stories requires time and some acquaintance with the special places of a site and its inhabitants. In this regard, a park is no different from Paris: to know it, you must spend time there. And the magic of Louisville’s Olmsted Parks is that they are gateways to some remarkable places, located just a few minutes down the road from every neighborhood in the city. A glance at a Louisville map shows immediately the genius of the design: from Shawnee and Chickasaw...

  4. Introduction
    Introduction (pp. 1-6)
    SUSAN M. RADEMACHER

    Who was Frederick Law Olmsted? And what is special about his Louisville parks as containers for such a stunning array of native and naturalized plants?

    This towering shaper of the American landscape explored many roles—seaman, farmer, mine manager, abolitionist, Federal Department of Sanitation Commissioner, writer, and publisher—on his journey to becoming the nation’s first landscape architect. As befits a pioneer, Olmsted was obstinate and strong willed, true to his convictions. He was labeled “long-headed” for his obsession with planning and his ability to project his ideas for generations into the future.

    At age twenty-eight, on a life-changing tour...

  5. About This Book
    About This Book (pp. 7-20)
    PATRICIA DALTON HARAGAN
  6. ILLUSTRATED PLANT STRUCTURES
    ILLUSTRATED PLANT STRUCTURES (pp. 21-30)
  7. Plant Descriptions of 384 Species
    • Ferns and Fern Allies
      Ferns and Fern Allies (pp. 33-41)
    • Herbaceous Plants, Woody Vines, and Shrubs
      Herbaceous Plants, Woody Vines, and Shrubs (pp. 42-334)
    • Trees
      Trees (pp. 335-387)
    • Sedges, Rushes, and Grasses
      Sedges, Rushes, and Grasses (pp. 388-408)
  8. Glossary
    Glossary (pp. 409-418)
  9. References
    References (pp. 419-422)
  10. Acknowledgments
    Acknowledgments (pp. 423-424)
  11. Olmsted Parks Conservancy
    Olmsted Parks Conservancy (pp. 425-426)
  12. Index
    Index (pp. 427-444)
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