Gardens Of The Garden State

New Jersey is full of gardens, from the huge growing fields that bring New Yorkers fresh tomatoes, corn, and blueberries to the many arboretums and county parks throughout the state. Here the focus is on outstanding public gardens, such as Greenwood Gardens, a uniquely American example of arts and crafts design, and magnificent private gardens by well-known firms including Innocenti andamp; Webel, Ferruchio Vitali, and Fernando Caruncho. A temperate climate makes it possible to grow a wide range of plants, while a complex topography-including mountains, rolling hills, flat basins, and the scrubby Pine Barrens-demands diverse approaches to design. Featured are gardens throughout the state-from a wildlife garden filled with frogs and butterflies and a lighthouse garden near Cape May, to elegant formal gardens of Short Hills, Bernardsville, and Oldwick, to Skylands, with its magnificent specimen trees, extensive woodland and rock gardens, and a noted lilac collection close to the New York border.