The View from Federal Twist
A New Way of Thinking About Gardens, Nature and Ourselves
James Golden
Author James Golden by Izzy de Wattripont
Federal Twist is a naturalistic garden with a difference. Set in a clearing in the woods in western New Jersey, USA, it is a triumph of environmentally sensitive planting and fearless design. But what makes it different is its emotional power, the way the light falls to provoke certain moods, the energy of the place, how it allows space for dreaming, thinking and being. This is the story of the making of the garden from its beginnings in a dark, overgrown, derelict wood. It explores its cultural, historical and literary influences, its horticultural experiments and how it triggered certain awakenings in the author along the way.
James Golden lived in New York City for most of his adult life but nearing retirement, he followed a long-buried urge toward the natural world and moved to western New Jersey to make a garden. Fifteen years on, James is a celebrated garden-maker and thinker whose garden has featured in numerous publications and in his blog. In 2019 Monty Don visited Federal Twist for the BBC Gardener’s World series American Gardens.
The View from Federal Twist, James Golden
£40 │ ISBN: 9781999734572 │ 28th October 2021
If you’re in the UK, buy from Bookshop.org and support independent bookshops
“The View from Federal Twist … a digest of the most forward-reaching garden ideas of our time.”
Kendra Wilson, Gardenista
“It is an immersive experience that produces feeling and mood, an ecological garden that works on the imagination”
Susie White, Garden Design Journal
“Golden’s garden is very much magic through its naturalness.”
Rakes Progress
“Even after over 50 years of gardening and visiting gardens, it made me rethink what a garden can be and do.”
Monty Don
“More than magic was needed to garden on this challenging site; alchemy, or turning a leaden site golden, was what he accomplished.”
Christopher Woods
“A fascinating, thought-provoking book that charts the author’s creation of his garden in north-east America. Be inspired by his choice of planting for heavy clay soil and the photography that captures the garden’s naturalistic beauty.”
Garden Answers
“…a remarkable meditation on the creation of a curiously named garden in the wilds of western New Jersey”
Tim Richardson, The Literary Review
“Here is an important book to provoke and stimulate all of us into asking questions about our relationship with our gardens and landscape and how we use it. Here too, is a book for naturalistic and ecological gardeners and anyone interested in exploring the relationship between gardens, nature and themselves.”
The Reckless Gardener
“This is the story of a gardener and a garden growing and developing together to create a modern American horticultural masterpiece.”
Paddy Tobin, Irish Garden Plant Society
“Thoughtful, well written and finely produced, this description of the creation of backwoods plot offers far more than the usual ‘we made a garden’ story.”
Gardens Illustrated
“If there is to be a definitive book on a garden’s sense of place, James Golden’s The View from Federal Twist is it. Drawing from history, literature, and traditional garden writing, Golden presents an eloquent philosophy on what defines the identity and soul of a garden. A successor to the type of garden autobiography proliferated by Great Dixter’s Christopher Lloyd, Golden offers a uniquely American narrative.”
Shannon Young, Northwest Perennial Alliance
“A deeply thoughtful, lyrical meditation on the challenges of creating a garden in harmony with the natural world and the lessons that it teaches us, Golden’s love for the land and the joy that it brings him sings out from its pages.”
Fionnuala Fallon, The Irish Times
“This book, subtitled “A New Way of Thinking About Gardens, Nature and Ourselves,” delivers in full everything the title promises.”
Thomas Christopher, Growing Greener Podcast
"A talented writer as well as garden maker, James gives free expression in his book to the emotional, poetic nature of garden creation, and of living within a garden. Reading The View, you fall under his spell and come to a deeper understanding of what it means to connect with a piece of land through gardening."
Pam Penick, Digging
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