Published August 2, 2017. Updated April 18, 2025. Garden lovers, once you’ve explored the landscapes and plantings at Biltmore Estate and Monticello, you’re just getting started. More beautiful American estate gardens await with something for every taste and interest. Whether you love 18th-century order and discipline, 19th-century grandeur, or 20th-century opulence, there’s an Eden for you. FLOWER magazine’s editors selected must-see gardens from coast to coast. Scroll through our favorites and plan your trip!
OLD WESTBURY GARDENS
Old Westbury, New York
Photo by Michael Mundy
An early 20th-century Long Island estate with ties to shipping and steel, Old Westbury Gardens remains an English-style respite from city life, beckoning visitors with sprawling lawns, quiet alcoves, and a kaleidoscope of blooms. The 1906, Charles II-style mansion was home to the John S. Phipps family, and is surrounded by 200 acres of gardens, woodlands, and lakes. “There’s a reason why 25 celebrated movies from Love Story to The Age of Innocence have filmed scenes at Old Westbury Gardens, and it has something to do with the prevailing grandeur,” says garden writer and author Tovah Martin.
Photo by Michael Mundy
In addition to stately landscapes and grand walkways, find delights such as the thatched cottage Jay and Margarita Phipps had built for daughter Peggie’s 10th birthday.
See more of the gardens in “Old Westbury Gardens’ Splendor.”
HILLS AND DALES ESTATE
LaGrange, Georgia
Photo courtesy of Hills & Dales Estate
In 1916 Fuller E. and Ida Callaway hired architects Neel Reid and Hal Hentz to build a home in a garden of terraces and boxwood parterres started by Sarah Ferrell 75 years earlier. The magnificent 13,000 square foot home still stands in the 19th-century gardens that occupy the hill.
Photo courtesy of Hills & Dales Estate
In addition to restoring and maintaining the Historic Ferrell Garden over the course of the past century, the Callaways added a fountain terrace, a formal ray garden, a grove of native trees and baptismal pool, an herb garden (seen above), and other features to the 35-acre landscape.
HORTULUS FARM
Wrightstown, Pennsylvania
Photo by Rob Cardillo
The late garden writer Jack Staub and legendary event and floral designer Renny Reynolds reclaimed the home and gardens of this historic Bucks County property. More than 20 separate gardens encompass about 30 acres of the hundred-acre farm. Along with 19th and early 20th-century barns and farm structures, there’s the Federal style Isaiah Warner House.
Photo by Rob Cardillo
The perennial garden borders lead out to the pool garden, planted in a soft pastel palette of pinks, blues, whites, and grays in the form of Sedum ‘Autumn Joy,’ Phlox, Lythrum (purple loosestrife), and Fairy rose.
Jack Staub noted of the property, “As Gertrude Jekyll opined, ‘the garden must always curtsy back to the house,’ and so ours does. Everything includes it, radiates from it, leads back to it, and pays it the homage it is due.”
MIDDLETON PLACE
Charleston, South Carolina
Photo by Meunierd | Shuttterstock.com
Located on the Ashley River, America’s oldest landscaped gardens were originally Henry Middleton’s 18th-century homeplace. The 65 acres of gardens have been described by the Garden Club of America as “the most important and most interesting garden in America.” The 1755 “South Flanker,” the lone survivor of the original three-building residence, now houses a history museum.
Photo courtesy of the Charleston Area CVB, ExploreCharleston.com
Henry Middleton’s gardens followed 1700s principles of order and symmetry. Descendants who restored the gardens closely followed the original plans, but added color so that the property is in bloom year round. In spring, azaleas blossom along the banks of the Rice Mill Pond (above).
VIZCAYA MUSEUM & GARDENS
Miami, Florida
Photo by Robin Hill, courtesy of Vizcaya Museum and Gardens
James Deering built his winter estate in South Florida in 1916. The main house, designed by architect Francis Burrell Hoffman, Jr. and modeled after an Italian country villa, sits in 10 acres of parterres and gardens including a Secret Garden, Maze Garden, Theater Garden, and Fountain Garden. The property became a museum in 1935.
Photo by Robin Hill, courtesy of Vizcaya Museum and Gardens
The estate’s 10 acres of formal gardens were completed in 1921. They include fountains, sculptures, and lush tropical plantings. Landscape architect Diego Suarez based the gardens on 17th and 18th century Italian and French designs.
BLOEDEL RESERVE
Bainbridge Island, Washington
Photo by Rocky Grimes | Shutterstock.com
Formerly home to Prentice and Virginia Bloedel, the 150 acre property includes more than 80 acres of second-growth forest, a bird marsh, flower-filled glen, moss garden, and one of the top Japanese gardens in the US. The 1920s chateau-style home overlooks Puget Sound.
Photo by Rocky Grimes | Shutterstock.com
The Japanese Guest House, designed by architect Paul Hayden Kirk, overlooks the Japanese gardens and opens onto a Zen rock garden.
HILLWOOD ESTATE, MUSEUM & GARDEN
Washington, DC
Photo by Maxwell Mackenzie, courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Garden
Marjorie Merriweather Post purchased Hillwood in 1955 and made it her home in spring and fall. The 25 acre property sits along Rock Creek Park and includes 13 acres of formal gardens (a rose garden, Japanese style garden, French parterre, the Lunar Lawn (seen here), and putting green). The Georgian-style mansion is now a museum showcasing Post’s decorative arts collections.
Photo courtesy of Hillwood Estate, Museum & Garden
The Japanese-style garden (above) designed by Shogo Myaida, mixes Japanese and American gardening styles as well as plants. The home and gardens feel like a country estate, but at less than 4 miles from the National Mall, are easily included in DC tourism.
THE MOUNT
Edith Wharton’s Home, Lenox, Massachusetts
Photo by David Dashiell
Inspired by her travels abroad, American author Edith Wharton designed gardens on her estate to rival any she had seen overseas. The gardens include a sunken Italian garden, the Lime Walk promenade, a French flower garden, and rock garden. Estate trails traverse a forest setting with views of rock outcroppings and glacial moraines.
Photo by Donna DiMari, courtesy of The Mount
The sunken “Italian Garden” is planted in greens and whites. It’s centerpiece is a simple, stacked stone fountain.
Wharton once said, “Decidedly, I’m a better landscape gardener than novelist, and this place, every line of which is my own work, far surpasses The House of Mirth.”
Learn more about Edith Wharton’s development of The Mount’s gardens in our feature from Charlotte Moss.
NAUMKEAG HOUSE AND GARDEN
Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Photo by Gross & Daley Photography
When visiting The Mount, take the 10 minute drive to Naumkeag. This historic 1880s estate in the Berkshires reflects landscape architect Fletcher Steele’s 30-year collaboration with Mabel Choate. The home and garden are most famous for their dramatic Art Deco Blue Steps, an interpretation of Italian water staircases, that connected the house to Miss Choate’s cutting garden.
The estate unfolds with an Afternoon Garden, a Tree Peony Terrace, a Rose Garden with serpentine gravel paths, an Evergreen Garden, a Chinese Garden with moon gate, and a Linden Walk with allée (the latter designed prior to Fletcher Steele by Nathan Barrett).
See more of Naumkeag’s gardens in FLOWER’s feature.
CHEEKWOOD ESTATE & GARDENS
Nashville, Tennessee
Now a 55-acre botanical garden and museum, Cheekwood was built as the home of Mabel and Leslie Cheek, Sr. The house and gardens were designed by architect Bryant Fleming and built between 1929 and 1932. The Georgian style house is still surrounded by Fleming’s terraced gardens, formal planting beds, and reflecting pools as well as more recent garden spaces.
Stroll beneath the arches of the Color Garden (above) and catch the breezes and mountain views from the Wisteria Arbor. “Cheekwood Estate & Gardens is beautiful in every season,” says interior designer Jonathan Savage. “I love that it has top-notch art exhibitions like Chihuly and William Edmondson, and it’s a great place to stroll and refresh yourself.”
FILOLI
Woodside, California
Photo by Lynn Y | Shutterstock.com
The Filoli Country House and 16 acres of formal gardens sit on a 650-acre estate south of San Francisco. The house, designed by architect Willis Polk for gold-mine owner William Bourn, has more than 40 rooms including a 75 foot long ballroom. The property may look familiar to many from the opening credits of the television show Dynasty.
Photo by Min C. Chiu | Shutterstock
Modeled after English country estates, Filoli’s landscape features formal spaces in the Georgian and English Renaissance style such as the Sunken Garden (seen above with the Santa Cruz mountains in the background), a kitchen garden, and orchards. The property retains one of the world’s best-preserved English Renaissance style gardens.
See more from Filoli’s gardens in Frances Schultz’s article for FLOWER.
THE EDSEL AND ELEANOR FORD HOUSE
Grosse Point Shores, Michigan
Photo courtesy of Edsel & Eleanor Ford House
Edsel and Eleanor Ford built their impressive home and garden on the shores of Lake St. Clair. Architect Albert Kahn designed the house in 1926, but in the early 1930s, designer Walter Dorwin Teague transformed several of the rooms into sleek modern spaces.
Photo courtesy of Edsel & Eleanor Ford House
Between 1926 and 1932 landscape designer and conservationist Jens Jensen designed a naturalistic landscape to incorporate the Ford’s home into its lakeside site. His plan included water vistas, woodlands, meadows, wetlands, and a Flower Lane, along with more formal elements such as a rose garden.
Read more about Ford House in our feature on automotive pioneer estates.
Be sure to see our feature on Skylands, the Ford estate in Maine, and Martha Stewart’s summer retreat.
LONGUE VUE HOUSE AND GARDENS
New Orleans, Louisiana
Photo courtesy of Longue Vue House and Gardens
The gardens at Longue Vue were designed for Edgar and Edith Stern by Ellen Biddle Shipman, known as “the dean of American women landscape architects.” Architects William and Geoffrey Platt completed the Classical Revival style home in 1942. The house museum includes a notable collection of Modern art.
Photo by Ryan Lips | Courtesy of Longue Vue Gardens
Ellen Biddle Shipman began work in 1935 and continued until 1971, developing 14 garden areas and 22 fountains on the property. “The fact that Ellen Biddle Shipman was the landscape architect is reason enough to visit Longue Vue House and Gardens. Each of the gardens has the intimate feel of a room, and I especially love the Wild Garden bursting with Louisiana irises.” says New Orleans native, designer Angèle Parlange.
BELLINGRATH GARDENS AND HOME
Theodore, Alabama
Photo courtesy of Bellingrath Gardens and Home
Perched on the Fowl River not far from Mobile Bay, sits a spectacular 65-acre botanical, floral, and architectural wonderland. Coca-Cola bottling magnate Walter D. Bellingrath purchased a rustic fishing camp in 1917 as a place to “learn how to play.” Soon his wife, Bessie, started importing flowers from their residence in Mobile, and in 1927 the couple hired local architect George B. Rogers to complete its transformation.
Photo courtesy of Bellingrath Gardens and Home
Bellingrath Gardens features spreading live oak trees, elaborate floral displays, and attractive water features with fountains, urns, pools, and spills. The property stays in bloom year-round with banks of white and pink azaleas in the spring; a giant circular display of red, white, and yellow roses in the summer; mounds of polychromatic chrysanthemums in the fall; and robust camellias in bewildering variety come winter.
See John S. Sledge’s essay on Bellingrath, “Southern Comfort at Bellingrath Gardens.”
Plan Your Visit
By Jason Burnett
