Professors of landscape architectural history of North America (domestic) and the rest of the world (international) were surveyed about the ten historic and five contemporary (since 1930) gardens they considered outstanding and to explain why. Additionally, ten comprehensive volumes of garden history were analyzed for their preferences. There was a 74% response rate to the domestic survey and 51.5% to the international survey. Over half of the respondents agreed on ten historic gardens. There was 31.2% agreement on five contemporary gardens. The literature is Eurocentric. Asia, Australia and modern gardens are described infrequently. No volume covered all the "great gardens." The survey results and literature characterize gardens similarly. Key elements or themes are described. Educational background may affect responses. Similar surveys of Asians and non-experts are recommended. Understanding the important themes will aid in better landscape planning and design.

The topic of this creative project is a historic garden created in Muncie, Indiana, in the second decade of the 20th. century. The garden is presently in a state of decay. This study has traced the garden's history, examined its significance and described its present condition in order to outline a restoration proposal. The proposal has aimed at reestablishing the original formal organization of the garden, reconstructing the former planting scheme and suggesting a future use for the property.In addition, this study has briefly discussed the importance and unique difficulties associated with the preservation of historic gardens in comparison with the preservation of buildings and works of art. / Department of Architecture

The goals of this report were: 1) to present a comparison between historic and present day landscape plantings in the Ravine Garden of the Lilly Pavilion at the Indianapolis Museum of Art; and 2) to develop and establish a vegetation management study that would provide guidelines for the vegetation management of the Ravine Garden. The study and guidelines were developed in order to: a) remove inappropriate present day plantings; b) protect the historic landscape plantings; c) eventually replant the historic plants currently missing; and d) manage the vegetation of the Ravine Garden as in an important historic designed landscape. / Department of Landscape Architecture