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The good garden blog is about sharing garden inspiration and ideas from historic gardens around the world and some right next door.  Garden stories explore garden history, design, and the garden people behind famous and not-so-famous gardens.  My garden photographs span dozens of places across 5 continents.  Please join me in celebrating good garden design.

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Happy spring!

David April 1, 2016

“April is the cruelest month, T.S. Eliot wrote;... I think he meant (among other things) that springtime makes people crazy. We expect too much, the world burgeons with promises it can't keep, ... and we're doomed to get our hearts broken yet again. I agree, and would further add: Who cares?" Barbara Kingsolver.  Read more...

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In Chinese, Picturesque Tags Riverside Park, Cherry blossoms, Magnolia, Chicago Botanical Garden, Chicago, New York, Suzhou, Lingering Garden, Pan Gate Garden, Xu Tai, Calvert Vaux, Samuel Parsons
4 Comments
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Old summer palace in winter

David March 16, 2016

While outside of Beijing, I paid a visit to Yuan Ming, the old summer palace.  I expected a beautiful royal garden.  Descriptions led me to expect ruins surrounded by a garden; how beautiful I thought.  Instead I found something quite different.  An unsettling reminder of the complex history between China and the West...

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In Chinese, Picturesque Tags Beijing, China, Old Summer Palace
4 Comments
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Year of the Monkey

David February 4, 2016

Happy Lunar New Year!  In the spirit of the holiday, join me on this visit to one of the oldest scholar gardens in Suzhou, China –  Master of Nets Garden. A wonderful example of what can be done in a relatively small space.

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In Chinese Tags Lingering Garden, Suzhou, China
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©2025 David Calle. The Good Garden.

the good garden

garden history, design inspiration

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