Madoo-The Making of an American Garden by Alejandro Saralegui and Kendell Cronstrom-Photography by Tria Giovan

#Madoo #NetGalley

I have long been curious about the gardens at Madoo (translated as My Dove according to the author). Now, I have had a glorious virtual visit and cannot wait to visit this special place in person.

This beautifully photographed book is organized by sections on the property. A few of these include The Summer House, The Pompeian Court, The Long Border, The Summer Lawn, and also The Maze, The Sunken Terrace and the Yellow Arch (all in one section). Readers see both outdoor and indoor aspects of the property.

In addition to the photos, there is art work by Robert Dash. He is the one who brought this abandoned property to life and there is material that he,himself, wrote in these pages. Others have also contributed to this title.

Armchair and dedicated gardeners will both find much to enjoy in these pages. Those who live close enough to visit will surely want to. Those who can’t will be happy to have had a virtual visit.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Timber Press for this title. All thoughts are my own.

Pub date: 16 June 2026

Description:

from the publisher

A portrait of an iconoclastic garden in the Hamptons where painter, poet, and self-taught horticulturist Robert Dash created an eclectic plant paradise and a literary and arts salon.

During the 1960s, painter, poet, and gardener Robert Dash set out to create a haven where art and the garden existed in tandem. What began as a fallow farm field over time became a beloved public garden and Hamptons treasure that The New York Times has called an “ever-changing masterpiece.” Madoo is a living tribute to this eclectic, beautiful place. Sumptuously photographed by Tria Giovan, the book  is filled with stunning images of interiors and gardens, archival pieces illustrating Madoo’s early days, paintings and drawings by Robert Dash, and essays from contributors who have witnessed its evolution. Madoo appeals to a broad range of readers infatuated with American culture, the gardens of artists, and the enduring appeal of the Hamptons. “Madoo,” which is Old Scots for “my dove,” was both Dash’s personal haven and a forum for collaborative, creative discourse and critique, marked by the arcadian confluence of art, music, literature, and poetry. It was also a refuge for many famous artists and poets—John Ashbery, Fairfield Porter, Willem de Kooning, James Schuyler, and others—who spent time at Madoo, were deeply inspired by it, and often referenced it in their work.

Since the mid-1960s, Robert Dash has been regarded as an accomplished painter for his depictions of a now all-but-vanished Hamptons landscape. His work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions at institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, Yale University, and the University of Missouri’s Fine Arts Building and is included in the collections of the Modern Art Museum in Munich, the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Philadelphia Museum of Fine Arts, and more. His archive of poetry and garden writings was acquired by Yale University’s Beinecke Library in 2011.

From the Publisher