The Adventures of a Narrative Gardener

"In The Adventures of a Narrative Gardener, planner and preservationist Ronald Lee Fleming pens a love letter to his garden at Bellevue House"—Fred Albert, Newport Life

“A unique, delightful, large-format book about one man’s desire to create a natural place to hold human memory”—Bill McCloud, The VVA Veteran

“As the pioneer founder of Townscape Institute, Ronald Lee Fleming enriched American cities with narrative landscapes that engaged the present with the past. Now in lucent prose, he has collected the stories of his own life, along with experiences of his family and friends, and shows how he lovingly reinterpreted them over decades through a symbolic collection of timeless garden follies and stately landscape architecture at his Newport mansion, Bellevue House. In this harmonious ensemble, magnificently illustrated, he demonstrates and encourages the integration of life and art.”—Paula Deitz, author, Of Gardens: Selected Essays and editor of The Hudson Review

“This is not your average pretty garden book. Ronald Lee Fleming is telling us the story of his life through the imagery of gardens he has known and loved and brought home to his own garden in Newport. The fountains, parterres, pergolas, grotto, pavilions, and follies he fashioned all relate to some aspect of this man’s extraordinary life. His ability to create a visual biography out of such a horticultural smorgasbord is unique in garden-making and transforms his book into a deeply personal history. This is a sublime American garden.”—Caroline Seebohm, author, Paradise on the Hudson: The Creation, Loss, and Revival of a Great American Garden and Rescuing Eden: Preserving America’s Historic Gardens

“This lovely book challenges current historic preservation practice which, misreading the Venice Charter of 1964, imposes rupture with the past instead of the continuity that produced our historic places originally. Ronald Fleming’s garden demonstrates an older and wiser approach based on harmony and an authenticity rooted in care and craft.”—Steven W. Semes, Professor of Architecture, University of Notre Dame and author of The Future of the Past: A Conservation Ethic for Architecture, Urbanism, and Historic Preservation

“This is a fascinating book for many reasons, but especially because it uses the author’s narrative gardens cascade, Years of Living Dangerously, as a lens for exploring his own journey from military service in Vietnam and years of protest in its aftermath, to a process of healing and reconciliation with the support of his fellow veterans. Ron has lived an extraordinary American life: raised conservative, trained as an urban planner, tested while serving with the Green Berets, tormented by a war he’d seen up close, and ultimately reborn in a life committed to preserving cultural memory in challenging times. Ron’s intriguing and unique point of view on life animates his work and brings this book to life for gardeners and non-gardeners alike.”—John F. Kerry, 68th US Secretary of State