The mix of sensuous sear air and rolling landscapes of flora and rock produce evocative gardens. Whether wild and rambling, sprouting naturally from the surrounding landscape, or a formally designed property punctuated with sculpture, they are gardens infused with romance and beauty. Gardens by the Sea gives a view of these gardens, some never before open to the public eye - with creations by Madison Cox and Tom Armstrong, former curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Whitney Museum director, along the coasts of New England to internationally famous camellia specialist Jean Laborey in his exotic garden of Delvosalle in Brittany. For Tunisia, we visit a garden of sand; in Rhode Island we relax in a garden of grasses; a Buddha holds court beneath a climbing rose in Malibu; in Normandy a tower peeks above the palms. Each garden in the book is a fresh fantasy.