Recreating Eden

Nicole De Vésian, known for her career as the head of fashion at the House of Hermes, has found new fame at age 69 working with a fabric of a three dimensional sort. Her garden tapestry entitled "La Louve" (The She-Wolf) has often been called her greatest design. This first lady of fashion dresses landscapes around the world with her "minimalist, whimsical and dreamlike" sense of style.

When Princess Claudia took over her family estate in Italy she gave up her jet-setting lifestyle for a small village. She inherited a 500 year old beautifully designed geometric parterre garden, created by her ancestor Octavia Orsini. Claudia quickly dedicated herself to restoring the garden to its original glory and now welcomes visitors from all over the world.

Deep in the Tuscany Valley, Baronessa Beatrice Monti della Corte Rezzori has created a refuge from the chaos of the everyday world. The "Santa Maddalena Foundation", which Beatrice founded in memory of her late husband, offers a peaceful haven where writers and botanists come to take part in good food, great conversations, and the creative muse that is offered by a truly inspirational garden.

Gudridur Helgadottir is a nationally-televised Icelandic gardening program host who is committed to turning the country's barren landscape green. Born with "green blood" in her veins, Gudridur constantly encourages new gardeners to test a variety of plants and methods in a country of uncharted horticultural limitations.

Nursery owner Marco van Noort is a true Renaissance gardener, drawing upon traditional methods at a time when Holland's billion-dollar flower business relies heavily on high tech. Van Noort uses bees for cross-pollination, and the result is award-winning perennial hybrids: proof positive that nature cannot be replaced.

The Independent's gardening correspondent and best-selling author Anna Pavord has relied on her garden in Dorset, England for personal healing of both physical and emotional challenges. She took up writing about gardening to finance the rebuilding of her Eden, a rural home known locally as the Rectory.

Award-winning music producer Tim Smit moved to Cornwall to set up a recording studio and instead transformed an abandoned garden into a global garden for the 21st century, named the "Eden Project". This conservatory tells the story of our dependence on the plant world through science, art and horticulture.

Artists/gardeners George Little and David Lewis have created their own mini paradise on Bainbridge Island. Partners in work and life, their Puget Sound garden acts as showcase where art, commerce, and love reside. In the "Garden Gallery", their sculptures, fountains, zone-pushing perennials, and elements of classicism and mystery all combine to create a personal and magical space.

After suffering from a devastating accident, Colehour Bondera relied upon his passion for farming to take him on a journey of recovery. His passion shared with his wife Melanie soon resulted in a successful organic coffee farm in Hawaii. Fondly referred to as their "agro-jungle", Kanalani Ohana Farm, also yields avocado, papaya, guava and coconut as well as coffee.

As the "Queen of English Gardeners," Rosemary Verey's innovative approach to gardening, particularly her ornamental kitchen garden, is evident at her family home, Barnsley House. Today, the historic estate is a five-star luxury hotel with its own restaurant, serving garden-fresh vegetables.

Lady Susanna Walton created a garden on the Island of Ischia in Italy, where her husband, renowned British composer Sir William Walton, could find harmony and inspiration in nature. More than 20 years after his death, their garden "La Mortella" continues to inspire thousands of visitors each year.

Italian Isabella Dalla Ragione doesn't look like Indiana Jones, but after a brief conversation about her passion for archeoligia arborea, she starts to sound like him. She scours the Italian countryside for lost fruit trees and provides them a safe haven, rescuing them from abandoned properties, parish gardens, monasteries, and cloisters.

As the home of the legendary 40 pound cabbages, the Findhorn Garden in Scotland is a source of bewilderment for horticultural experts from around the world. How is it possible that these luscious vegetables, flowers and herbs can even grow in this barren sandy soil, let alone in such huge proportions? The answer, according to Dorothy Maclean, was given to her by the plants themselves!