Gardening

In his second book exploring the urban vernacular of Queens, New York, Rafael Herrin-Ferri shifts his focus to the green spaces that accompany the houses and small multi-family buildings of the "World’s Borough." As varied and colorful as the façades featured in All the Queens Houses (JOVIS, 2021), these spaces introduce an organic, botanical element to the streetscape. Semi-formal lawns in the French and Italian traditions sit cheek by jowl with the improvised arbors of Chinese vegetable gardens, Caribbean-inspired flower gardens, brightly colored Hindu courtyards, elaborate hand-crafted water features, life-size replicas of fauna, and countless other displays of idiosyncrasy and cultural diversity. Through its photographs and text, this book paints another portrait—softer and greener this time—of the dynamic and multicultural landscape that is Queens.