Low-Key Genius: The Life and Work of Landscape-Gardener O. C. Simonds

Ossian Cole Simonds was a seminal figure in the naturalistic landscape movement at the beginning of the twentieth-century. He began designing with native plants at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago as early as 1880 and continued to develop landscapes that sensitively enhanced the local topography throughout his fifty-three year career. Simonds was a founder of the American Society of Landscape Architects, a popular teacher and author, and an early advocate for landscape and waterway preservation. In Low-Key Genius: The Life and Work of Landscape-Gardener O.C. Simonds, the first comprehensive biography of this significant designer, Barbara Geiger explores the development of his philosophy and the important colleagues, clients, and projects that shaped his career.