Davitt, Keith

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Davitt, Keith

PERSONAL:

Married; wife's name Jacqueline. Hobbies and other interests: Cooking, playing guitar, dancing, writing, photography.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Cambridge, NY. Office—Gardens, 56 7th Ave., No. 2, Brooklyn, NY 11217.

CAREER:

Landscape designer. Gardenviews (landscape design company), Cambridge, MA, owner. Sole designer for GARDENS, landscape design and project management venture, Brooklyn, NY. Lecturer at botanical gardens, symposiums, and seminars.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Herald Award for Creativity in Garden Communication, 2000, for article "Garden Spaces."

WRITINGS:

Beyond the Lawn: Unique Outdoor Spaces for Modern Living, Rockport Publishers (Gloucester, MA), 2003.

Water Features for Small Gardens: From Concept to Construction, Timber Press (Portland, OR), 2003.

Small Spaces, Beautiful Gardens, Quarry Books (Gloucester, MA), 2003.

Hardscaping: How to Use Structures, Pathways, Patios and Ornaments in Your Garden, Sterling (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to periodicals, including Period Homes.

SIDELIGHTS:

Keith Davitt is a landscape designer, photographer, and writer. He began his career as a gardener in Carmel, California, and eventually moved into designing and redesigning gardens for his clients. He has traveled widely, lecturing on subjects related to building and designing gardens. Believing that even small, simple gardens enrich lives, he has devoted a book to working with limited space, titled Small Spaces, Beautiful Gardens, published in 2003. The same year also saw publication of Water Features for Small Gardens: From Concept to Construction. In this volume, Davitt explores the use of water features in city gardens and small yards. The book compares favorably to others on the same subject, according to Beth Clewis Crim in Library Journal. Crim noted that Davitt "excels particularly" at showing how pools and fountains can change the look of urban spaces.

In his fourth book, Hardscaping: How to Use Structures, Pathways, Patios and Ornaments in Your Garden, Davitt explores the use of "hardscape" elements, such as birdbaths, walkways, walls, and fountains, in garden design. In the author's opinion, a garden without these may look nice, but it may also seem unfinished. Davitt suggests the best use for various structures, and provides plans for building them. The book is "a handsome guide," according to Karen Ellis in Library Journal.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 2006, Carol Haggas, review of Hardscaping: How to Use Structures, Pathways, Patios and Ornaments in Your Garden, p. 34.

California Bookwatch, December, 2006, review of Hardscaping.

Landscape & Irrigation, December, 2000, "Davitt Honored by ANLA," p. 19.

Library Journal, October 1, 2003, Beth Clewis Crim, review of Water Features for Small Gardens: From Concept to Construction, p. 107; September 1, 2006, Karen Ellis, review of Hardscaping, p. 176.

Publishers Weekly, November 5, 2001, Wylie O'Sullivan, review of Small Spaces, Beautiful Gardens, p. 62.