Given its official nickname, it’s no surprise that New Jersey has a rich and vibrant gardening tradition. But what may be news to some is that it plays out on such geographically diverse terrain. A new book out this month, Gardens of the Garden State ( Monacelli Press , $50), the third by seasoned garden-writing duo Nancy Berner and Susan Lowry, provides an illuminating and visually rewarding journey through the landscapes of the fifth-smallest and most densely populated state.

Along with its famous suburbs and now-infamous Shore, New Jersey is home to the Pine Barrens, the Great Swamp, the Appalachian Ridge and Valley, the Coastal Plain, and many other distinct regions. All of the state’s habitable areas offer an array of garden and horticulture challenges and opportunities and, using 29 gardens, the authors explore how different individuals and institutions have made the most of their surroundings. The book includes historic public spaces, such as the New Jersey State Botanical Garden at Skylands and the recently restored Greenwood Gardens in Short Hills, as well as domestic retreats, such as Ken Druse and Louis Bauer’s (the latter is director of horticulture at Wave Hill in the Bronx) private garden in the northwest corner of the state.

“Jersey Grown” is a slogan seen on plants throughout the state and indicates a distinctive pride that the authors are careful to probe. “The twenty-nine gardens presented here are only a sampling of the rich and complex garden world of New Jersey,” Berner and Lowry explain in their introduction. “In addition to geography, the other essential point for us in choosing a garden is that it speaks in a voice that expresses a particular point of view, and says something to us about the people or the ideas behind the garden.”

Click here to see some of New Jersey’s most interesting gardens.

__ __