THE INTERVIEW | MASTERS & MUSES | WORLD OF CABANA
Virginia-based landscape architect Charles J. Stick is much-lauded for his historically sensitive, culturally aware gardens influenced by the form and proportions of his design masters, including Palladio and Russell Page. Shortly after the publication of his first monograph, Charles J. Stick and His Gardens, Charles sat down with Cabana to share highlights from an illustrious career, along with his guiltiest pleasures, greatest challenges, most memorable trips and dream dinner party guests.
INTERVIEW BY CAMILLA FRANCES | MASTERS & MUSES | 31 MARCH 2025
Charles J. Stick (right) talks with horticulturalist Alan Gorkin at Sleepy Cat Farm in Connecticut, USA. Photo courtesy Charles J. Stick.
The most memorable trip you've taken...
I am extremely fortunate that I spend my life with a woman who loves to travel as much as I do. We travel constantly. I would say that the best trip is always the last, but that isn’t true. We just returned from three weeks in southern Japan and it was one of our favorites. Of course, Kyoto was as remarkable as I remember it from 18 years ago. The Peace Museum in Hiroshima was shattering. Three years ago we sailed the Nile, which was a remarkable adventure, several years before that we sailed down the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar. We returned home with a virus that attacked my heart muscle and almost killed me. That was fairly memorable! Too many to call a favorite I am afraid.
The best party you've ever been to...
This is easy. My friend Fred Landman had his 60th birthday party at Vaux Le Vicomte fifteen years ago. It was a night I shall never forget. Like Fouquet, we all should have been imprisoned for what extravagance we experienced that evening.
In late spring, the herbaceous border is alive with color at this garden in Mt. Sharon © Roger Foley.
A moment that defined or changed your career...
In December of 1993 I met John Bryan at his house at Crab Tree Farm in Lake Bluff, Illinois. He would become my mentor and friend. He was one of the greatest philanthropists and supporters of the arts that Chicago has ever known. I worked for him until his death six years ago. I still work for his family at Crab Tree Farm.
The greatest challenge you've overcome...
I have not overcome it, but I am working on my habit of procrastination.
Your guiltiest pleasure or greatest extravagance...
I have no guilt. My greatest extravagance is my Greenhouse.
Your next weekend-away destination...
My partner Charlotte and I live on a farm [Waverley Farm] in the Piedmont of Virginia. I travel almost every week for business. Weekends are sacrosanct so I would have to say Waverley Farm with our cats and dogs and our garden is the place we most want to be. In many ways it is the only place I know where my time is my own.
An aerial, springtime view of the serpentine hedge at Waverley © Paul Gaertner; Office of Charles J. Stick.
The greatest gift you've ever been given...
I have cherished a handful of relationships that have emerged from my work as a landscape architect. My Felco #2 hand pruners. Also, a gift from Bob Roth and the David Lynch Foundation to begin Transcendental Meditation.
An object you'll never part with...
No answer to this one. I will say I am at an age now where the elimination of stuff seems rather attractive. All my loved ones are purging.
Ideal interiors in three words...
Light, Books, View
Distasteful interiors in three words...
Open Plan Design
Standard floribunda and grandiflora roses fill parterres in the Garden of the Four Seasons (Mt. Sharon); © Roger Foley.
I would describe my childhood as...
Structured and concentrated. I was athletically inclined in my youth. My upbringing was as suburban as you can imagine. The aesthetic character of the house I grew up in has had a lasting influence on me. The house was well proportioned and well crafted. The grid of the western suburbs of Chicago has stuck with me.
I feel most confident when wearing...
My ancient Turnbull & Asser corduroy trousers. It’s a seasonal thing, they come out of the closet when the cool autumn evenings descend upon Virginia.
My signature scent...
A cross between Patrick McConnell Scottish Flake Pipe Tobacco and Bulgari Au The Blanc.
My go-to recipe...
I am not a clever cook. I live with a woman who is, and loves it, especially when it comes to using our vegetables from the garden at Waverley. It's one of the greatest satisfactions I know in life, to come home on a Friday and know that everything we eat over the next few days has come from the Farm. It is one of the greatest luxuries in life.
My all-time favorite fabric...
My Breanish Tweed jackets woven on the Isle of Lewis, cut and tailored by the late great Alex Cooke at Henry Poole on Saville Row. As they say, “From the land comes the cloth”.
New Dawn and Zephrine Drouhin roses, and Clematis climb the rose arbor at Waverley © Charles J. Stick.
The person I call for good advice...
Fred Landman. We have worked together on his garden for almost 30 years. He has taught me the importance of listening. Don’t waste time with mediocrity, in all levels of life, especially with people. Spend time with people who are going to expand your life.
The person I call for a good time...
I have lunch with my friend Russell Skinner almost every week at a very dangerous Mexican Restaurant. We have known one another for almost thirty-five years. He is a retired architect. His life was never defined by being an architect, it has only been defined by his kindness and service to others. His spirit is an inspiration to me.
My dream dinner party guest...
This is a tough one. They say never meet your heroes. I have met a few and it has mostly not been great. I think I will just leave it on the terrace at Waverley.
An exhibition that took my breath away...
Most recently Sargent In Spain brought me great joy. I am fascinated by how his ability to express himself with a paintbrush must not have been very different than when a normal human being opens his or her mouth to speak.
A new artist or designer whose work excites me...
Sir Edwin Lutyens - I know, I know! I had a professor at the University of Virginia who did not like anything that was built after the 17th-century so I feel I am making progress. Lutyens was one of the greatest architects and landscape architects the world has ever known. As far as I'm concerned, no one has come close in the last 100 years.
A fountain basin creates an intermediate focal point between the Garden of the Four Seasons and the surrounding pasturelands (Mt. Sharon); © Charles J. Stick.
Just One More Thing...
One Master: Russell Page
One Muse: Charlotte Tieken
One City: Florence
One Artwork: Breakfast in the Loggia by John Singer Sargent
One Museum: Uffizi
One Shop: Tabaccheria Castellana, Florence. I buy my Castello pipes there.
One Song: The Pretender by Jackson Browne
One Color: Farrow and Ball Lichen
One Flower: Dahlia ‘Thomas Edison’
One Word to describe my style: Disciplined
One Word to describe Cabana: Fresh
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