Frank Lloyd Wright has been described by the American Institute of Architects as "the greatest architect that ever lived." His two homes – Taliesin, Wisconsin, and Taliesin West, Arizona – are visited by thousands each year, while his most important private commission, Fallingwater, in western Pennsylvania is probably the most recognizable residence in the world. With its living room and bedroom balconies cantilevered dramatically over a series of waterfalls in a pristine woodland setting, it is a spectacular naturalistic water garden that perfectly exemplifies his desire to make his buildings and the surrounding environment one organic whole. What is much less known is Wright's genius for landscape design, which began when he built his first home and studio at Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, on an acre lot that was previously a plant nursery surrounded by prairie. Here he raised six children with his first wife Kitty, and made friends with Chicago based landscape designer Jens Jensen, whose passion for native planting and natural looking water features Wright admired.

The Oak Park property has a conventional apron of lawn, a hedge of forsythia to screen the house entrance from the road, and some strategically placed flowering trees (like lilacs) to provide armloads of cut flowers for indoor arrangements. A large spreading ginkgo tree shades a courtyard at the rear of the property, and a semi circular patio off the living room provides a secluded place for relaxing. Numerous planters are used on pedestals to provide curtains of greenery that help to soften the architectural lines, and the entrance to his studio features some outdoor sculpture.

Wright acquired the Taliesin property after his separation from Kitty. A four hour drive from Oak Park, it is much more spacious, occupying an entire valley that at one time encompassed 3,000 acres, and it is here – on a hill at a bend in the Wisconsin River – where Wright was able to give free reign to his landscaping dreams.

A second courtyard leads off from this first one and also includes a rectangular reflecting pool, This features a fountain titled Jonah and the Whale, presented to him by a friend. The pool is raised above the flagstone floor so a group of people can sit around it and converse.

A knuckle of rock projects above the rooflines of the living quarters, surrounded by lawn and a wide perennial border with a retaining wall that faces south. The view from this high elevation provides a panorama of sloping meadows that lead down to the lake, and beyond the lake to a slope of cultivated fields. The hilltops above the cultivated fields are crowned with woodland. Strategically placed before and beyond the lakes are majestic native bur oaks that reminded Wright of Welsh oaks from the countryside of Wales, his ancestral home. There is no sign of human habitation from any of the rooms or terraces at Taliesin even though at one time there were neighborhood farmhouses, a gas station and a diner. When these “nuisance” structures came up for sale he bought them and demolished them so they no longer interfered with his view.  

On a flat, boulder strewn mesa below the foothills of the MacDowell Mountains, he built a long drafting room for his apprentices, living quarters for his family, guest apartments, staff accommodation and eventually student accommodation, although initially his apprentices lived in canvas tents dotted about the surrounding desert. In the beginning he wanted the grounds planted only with indigenous desert plants like saguaro cactus, palo verde trees and teddy bear cholla to make the building an extension of the desert, but after visitors complained of injuries from the vicious spines, he replaced the worst culprits with exotics like bougainvillea vines and orchid trees. He also added a citrus orchard. The buildings even use desert stone and desert timber to help the property blend with the desert.

Wright felt comforted by the sight and sound of water and established a triangular shaped reflecting pool at the front of the main building to also serve as a swimming pool. The pool is part of a terrace that projects out into the desert like the prow of a ship, with views of Paradise Valley. Elsewhere on the property are several more water features. In the center of a courtyard next to Wright's indoor theater is a circular fountain with a metal dome that moves about and creates a ringing tone as it strikes against several floating metal balls. At the entrance to the visitor's center there is another Wright designed water feature in the form of a metal dish fountain, the dish raised high on a wall. This allows it to spill recirculated water over the rim into a basin to create a constant splashing sound.