The restoration of the flower gardens at Monticello in 1941, sponsored by the Garden Club of Virginia, was the result of Edwin Betts's scholarly research and Hazlehurst Perkins's practical gardening skills. Thomas Jefferson's Flower Garden at Monticello presents the evolution of Jefferson's ornamental gardening efforts with an analysis of the flower gardens as they were planned, planted, and ultimately restored.

No early American gardens were as well-documented as those at Monticello, which became an experimental station, a botanic garden of new and unusual plants from around the world. Betts and Perkins communicate here the nature and sources of Jefferson's intelligent venture into ornamental gardening.

The third edition includes a revised plant list, annotation of the more than 100 species cultivated in the flower garden, and new illustrations.