MY GARDEN

Here it is, photos of my garden so all you closet critics can use it as target practice. I can hear it now. Too traditional, too fussy, way to neat (I like that one), too much maintenance, too ordered. Well who asked you anyway.

To be clear its not some twisty curvy swervey path around the house with bits of planting flung about. It has a tinge of OCD and its not low maintenance, we do use totally organic garden techniques and I have no irrigation. I'll give it a squirt or two if we hit weeks of dry spell, but I really try to ask the plants to make on their own or they are sent to the compost pile.

My own garden is rooted in traditional ideas. It has a rusticity and informal attitude that takes the edge of a layout that has symetry, strong axis lines and some say a formal layout. As in most residential properties the largest feature in the landscape is the house which was built in 1825. Its a post and beam farmhouse and orginally had 200 acreas of farmland, no mostly proptected water shed land and I have two acreas to play with.

I limited the palette to local materials for the hard scape with the exception of some handmade brick made in Virginia. The garden includes ideas with lineage back to Italian gardens and classic English gardens but I think feels very much at home and genuine in the lower Hudson Valley area.

While my design work is starting to lean more more toward modern spaces and planting design that is less about flower gardens my own home and garden is more sanctuary and is very peaceful. Of course its not finished, and I'm already thinking of changing some planting I installed only three years ago...its never finished.

The west garden (picutred above) is edged with stone walls and has design references to a traditional cloister garden. The garden is overlooked and framed on the North side by a arbor that has two towers connected by an arbor all made from local cedar with the bark on. In the summer its partially covered by honeysuckle. The whole garden is the main entrance pathway to the rear vegetable and cutting garden.

The Kitchen garden is designed based on french principles of a Potager. It is a south facing space leveled with the use of a dry stone wall and stone entrance way and gate. Rustic cedar fencing is a material that is repeated in with different patterns and has trumpet vine planting on it.


The garden is filled with herbs, heirloom vegetables and flowering plants which borders the cutting garden separated by a Yew hedge. Several hundred boxwood line the beds along with chives, oregano and thyme for edging and cooking. Many other herbs are planted seasonally.




The layout around the house is all about views from inside and connection to the outside areas. There was an existing porch and I added a breakfast terrace on the West side. I wont' bore you with the standard line about how its perfect for morning coffee..well it is, but who has time.
For the evening we have our main terrace and dining terrace with a pergola. Gardens and hedges souround and embrace these areas so each one seems intimate.

A sunken garden is located between these terraces is a design of tonal blues and purples. Someday I plan on all green space very low but for now we enjoy the color.

SIT ON IT

Outdoor furniture

A few years ago I was on vacation in Tuscany with my partner and our two best friends. I had just finished the garden install at their New York City Brownstone and we were having a charming lunch in a hillside town and my friends proceeded to tell me they found the perfect furniture for the new terrace: Plastic stackable chairs in a terracotta color. The blood must have drained from my face at the thought this abuse of bad taste that was about to be heaped on my garden and I started questioning why I was even on vacation with such people.....when I heard riotous amounts of laughter from everyone including my partner, who where all in on the joke.
Such tragedies occur everyday in the garden world even though the market is filled with clever, interesting, classic, and modern selections.

White plastic stackable chairs have infiltrated the world and its hard to escape this chair no matter where you go. Aluminum tube/ mesh ridden/ swivel base chairs should be banned along with the overly ornate fake Victorian cast iron that for some reason is painted white.....Yuk.!!..and how the hell someone ever sits on these uncomfortable hard things that always have a back rise that hits right in the middle back. Some things where a bad idea then and even a worse idea now. And lets stop it with all the (little) (Cute) details on things. Does the back of the bench really benefit from a trite machine carved basket of flowers detail....I think not. Unless its a sculptural interpretation, flowers belong in the garden, not on our furniture or cushions.

Why do we Americans like to take everything down the most tacky base we can find.

THE MIX

Even though I think I'm stating the obvious, here goes. Your outdoor living spaces need to have a well thought out furniture plan that same as the inside. Think of number of people you would like to accomidate, traffic flow from doors to gardens, function of space: dining, drinking, relaxing or whatever.

Don't match everything from one furniture line, good grief, even the tackiest of interior rarely has all matching chairs/tables. Mix wood with woven or iron. Try different finsihes, and mix styles. Sometimes you can find little table at a flea market and have a stone top cut for it which gives it a fresh appearance. If you have the budget antique offerings add alot to any space. You can repurpose something for outdoors, like steel tables from a 50's research lab. I used something like this for a New York City terrace.

To be clear, I have nothing against the classic Teak Steamer chair with a cushion as long as the teak has been responsibly harvested. I love classic wood benches and you find many resources from outrageously expensive to moderate. I really love some amazing modern almost sculptural pieces from Janus et Cie. I like the translation of classic Louis styles in iron with sunbrella cushions from casamidy. Their work is a great blending of traditional materials and modern twists.

Check out this leaf chaise from Janus et Cie. It's organic, modern and sculptural and has a traditional finish woven resin. I'll take 5 of those lined up on the edge of a pool. For a more traditional look try Almalfi iron furniture (Janus et Cie). For more moderate price point cut still maintaning clean lines check out the classic line of furniture from Restoration hardware.

A couple of web site resources geared toward modern lifestyles offer some great modern options for outdoor seating. You just have to mix and match and shop around. I like the Louis ghost chair by philippe stark outside and the heritage polished aluminium chair is a terrific chair for any environment, you will find other ideas.

Check out Designwithinreach.com and Hivemodern.com. They don't specialize in outdoor furniture but will have pcs you can use, depending on your climate and if its a loggia or porch you have a much broader choice.

I would love to see some over the top Tony Duqudette style offerings for outdoors or styles that have a middle eastern influence. Please email me with your finds!

See my list for good resources.... Please recycle the white plastic...!

PASSION REVOULSION TOLERANCE

I decided not to wait until I was an old fart to sling my opinions on the masses. When our grandmas lets lose with a stiff opinion, or a crusty command...we endure, because they have earned those opinions, right?

So I have decided to be say what I think now...I'll save my elder years for reflection and gentle understanding thoughts.I was trained as an artist and I've been designing gardens for the last ten years and I have gathered a few opinions, that I must admit are constantly changing but are rooted in the principles of great quality and thoughtful design. I'm passionate about well designed gardens of all types including sixteenth century Italian gardens and high concept gardens equally, like Martha Schwartz's ideas.

To start I'm really tired of TV- makeover in a weekend show when any one with half a brain will tell that even the tiniest garden deserves time for thought process and a good design. It usually takes some careful hard elements with finishes well thought through to support the design and of course a studied selection of plants to start and room (at least in our mind) for changes and evolution of the space over the years.

Browse threw my list of some of the most dreadful hate it /items and ideas.......seems to grow with my age. Here is a sampling

Red Mulch (Ugly fake dyed junk, just say no!!)
Alberta Spruce in pots.....
Island beds.....fake kidney shapes
Tree in the middle of circular drives
Fake anything
Fake concrete pavers meant to look like bricks or stone
Pressed concrete mean to look like....what ever!
Weeping trees set on the corner of suburb..homes
Plastic white picket fences
Vinyl windows
Vinyl siding
Vinyl anything
Prefab sheds with awful roof pitches and weird doll house proportions
Fiberglass above ground spas
Above ground pools
Pressure treated decks
Plastic garden edging
Jungle Gyms not completely screened from view of all of us
The term "Cute or Fun in the garden"
Wheelbarrows made into planters

If you insist on installing any of these items, why not do us all a favor and also plant a 10' evergreen hedge around the entire property. After all you are not the only one that has to look at it.