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.
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 flowerin
g 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.
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 flowerin
g 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment