It is not often a client of many years’ states that it is time to start over.  A needed house addition forced a rethink of a visually stunning mature landscape. However, a silver lining was present. Although the client loved his yard, water issues had plagued it for many years putting stress on the existing plantings. This was the opportunity that was needed to solve the water issue while providing new elements to the yard. Change, in this case, was good.

Irregular bluestone on the old patio was saved for reuse on the new pool deck. It was considered that aged bluestone and new bluestone coping might not visually mesh. To make this work we meticulously detailed the pool coping giving one side a bullnose finish and the other an irregular edge. This permitted a seamless transition between the pool deck and pool coping.  A 5’ tall privacy wall was added along the property line, which paralleled the pool. For the wall, the house brick was matched as closely as possible, which also included mimicking the weeping mortar joints. Plantings and a water feature were added and accented by small details in the new walls.

A new large formal lawn panel was added which served three roles. First, it became a place to drain and collect the water through the addition of an underground gravel collection system. Second, it helped counterbalance the heavily planted gardens along its perimeter. Lastly, the lawn could become a usable space for a large tent during parties.

Bordering the lawn is an irregular bluestone walkway which is adjacent to raised garden beds. These raised beds help further keep the plantings dry and allow for a spectacular garden to flourish. The perimeter walkway not only allows for strolls through the garden, but also provides a pathway to other elements around the yard.

An elevated sitting patio, opposite the house, was a way to meet the demand by the client for a sitting area to read the morning paper while sitting in the solitude of the garden. A small meandering brook and pond where added to help drown out any exterior noise. This was accented by a bluestone slab bridge which allows a way to get over the brook to a woodland garden walk.

A formal dining and cocktail patio finishes off the opposite side of the lawn panel.  This patio is flanked by an herb garden and a formal planting of hybrid tea roses. These roses are prized plantings of the client and had to be transplanted, cared for off-site in greenhouses, and then replanted so that they would all survive. Similar to all the new gardens, specialty amended soils were used to help insure the roses would thrive.

Mature trees were either present or brought in, at a very full size, to finish the overall look of the garden. These created a gorgeous back drop and also afforded the opportunity to create a woodland garden walk. The perimeter of the property was finished with a custom wood fence that helps keep out deer and other critters that might disrupt the garden. In the end a once lush garden became a better version of itself.