Skip to main content

Connecting the house and garden

House and garden



When I first visited the site in the winter of 2010, I was immediately struck by the site and the possibilities began to enter my mind's eye. My clients built a beautiful, contemporary home on a clearing with wide open views to the surrounding woods. Surrounding the house is a productive blueberry farm, pastures for livestock and outbuildings to support the farm. Big properties call for big ideas, and big budgets are needed to execute a big idea. Over the next few years, we were able to facilitate this magical transition without extensive and costly hard changes to the site. We did this by moving plants to center stage.


Know your lines


The "living lines" created by the arrangement of plants not only connect the house to the landscape, but also add a unique flair to the natural environment of the garden. Using large numbers of the same or similar plants also helps keep maintenance to a minimum. Early on, I learned that my client loved the look and feel of grasses. This was a great find because they were a perfect fit for the job at hand. We set out to create a simple hardscape garden, using gravel paths and steel edging to define the lines of the garden. In addition to being budget-friendly, gravel made sense because of its organic, casual vibe.


Common plants, extraordinary beauty



In the lower garden, a simple but effective tapestry of four flowering perennials continues the color story started by woodland perennials with shades of pink, purple (light and saturated) and blue. Taken as a whole, they represent a delightful variety in flower forms: the daisy-like flowers of the coneflower; Simple five-petalled flowers from geranium; Crimson Spears of Persicaria; and sedum dense, rounded clusters.


Plenty of grasses earn their keep


To maintain a balance among perennial players, some should be checked while others should be encouraged. For example, 'Firetail' persicaria grows quickly and has a tendency to crowd out the most sluggish members of the tray, so it is usually divided to allow enough room for others to thrive.


Imposing this discipline does not mean closing the door to options. For example, even though we use a variety of grasses, if you start taking care of one, you know the training for the others. We used Japanese forest grass (Hakonegloa magra, zones 5-9), but we chose two varieties: straight species and 'Areola' (Hakonegloa macra 'Areola', zones 5-9) for different effects. Using a golden 'areola' in a large, grass-like swath would have been too much: too showy, too yellow. But straight species perfectly convey what we're going for—a calm, flowing sea of ​​green, moving with the wind. In another area, a yellow glow on the forest floor. Two grasses, same maintenance method - this allowed us to achieve similar but non-sam results


Simple yet stylish



We kept the overall palette of plants as small as we could while still achieving the desired effect. A key consideration was how the garden was going to be maintained, so I chose fewer plants for the client to learn and understand. Although low maintenance is a priority, we approached the design with our eyes wide open, knowing full well that no garden is "no maintenance."


Because of their proximity to natural areas, we excluded plants with known bad habits, and none that are at risk of invasiveness were considered. Daily fuss doesn't happen, so we haven't included any plants that require deadheading, staking or high-touch codling. We embraced the concept of aging for the grasses and perennials on our plate, choosing plants for the balance they exhibit as they mature. Perennials such as coneflowers and sedges and large lawns are allowed to senesce naturally – the seed heads are left in place. The reward is that some of the garden's most memorable moments take place in late autumn, as the low, dim light illuminates the grasses from behind.


Autumn joy sedum



Name: Hylotelephium ‘Herbstfreude’

Zones: 3-9

Size: 18 to 24 inches tall and wide

Conditions: Full sun to partial shade; average to dry, well-drained soil


‘Merlot’ purple coneflower



Name: Echinacea purpurea ‘Merlot’

Zones: 3-9

Size: 2 to 3 feet tall and 1 to 2 feet wide

Conditions: Full sun to partial shade; average to dry well-drained soil


‘Firetail’ persicaria



Name: Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Firetail’

Zones: 4-8

Size: 3 to 4 feet tall and wide

Conditions: Full sun to partial shade; medium to wet soil

Labels:
Location: United States

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A successful small garden requires a big idea

You can let a large garden develop. And by 'large' I mean a garden more than 80 feet (25 m) long. All of the most successful small gardens I've seen lately have a strong idea behind them. In a small space, you can see everything at once, so it's important that everything looks good together. This principle applies regardless of shape, although many small gardens are wider than they are long. See here for general tips on the Shallow Wide Garden . Here are three successful small space garden ideas to inspire you. A plant-lover's garden After visiting Philip Ostenbring's garden (open once a year for NGS), I realized that a small outdoor space for unusual plants is a wonderful display area. There is no need to plant in a small space, in threes or in drifts, as the plants are very close to you. Each model looks great in a courtyard, terrace or patio garden. Whereas if you dot a variety of single plants around a large garden, everything can look out of p
Post a Comment
Read more

Incredible Small Garden Design Ideas To Remodel

 Incredible Small Garden Design  When you have a small garden , a large layout is essential. The limited space means every detail counts, from plant selection to hardscaping, with every element having a big visual impact. When you're planning a small outdoor space, these creative small garden design ideas will help bring out its unique characteristics. 1. Use a corner for visual interest This small garden looks surprisingly lush and full, thanks to the tall plants. By using dense foliage and large-leaved species, you can ensure your miniature space makes a bold impact. A variety of stones add to the overall style, filling spaces with color and texture Related Post -     Summer-blooming shrubs are very easy to grow 2. Corner bench and vertical garden This clever garden is a brilliant use of space. Instead of sacrificing seating, the designer created a tall bench and placed shade-loving plants underneath. On the outside of the house, two rows of wall-mounted plants catch
Post a Comment
Read more

Great Designs for Container Groupings

Once your single containers are ready to merge It's hard to fail with a group of containers. Any size group, from a simple couple to large multiples, can enhance any outdoor space. Open patios and decks become softer and more intimate when you place pots around them. A straight and simple outdoor path lined with containers can become a wave of sorts—a formal one with some plants or an informal path with others. You never know what you'll come up with by placing one pot next to another or a particular plant with others. Once you start experimenting, you'll notice many places where a container is grouped. 1. Combine bright colors This collection of colorful pots introduces the viewer to the vivid color scheme in the beds behind it, mainly blue flowers. However, to maintain exclusivity, pots get exclusive rights to colors like magenta, pink and chartreuse. 2. Formal lateralization A combination of papyrus and vases always looks elegant, but when placed side by sid
Post a Comment
Read more