Courtyard Garden for a Georgian Style Estate
Different sized boxwoods clustered at the main façade will be clipped into tightly trimmed orbs to create a whimsical English style planting at the front door of this elegant 1936 Georgian style house.
The 100 foot by 100 foot Entry Courtyard is defined by low whitewashed brick walls that match the house, elegant gateposts, and flanked by a guesthouse on one side, and a repurposed 1810 schoolhouse on the other where Walt Whitman once taught, now used as a playhouse.
Seasonal perennial plantings, bulbs and flowering shrubs bloom in succession, keeping the borders of the courtyard interesting throughout the seasons.
(click to expand side-by-side photos)
Restoring the “White Garden”
Thirty-five years ago, a Japanese landscape architect designed an authentic Japanese garden for this white painted brick split level--the first to be built on Long Island in 1936.
The garden includes rock outcroppings, a spectacular display of white azaleas each May, and a viewing deck that overlooks a cove that is part of the Long Island Sound. Time and poor maintenance had taken its toll. Stone paths were reset and plantings replenished.
The current owners also asked for a scheme to add color in the summer. The garden remains true to its original idea of pure white in the spring, but after the azaleas finish, a successive bloom of flowers in purples, reds and lime green, brightens the garden throughout the summer and into the fall.
Gardens for a 1936 Colonial Revival House
Sixteen years after KWA did a full restoration, extensive additions and renovations to this house, we returned to design new gardens, including a lush circular garden by the front door, and a woodland garden at the rear.
The front garden blooms throughout the seasons with a series of perennial and native plantings anchored by a stone Moroccan style bench, placed as a focal point under a magnolia tree.
At the rear garden, lavender colored azaleas, shade loving hostas, Japanese anemones, and liriope grow under a grove of birches and a mature Korean dogwood tree, their changing colors and blossoms thorough the seasons highlighting the elegant stone walled terrace built during the earlier renovations of the house.
Connecting Indoors to Out for a Restored Arts & Crafts Style House
At the same time we renovated and restored this house, we also re-established a hierarchy of outdoor spaces to connect to the interiors, and created new gardens where none existed before.
A restored sun porch at the front of the house is once again an architectural focal point, and connects to a bluestone terrace that is surrounded by blue hydrangeas and shaded by a mature Japanese maple tree.
An existing south facing terrace with a fireplace off the kitchen was rejuvenated with new plantings of sweet gum trees to provide shade, and espaliered magnolias. A formal boxwood garden with amber colored everblooming roses is underplanted with lavender cat mint.
A Garden Oasis
Empty nesters, this couple had done many renovations to the house as their family grew over 25 years, but the rear garden remained neglected and forgotten, just a scruffy patch of grass. The husband wanted to garden, and both wanted an outdoor space with a built-in gas grill to cook for and entertain their extended family.
Part of this tight lot--50 by 100 feet--was taken up by a ca. 1915 garage that was too small to be used to store a car, and a bland concrete driveway. The new garden plan replaced part of the driveway with an expansive bluestone terrace directly connected to the Kitchen. A new built-in grille set in a generous stone countertop is large enough to serve family gatherings or every day dinners for two. The original cross buck doors of the garage were restored, a farm style light installed above and new colors selected, making the once forlorn building a handsome focal point and an integral part of the garden.
Evergreen hedges and strategically placed specimen trees screen the neighbors from view. The rear garden has no grass, instead filled with woodland plants, long blooming shrub roses, perennials and a teak bench from which one can ponder it all.
Douglas Manor
Swimming Pool and Garden
For this fairly tight lot with views of Long Island Sound, the owner asked us to design a swimming pool and hot tub, landscaping and an area for outdoor entertaining.
Because of the slope of the property and its long narrow profile, we situated the main seating area at the highest point under a pergola, and created a waterfall flowing down from the hot tub to the swimming pool.
At the top, an outdoor wet bar and barbecue are adjacent to the pergola. At the bottom, another seating area flanks the pool and wooden gates lead to a garden overlooking the sound.
