Fellow blogger, James Golden, author of View from Federal Twist was asking me to explain the layout of the garden and I thought the bird's eye view from Google Earth might help explain the garden's design.
I describe my garden for the Garden Conservancy as follows: A small village garden was designed to be an extension of the house. The house and garden are situated on a hill and the garden is terraced on three levels. The two upper levels are laid out formally with yew and boxwood hedges. The lowest level is an informal woodland garden and is a work in progress. The garden is planted with a mixture of unusual trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, and bulbs. Plants were selected primarily for interesting foliage and textures.
We will begin the tour looking in from the sidewalk right about where "Google" is written in the bottom right corner of the photograph:
I describe my garden for the Garden Conservancy as follows: A small village garden was designed to be an extension of the house. The house and garden are situated on a hill and the garden is terraced on three levels. The two upper levels are laid out formally with yew and boxwood hedges. The lowest level is an informal woodland garden and is a work in progress. The garden is planted with a mixture of unusual trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, and bulbs. Plants were selected primarily for interesting foliage and textures.
We will begin the tour looking in from the sidewalk right about where "Google" is written in the bottom right corner of the photograph:
Walk through the gate to the front door, take several steps and turn to the left to see the Upper Garden...
Walk past the parallel rows of boxwood to the Upper Garden which usually has hot colored palette ...
Continue through the Upper Garden....
To a pair of boxwoods and granite posts leading to the Cornus officinalis focal point...
of The Hall with Balls....
Down the granite steps turn right, go down some more steps, to the arch leading to the Lower Garden...
to another focal point, this time a granite post....
As you walk toward the post, turn right to see the house and the Main Terrace at the other end of the Lower Garden...
Continue on to the other arch; a threshold to the woodland garden aka the Pangea Woodland...
Just beyond the arch, there is a glimpse of Mt Monadnock in the distance obscured by a tree I hope to get permission from the neighbor to remove....
A view from the same spot the woodland garden itself, a trio of Picea orientalis 'Gowdy' to the left ...
Down the path...
The Adirondack Seating Area in the Pangea Woodland...
To a path that leads...
Down the steep hill...
To the lowest part of the Pangea Woodland....
There is a low retaining wall on the left side that my son Teddy helped me build last fall...
Back around the lower part of the garden the aforementioned P. orientalis 'Gowdy' to the far left...
Up the hill...
Retuning to that same view of the Adirondack Seating Area in the Pangea Woodland...
Beyond the chairs are new steps up to the level of the Lower Garden and the Blue Bench Patio...
As you go up the stairs, you see the French Doors to the Garden Room...
The Blue Bench Patio and up more granite steps...
Make a 180 degree turn looking backwards to the axis from the French Doors to see the Cercidiphyllum japonicum focal point down in the Pangea Woodland...
As you look down to the Blue Bench Terrace turn left to see the Lower Garden beyond the Main Terrace...
The Parallel mixed borders in the Lower Garden are enclosed by a granite wall to the left and a yew hedge to the right which defines the garden room. There is an old granite bench at the opposite end of the garden...
More Adirondack Chairs, the Peterborough Chairs, designed for Putnam Park in the Main Terrace...
The other end of the Main Terrace is shaded by a beautiful Acer griseum x 'Gingerbread'....
Leaving the Main Terrace and backtracking, the French Doors of the Garden Room on the right and steps to the Blue Bench Terrace on the left...
Up the steps to the garage...
Alook backward to the Lower Garden from the top of the stairs...
Slip between the garage and the house to the driveway...
to the end of the driveway looking back to the garage....
A view of the front door to the right and the Upper Garden from the driveway...
and finally to the street to where we began our tour...
I hope I did not overestimate your interest in seeing this modest garden in the dead of winter. Maybe I'll try the same tour next summer when things are a bit more interesting.
Thanks, Michael. Good idea to use Google Earth. I can see the basic layout now, though I still get lost in the details of the photos. I took a look at the slide show of your garden in the sidebar, and that helps. In fact, having plants helps a lot in seeing the relationships of the parts. I had no idea the two terraces were not aligned. I can see now that the Blue Bench Terrace is behind the house and overlooks the Woodland Garden. I also see what you mean about the neighboring tree blocking the view of Mt. Monadnock.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing the garden fully clothed. Hope we can make it up this summer.
It is confusing, for sure! I think I will put the Google Earth photo in slide show. Maybe that will help. Rooms are an easy way to organize the garden. The first time, actually first few times, I went to Hidcote (same for Sissinghurst and Great Dixter) I got very lost. In a small garden it is a helpful to not see the entire garden all at a glance. The elevation changes help. I will try an abbreviated version later in the year, but at least this tour was an opportunity to see the structure of the garden. At any rate, thanks for taking the tour. Hopefully it will be live one day!
DeletePhew! I'm tired out after walking round your garden. Hope you'll post some repeats through the season.
ReplyDeleteSorry about that. Good thing it is less than half an acre! Thanks for taking the tour.
DeleteMichael,
ReplyDeletethose Adirondack chairs have been copied in Australia - my godmother had them in her garden in the 1960s. They make you LONG to sit down ( maybe with a cushion though! ).
You're brave, to show your garden's bare bones like this, in winter, when the foliage's gone. It's all carefully put together and tenderly so...that's what I like, that nothing's been forgotten.
You seem to have some wonderful views.
A beautiful house, if I may say, classic American, to me, from an eternal America.
Thanks, Faisal. I guess it is more of an American house and garden than I think. If the angles are good these chairs are comfortable even without a cushion. I appreciate your kind comments about the design. Thanks for that.
DeleteI absolutely loved this tour. Is google earth not amazing and scary at the same time? I hope you give us a tour in every season!
ReplyDeleteI am glad you like the tour and I agree about Google Earth. I may try it again in the summer. Thanks.
DeleteThanks for the tour. I like the way your boxwoods act as pieces of sculpture. I would suspect you wouldn't appreciate them for that as much in the summer when there was so much else going on.
ReplyDeleteI was mapping a bike route on Google maps the other day and accidentally hit the street view of my house. Apparently they have updated our neighborhood sometime this summer, just after a car plowed through the front yard and before I had done anything to clean it up. I guess that image will be there for several years.
Les,
ReplyDeleteI remember when that happened to your garden. I was having some work done on my roof when the map of my area was photographed. You can see the ladder on the roof.
I especially like the boxwoods now. The leaves are off the trees from mid-October until early May so the structure is paramount for many months.
Hi Michael
ReplyDeleteI´ll try this my self in my garden; taking a tour and show the naked backbones, stripped for lefs and flowers. It shows the honesty and the clearness of your garden in every picture you´ve taken, and I liked the tour.
have a nice day.
Kjeld
Kjeld,
ReplyDeleteI look forward to your naked backbone tour. Glad mine might have inspired you. I believe that the starting point for a garden's design is what it looks like in winter, naked as you say. If you do a good job with the bones the rest of the garden should be almost inevitable.
Fun - I never took birds-eye views of my last garden, though Google Earth might have helped. This really brought your spaces together for me, being a plan person! I had no idea you had that variety of outdoor room interest, until now.
ReplyDeleteIt is a small garden but divided into garden rooms well because the grade changes
Delete