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.
