A Designer's Eye: Lucy's Garden

 It's tempting to think that plants alone can make a great-looking garden.  They can't.  Plants, of course, are important, but it takes an understanding of good design principles to make a garden something special.  A case in point is the small but stunning garden in Somerville, MA that belongs to Lucy Borodkin.  Lucy studied design in Britain and had a design-build business for quite awhile, but now does only garden consultation (or coaching, or whatever you want to call it).  Note the variety of textures and colors, the lovely circular stone path with small stones set between the larger ones, along with the bird sculpture just to left of center, above. (click on photos to enlarge).

The rear yard is only about 30 x 30 or so, but there's room for a tiny pond, birdhouses hanging from the lower branches of a Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Aurea,' (seen in the first photo) whose color is picked up in the golden hakone grass to the right and the flowers in the tiny pot next to the frog. Another bird sculpture graces the bench, and the pots next it are filled with plants that Lucy has ordered by mail.  "I collect young trees," she says, "root prune them every year or two, and transplant them to bigger pots."  On the bench is Cornus 'Golden Shadows,' which she ordered from Heronswood, and to the left of it is the full size Cornus kousa 'Gold Star.'

 

Planted behind the bench and just to the right is a golden locust tree (Robinia pseudoacacia 'Frisia'). It's leaves rise up above the arbor and it obscures a house to the rear. Lucy explained that she sited it there "to keep the eye in the garden."  The yellow lilies, the variegated boxwood,the golden smoke bush (Cotinus coggyria 'Golden Spirit') to the left of the bench and the groundcover golden creeping jenny (Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea') bring this dark corner of the garden to life.

Tucked in every nook and cranny is another plant you've never heard of that does something very special:  the scarlet Begonia bolivienis, Paeonia obovata, Deinanthe caerula 'Blue Wonder' and the groundcover Geranium 'Orkney Cherry' (just to mention a few).

 

There's even a secluded dining area crammed into this garden, and Lucy planted several shrubs to the left of it (a Chamaecyparis obtusa, a weeping blue atlas cedar and others) to block the view of the driveway and the house next door. Lucy also writes a regular column for the newsletter of the Somerville Garden Club, which I have to admit is one of the most professional garden club publications I've ever seen.  It's packed with information about plants, gardening techniques, tours and other goings-on.  And they'll mail it to you every month with a subscription to the club -- well worth it for only $25 a year.  Click on the above link to join.

Comments

[Catherine Turk]

Beautiful work, I really enjoyed this entry. We have very similar styles!

Catherine Turk
Turk Landscape Design

http://www.turklandscapedesign.com

[Steve Rice]

Looks like a pleasing, relaxing garden with good use of planting to "hide the boundaries" and make it feel larger than it is. Nice photos too.

A note to "Martha" on her comment - the larger garden can be made a more human scale by using planting, hedges and vertical structures to subdivide it, making smaller areas (or "garden rooms") which could each be more intimate, and have different characters. The routes and paths connecting them then allow people to take a "journey" around the garden, which is much more interesting than being able to see the whole of the 2.75 acres spread out like a ranch - especially if the content of the rooms is only discovered as you approach or enter them. "Surprises" such as sculptures, seats, etc. which are encountered along the pathways between rooms adds to the enjoyment. It also allows varying soil or microclimate conditions to be exploited. This approach forms the basis of many of the important English gardens like Sissinghurst, Great Dixter and Hidcote.

[chilli seeds]

Great article...i have bookmarked this page.

[Martha]

I love touring small gardens like that one.
We have 2.75 acres and I yearn for a small space sometimes.