(click on all images to enlarge)
Sometimes you just can't out-compete a landscape. This owner of this residence in Marblehead, MA,-- a former financial exec -- could've afforded just about anything in the way of the garden.
So: in the above photo, no sandy beach, but lots of ornamental grasses planted in containers that are buried in gravel. Because of harsh winter winds, they're brought inside for the winter -- except for the taller phragmites in the distance, which the wind and cold keep under control.
There is a strolling garden, seen here from above, filled with tough shrubs and perennials that bloom throughout the summer season. At the right, that's a weeping camperdown elm, and there's a secluded sitting area underneath it with two small chairs and a tiny table.
There's even a lily pond built into the wall of an upper patio ... an open-air terrace, actually, off one side of the house, where you can sit on the seat wall and take in the views....
And there's a small vegetable garden ... we saw tomatoes and corn doing very well among the other crops ... behind a boxwood hedge, and the decorative tuteurs are nice in and of themselves.
This was one of the most restrained gardens I've ever seen, and it was the perfect solution for this site. No huge swimming pool scarring the site, no enormous pergola, no outdoor kitchen, no sizable stone terrace beside the house. Instead, the entire space feels dramatic because of the views, yet gracious. And there really is almost everything you need: space to sit and relax, a quiet, lush green garden where you can walk around and enjoy the blooms and scent, a small upper terrace where you can watch the sailboats and sunsets, enjoy some afternoon drinks, and decks that complement the modern architecture and provide plenty of space for gatherings of family and friends.
Ah, money to do the best possible thing for a site.
Posted by: Martha | October 09, 2011 at 09:00 PM