People willing to show their gardens on Garden Conservancy Tours are to be applauded for their dedication and sometimes many years of hard work. BUT ...they could sometimes benefit with advice from a professional designer. The English-style garden in front, with lots of boxwood, was planned to go with the "English" Tudor-style home.
After I saw the front, I didn't quite know what to expect, but I did love the specimen trees, including a monkey puzzle tree, in the generous front yard landscape. The back, however, was many different stories.
A rustic staircase and bridge to the lower level garden ... yes, a bit difficult getting all the way down, and not sure the style is what I would call English, and in a bed at the bottom, a Japanese-style stone lantern & other stone figures.
The owner brings guests down for tea on summer afternoons, but I simply can't imagine carrying a tray down that staircase, or back up to main level, for that matter.
In back, a cottage garden is a colorful summer addition, there's a small water feature up next to the house, a sort-of kidney-shaped swimming pool ....
And a bed with lots of birdhouses. As I said at the beginning of this post, I certainly admire the effort, but I think I would call this garden VERY ECLECTIC -- not always the best for design.
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