home about us what we do who we are client comments press community credentials portfolio overview traditional modern natural color & texture paths & steps contact us                     Click on the photo or link at left to view page                                         overview traditional modern natural color and texture paths and steps                               Formality with a Twist The large brick home called for a formal and restrained landscape treatment using traditional boxwood and specimen trees, and bluestone terraces with brick seat-walls. The pool provided an opportunity to add a modern twist to this layout, with a simple but dramatic sweep of tall ornamental grass as a backdrop that sways with the slightest breeze. Simple beds of roses and ever-blooming annuals, and a collection of well-planted large pots, provide season-long interest that punctuate the mostly green landscape.                                         An Eco-Friendly Country Estate A relaxed combination of rustic and formal elements, this 10-acre country property lent itself to eco-friendly solutions within a framework of traditional spaces. Large meadows were established to reduce mowed and fertilized expanses of lawn. Lush formal gardens were planted with bird- and butterfly-friendly species. The landscape master plan created a series of rooms around the house that provide a variety of rich experiences for the family, from active entertaining around the pool, to contemplative moments near the bubbling fountain in the organic kitchen garden, to nature hikes through the woodland trail system.                                         A Whimsical French-Style Kitchen Garden Working with the client's desire for a French-inspired kitchen garden to provide organic vegetables and cutting flowers, we created a formal yet whimsical garden based on the jardin potager at the Chateau de Villandry near Paris. The garden is arranged around a central fountain, and uses ordinary vegetables in extraordinary ways to create sublime effects.                                         A Private Park for an Active Family Enter the driveway of this renovated 19th-century home in the middle of town, and you enter a private park-like setting of stately trees, expansive play lawns, and lush gardens. The landscape master plan easily accommodates children, pets, Mom the gardener, and Dad the ball-player. A new pool was designed to integrate smoothly with the new pool house in the renovated barn/garage, and included a comfortable raised terrace, walls, walkways, fencing, and a hidden gravel service area for potting and wood-chopping. Ancient shade trees were preserved. A kitchen garden was built for Mom. The family dogs roam their green territory with glee.                                         Suburban Sophistication A dramatic make-over transformed this typical 1960s suburban home into a sophisticated retreat for the world-traveling clients. You approach the home on a gently-curving gravel drive surrounded by dense plantings of rhododendron and towering trees, and arrive in a gracious cobblestone entry courtyard. Lush plantings of colorful perennials and shrubs provide seasonal surprises, while well-placed gates and walls conceal surprises at every turn. A charming geometric flower garden surrounds a family heirloom sundial, and evokes the London garden where the family once lived. Nature and sophistication happily co-exist, in a landscape that reflects the client's comfortable lifestyle and refined taste.                                         New England Tradition with Fun Surprises A charming New England home suggests a traditional landscape, but an active young family who love to entertain suggests up-to-date design solutions. No problem. A sensuously curving drive was designed to make coming home fun, and extensive stone terraces set at grade with the house provide easy transitions between inside and out. Abundant plantings tickle the senses in all four seasons. A fool-proof and low-maintenance perennial border erupts in fireworks every summer to entertain swimmers at the pool, which is screened from the road with strategically-placed evergreens.                                         Peaceable Kingdom on the Mountain A 30-acre farm with an historic 1870 farmhouse in upstate New York is carefully adapted for new owners who value tranquility. Re-aligned drives, a new pond, and substantial new plantings including a new orchard emphasize the historic character of the property that had been compromised over the years. Expansive swaths of previously mown turf, which once were farm fields, were returned to natural meadow, creating an eco-friendly solution to managing the historic landscape. The new wildlife pond was delicately excavated to blend into the natural contour of the land and amplify the drama of reflected sunsets.                                         A Kitchen Garden of Abundance Home-grown is what the clients requested, and abundance is what was delivered. Located down a hill from the home, the lattice-fenced and rabbit-meshed kitchen garden sits in a wildflower meadow overlooking the pond. A pre-dinner stroll to grab some tomatoes, herbs, and flowers for the table becomes a delightful immersion in nature, a far cry from the supermarket aisle. A stone stairway with rustic railing blends subtly into the wildflower-covered hillside.                                         A Relaxing Retreat from the City This home was built into a hillside in a natural clearing in the woods, as a weekend getaway for a New York City family. Taking cues from the existing exposed bedrock found on the site, recycled stone from the building construction were used to create rustic retaining walls, steps, and paths. Mature trees were carefully pruned and preserved, framing the gracefully curved gravel entry drive and courtyard. Abundant plantings of seasonally interesting ornamental trees, shrubs, and groundcovers delight the senses around the home. The turf-framed pool with rustic stone coping blends seamlessly into the natural setting.