The beginnings of a lifetime garden
I've just started designing and laying out the gardens on a property my wife Carolyn and I recently purchased in South Nyack. Over the course of the next few months, I'd like to share with you some of the thinking, debating, experimenting and learning that will accompany each of our projects.
Most people I know love the idea of gardening but lack the time or knowledge to tackle most projects. I'm hoping that some of these stories might help you through some limitations so you can enjoy creating your own gardens.
Our gently undulating half-acre contains near-perfectly placed mature evergreen trees, fruit trees and rambling shrub borders. The property also has one of the largest Exbury-type Azaleas I've ever seen (this shrub sold me on the property even before I saw the house). Despite these and other botanical treasures scattered around the grounds, there are no real 'gardens' to speak of.
As a garden designer and builder, the challenges and obstacles of the property flowed as freely as the ideas and wish lists for display gardens and recreational space. The main challenge clearly was going to be how to make this property a showplace of horticultural sophistication -- a virtual wellspring of taste and understated elegance deserving of our highly evolved sense of style -- without ruining the place or destroying the history and grace we first fell in love with. It was clear to both of us that these gardens must reflect a series of exercises in restraint.
In these articles I hope to chronicle the current and future chapters in the life of our property as we build gardens and personalize the grounds to suit our tastes and accommodate our lives. It is an interesting project for me because unlike my work with clients, this project will be done on my time. This will also be much more a collaborative effort than I'm used as I share the creative (and hopefully some of the building) process with my wife. Wish us luck.
