A Garden Romance

Debbie, Dan and their son Daniel shared a vision of a beautiful landscape with an endless series of garden vignettes full of romance, surprise and quirky vintage artifacts. This dream garden began taking shape in 2016 with remediation of the heavy clay soil. After removing ‘truckloads’ of it, new topsoil was brought in to create a healthy foundation for what came next --a lush, ever-evolving garden, planted with love, inspiration and care. 

Step into the garden through the rose arbor, flanked by a vibrant border of red bistort (Bistorta amplexicaulis), burgundy ninebark shrubs (Physocarpus), lavender and creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia), continuing toward the house with a densely planted mix of white and green.

Walk right, around the east side of the house to the gardens in back where the enchantment begins. Here you will find many garden ‘rooms’, thoughtfully planted with a variety of grasses, small trees and shrubs, perennials, vines, and numerous potted plants, interspersed with bits of rustic and ‘just-right’ ephemera, along with quiet places for sitting. Favored plants are peonies and hydrangea, many of them gifts with special meaning.

Debbie shares her garden philosophy.  “A big lesson I have learned along the way is never try to make a plant do what it does not want to do naturally. If I find myself fighting an aggressive ground cover that’s overtaking an area, for example, get it out of there. The things that keep me enthusiastic about maintaining my garden are the different seasons. The plants, shrubs and trees change over the years and I get to decide how best to guide their effect on the garden.”