Rooms with Views

Pause at the black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia ‘Frisia’) and large Japanese maple that frame a set steps and a view of the house and gardens. There is a sunken garden vibe here with dense plantings and curving borders to soften and anchor the linear aspects of the house. When designing their home, Avery envisioned a large garden on the south side of the house. “We started with a literal blank slate – nothing but bare hardpan clay after the house was built.” The addition of French drains and 100 yards of topsoil laid the foundation for this beautiful garden.

“I wanted to be able to stand on the street and look down a long winding path to the seating circle in the back. Ten years on, that this vision has really come to life. The maples and Stewartia have grown up to allow a peak-a-boo view, with the plantings drawing you into the garden.” Says Avery

Follow that path (just beyond the steps) into the garden along a border of trees, shrubs and layers of color and textures --ferns, grasses, hydrangeas, fuchsias, ginger, and groundcovers -- to a sunny, secluded patio. In fall 2019 raccoons peeled up the front and back lawns looking for grubs, creating opportunities for new garden beds and making room for Avery’s pottery studio.

Drought tolerant sun-lovers including bottlebrush (Callistemon pallidus ’Eleanor’), a lovely groundcover shrub Grevillea juniperina ’Pink Lady’, an upright manzanita Arctostaphylos manzanita ‘Austin Griffiths’, and crape myrtle Lagerstroemia indica ‘Centennial Spirit’ were installed next to the house, receiving strong afternoon sun and reflected heat off the windows.

A summer cutting garden surrounds the pottery studio. “I can sit at my pottery wheel and look out at a sea of flowers July to September. It is wonderful,” says Avery.