Restoring an older garden
With a recent trip back east to Larchmont New York from San Francisco, the idea of tackling a beautiful, albeit overgrown composition of foundation trees and shrubs, brought about a wonderful restoration opportunity.
Considering that the home, a large handsome Tudor build in the 1920's by a well known architect who designed the house to live in, the home has beautiful detailing. While no information exists about the planting plan, the present homeowner has lived in the house since 1978, and has been reluctant to prune, shape or edit many of the woody plants surrounding the property.
That said, the homeowner, being a garden enthusiast as well as interior designer has brought about an expansion to existing planting areas as well as the creation of new ones. Small planting areas such as the woodland garden and dry creek were developed based upon microclimatic conditions and factors such as shallow soil and bedrock outcropping.
So while the last 10 to 15 years has brought about a handsome transformation to parts of the property with many unusual plants: Hepticodium, Callicarpus and Rheum. The house had begun to loose some of its architectural beauty due to the eclipsing plants, gaining unnecessary proportions in both height, width and shape.
To restore the overall shape took a full day. No tools other than pruning shears, loppers, and foldable saw were required. A walk through of the property, front, sides and back made clear statements of improvements needed to be made. Examples include: scaling down 6 foot Azaleas and Kalmias, form enhancement to create a balanced undulating effect of companioning shrubs, trees and more.
In addition to sizing down plantings for the sake of architectural enhancement and easy passage, large scale Tulip and Oak trees would require selective lower limb removal as well as thinning to open the sky to the home and property.
After 30 years of unstoppable growth, it was time to take back the house and create a better feel and look. While the project will require more work next summer, the effects have left the homeowner very pleased.
Considering that the home, a large handsome Tudor build in the 1920's by a well known architect who designed the house to live in, the home has beautiful detailing. While no information exists about the planting plan, the present homeowner has lived in the house since 1978, and has been reluctant to prune, shape or edit many of the woody plants surrounding the property.
That said, the homeowner, being a garden enthusiast as well as interior designer has brought about an expansion to existing planting areas as well as the creation of new ones. Small planting areas such as the woodland garden and dry creek were developed based upon microclimatic conditions and factors such as shallow soil and bedrock outcropping.
So while the last 10 to 15 years has brought about a handsome transformation to parts of the property with many unusual plants: Hepticodium, Callicarpus and Rheum. The house had begun to loose some of its architectural beauty due to the eclipsing plants, gaining unnecessary proportions in both height, width and shape.
To restore the overall shape took a full day. No tools other than pruning shears, loppers, and foldable saw were required. A walk through of the property, front, sides and back made clear statements of improvements needed to be made. Examples include: scaling down 6 foot Azaleas and Kalmias, form enhancement to create a balanced undulating effect of companioning shrubs, trees and more.
In addition to sizing down plantings for the sake of architectural enhancement and easy passage, large scale Tulip and Oak trees would require selective lower limb removal as well as thinning to open the sky to the home and property.
After 30 years of unstoppable growth, it was time to take back the house and create a better feel and look. While the project will require more work next summer, the effects have left the homeowner very pleased.
posted by jj at 8:51 AM
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