Country Garden
Bridgehampton, New York
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Originally part of a larger property, this parcel of land included a former working nursery that was preserved as an agricultural area, albeit no longer as an active business. The client wished to open a view of its mature plantings from the new residential landscape, essentially practicing a design strategy known as “borrowing landscape.” By including references to the landscape beyond his own, he could erase the division between the two.
Honoring the history of the landscape made sense, but it also challenged the ingenuity of the LDG design team. The residence, an existing house, is situated at a high point that provides outstanding views of the trees planted in the nursery twenty years ago. The strong linear nature of the plantings, arranged in parallel straight rows typical of a nursery, informed the design of the new residential landscape. The swimming pool, a custom rim-flow pool, is long and relatively narrow and set on the same axis as the nursery
planting, creating a connection between it and the landscape beyond. The view from inside the pool is down the space framed by two former nursery rows. A custom ipe arbor on a stone plinth was set above the pool terrace, inviting for dining and socializing.
The variety of gardens created throughout the property provided more links to the past since they relied heavily on plants that were growing within the nursery. In this way, parallel rows of Yoshino cherry trees were converted into an allée framing a path, while parallel rows of fastigiate beeches became a backdrop for the pool arbor. In all, some forty of the existing trees were re-purposed within the newly designed landscape.
New plantings were interwoven with the plants transplanted out of the nursery. Rectilinear panels of fountain grass were inset with the cinnamon, clustered trunks of white-flowering ‘Natchez’ crape myrtles to soften the pool area. These also became a feature of the amphitheater-like surround of a sunken tennis court, in this instance creating a more tailored effect as they were dotted into a groundcover of liriope. Through the planting and the echoing of themes throughout the property, an integration of the new residential landscape with the preserved nursery was achieved and that line between the two blurred.
