Centre Island -- Suzy and Carter Bales Garden

In 1978 the owners purchased a six-acre property with a Tudor-style house built in 1908 that, along with the gardens, had been neglected for 40 years. A dying apple orchard, fall-blooming species crocus and a few irises survived plus ivy and honeysuckle vines. The first garden they planted was a kitchen garden, followed by colorful azaleas as a foundation planting for the house. Their landscape architect, Alice Recknagel Ireys, removed the azaleas, famously saying they looked like a motel garden. The garden rooms Ireys designed include a formal walled perennial garden with a reflecting pool and small fountain, a crescent-shaped rose garden backed by a holly hedge and edged in front with dwarf boxwood; she connected these to the kitchen garden via an S-shaped lilac and peony walk. A small orchard was designed for the front of the property fenced by espaliered apples and pears. Two ponds were constructed with water draining from the smaller into a stream then down a waterfall to the larger pond to be pumped back to the first pond via an underground pipe. The former carriage yard was paved with flagstones placed far enough apart so groundcovers could grow between them. A swimming pool and tennis court also were designed by Ireys. The owners replaced hybrid tea roses with antique, English and shrub varieties and filled in the lilac and peony walk with more plants for continuous bloom and fragrance from April to October. They planted a woodland walk with spring bulbs and ephemerals, shade-loving perennials and shrubs for summer bloom, and included other plants for their fall color. The courtyard garden has a dogwood tree, sunflowers growing between the flagstones, and five-foot-deep garden beds with mixed perennials and bulbs. Climbing vines were planted to adorn the walls of several outbuildings. Trees that were planted in front of the house are surrounded by "petticoats" of flowering perennials or annuals that grow into island beds to replace grass. Salty sea breezes were a challenge that has been mitigated by the holly hedge, four-foot tall stucco walls, and the woodlands. The owner is an award winning garden writer, lecturer and advisor to public gardens. Persons associated with the garden include: Suzy and Carter Bales (1978- ), Alice Recknagel Ireys (1911-2000) (landscape architect, ca. 1980- ).