Greenwich -- An Artist's Garden

Natural elevations and rock outcroppings, a colonial style house with a peanut-shaped swimming pool, a few azaleas and rhododendrons, woodlands and an old stone wall described this more than two acre property when it was purchased in 1975. Since then the house has been modified and expanded, a waterfall and koi pond surrounded by alpine and perennial borders was built into the rocky outcroppings, and rose and perennial gardens were planted in the early years of ownership and have matured and naturalized into their settings. Plant selections include floribunda, hybrid tea and David Austin roses, bulbs, perennials and annuals, and flowering shrubs and trees that provide continuous bloom from spring through autumn. The colors pink, blue, and purple are favored in the plant selections. Distinct garden areas start at the front of the house with foundation hollies, rhododendrons, boxwoods, a Japanese split leaf maple, a thirty foot tall Japanese stewartia, and a pruned crab apple. A hedge of roses spills down to the swimming pool garden which has a flagstone terrace surrounded by roses, perennials, and annuals that include geraniums, foxgloves, cleomes, and Casa Blanca lilies.

Three kousa dogwoods anchor the pool garden and one of them leads to a semi-formal rose garden that has become less structured over time with perennials planted among the roses. An antique J.W. Fiske cast iron urn set on a brick platform is planted with annuals in shades of pink, purple, and white. The rose garden is backed by a hedge of viburnum, boxwood, quince, and rose of Sharon which transitions to an alpine garden of dwarf evergreens, junipers, spruce, foxglove, and columbine with dwarf split leaf maples on either side of the waterfall to the koi pond. Natural granite steps ascend to the flagstone and brick terrace behind the house. Another hedge enclosed garden with an antique gate was intended for vegetables but became a cutting garden that includes tomatoes and herbs. In the 1990's brambles at the edge of the woodlands were gradually removed to create a path that splits and goes uphill to the gazebo and downhill to the small pond on the property. In 2000, deer fencing was installed around the entire perimeter.

Persons associated with the garden include: Dan Taylor (landscape designer, 1978-1979); Sam Bridge Nurseries (plant material, 1995- ); Beth Henry (sea lion sculptor, 1979).