An old client with a new house-it happens on occasion. As I have lived in the same house for going on 18 years, I did not envy them this change. The old house and the new house are quite similar in size-not so the property. They exchanged a very large, expansive, and private property for a city sized lot. The back yard was very small; most of the space was taken up by a lap pool. I knew we would have to break a few eggs before this landscape would pass muster.
A really beautiful and old multitrunked magnolia was moved to the front yard. We ditched a number of spireas, and a group of old and diseased evergreens. The iron fence between the drive and the yard was removed, and stored. At this point, the proximity of their house to others in the neighborhood became painfully obvious. How could we arrange some privacy? Privacy in an urban neighborhood is a relative thing. Buck and I were privy to the music played graduation party given by our neighbors for their daughter. We enjoyed that, but we also treasure our visual privacy.
The lap pool was dug out; the hole was back filled. We planted spruce along the back lot line, as we were able to secure trees with considerable height. Given that there was no room to maneuver a full sized tree spade, each tree was dug with a spade, balled and burlapped, then driven in and planted with the help of an excavator.
Those trees did a lot to screen the neighboring houses from view. There was precious little space left over with which to design, but the walkway from the detached garage to the house would be a well used thoroughfare. The walkway to the far library porch-equally important.
The stonework took a lot of time. The walkway to the sunken library terrace bumped out midway across the rear of the house. This radiused terrace would provide a stopping point should there be a party or event. No matter how small a yard, good and graceful circulation is important.
It seemed just about forever that this project was on hold, awaiting the completion of the stonework.
Once the stonework was complete, we created a landscape bed in exactly the same radius as the leading edge of the terrace. We planted a hedge of limelight hydrangeas-a favorite of this client. A housewarming gift of 500 white tulips got planted in a space which would eventually be a collection of white flowering perennials.
Great care was taken by the architect on this project to design a pergola which would connect the garage with the main house. The main function of that pergola-to provide cover in that walk from the garage to the house in inclement weather. My input-a clear polycarbonate roof. No need for them to feel they were walking through a tunnel. The pergola design got worked out. DeGroot Spire arborvitae were planted as a green wall between the driveway, and the back yard. They will tolerate the small space given to them, and will eventually be able to be pruned formally across the top.
The original iron fence and gates have been reinstalled. Today, there is no hint of what it took to transform this space.
Small spaces are very hard to design, as every square foot counts. There is no room for an unresolved issue or tentative solution. Every element has to work, with every other element. What you see here is the result of a client, an architect, the excavator who removed the pool, a stone mason, an electrician, a pergola construction company, the large tree moving and planting company, the air conditioning and generator people, the painters, and our landscape company-working together to produce a credible landscape project.
There is no hint now of any broken eggs. All of the discussions, revisions, and re-revisions are in the past.
Of course there will be ongoing issues. But there will also be ongoing pleasures.
This brick wall to the west-my client had no love for the look of it. She likes green. Happily we were able to plant ivy grown on galvanized steel screens. They are taking hold, and will cover this brick wall in no time.
I am very pleased that this landscape renovation, which started late in 2010, is finally finished. Big changes in a landscape take lots of time. Change lives on a diet of time and more time. I try to remember this.
My last visit to the landscape at the Cranbrook Academy of Art was to deliver the flowers and decoration for a wedding and reception there in August of 2007. I had for several years prior donated the summer planting around the Orpheus fountain; this was a job I loved doing. This area adjacent to the stairs had been dirt and more dirt for some years; my client and I split the cost of a planting of a group of Limelight hydrangeas. I am happy to see they seem to be doing fine. 
The Art Museum is under extensive renovation, so this year, the garden areas are sodded over. The fountain is closed. 
I try to tread lightly with the landscape where a sculpture is concerned. How easy it is to cross over the line trying to compliment a sculpture, and end up confusing the visual issues. Though I knew it would be closed, I was not prepared for how closed. But seeing it in its gardenless state, no water in the fountain, no sound and sparkle, had its good side. Its always a good idea to consider whether an area is all the better for your not touching it. The simple word for this is “editing”; some days I am better at this than others. Where flowers are concerned, I have a very tough time. 
Planting white flowers is a good way to proceed cautiously. Interestingly enough, I was told the traditonal summer planting here involved a short red salvia. I had no problem ditching the red flower thing, but I thought a tall planting would compliment the sculpture and water better. I mitigated the risk with the white palette.
Another year I added an upright white datura, and white sonata cosmos to the mix. The white petunias did a better job of softening the lawn line.
Yet another year, I added some verbena bonariensis, some nicotiana langsdorfii, and some grey cirrus dusty miller to the predominantly white mix. I do so like the cloud effect of the verbena flowers. 
White gardens are however, unforgiving of a lack of maintenance. Dead white flower heads do have a distinctively brown-dead appearance. For this reason, I rarely plant white geraniums unless I am sure there is a maintenance fanatic waiting in the wings-and even then, a heavy rain will spoil the blooms in such a dramatic way. I knew the planting would not be the end of my involvement here.
These clients have lived many years in a lovely old Tudor style house built in the 1920′s. However, they both have a love for clean, modern and edited lines. Working with them has produced a garden that has elements both friendly to the architecture of the house, and their point of view. They were both clear that a green and white garden would suit them best. 
The landscape of the front of the house was already in place when I met them. My input involved the sizes of the flower beds, and the construction and installation of the window boxes. The profusion of flowers is decidedly English in feeling, but the green and white has a crisply contemporary flavor. The strong, dark green horizontal line of the boxwood hedge contrasts and compliments the mass of the oval yews. This element is balanced by the four columnar gingkos that frame the walk at the street. The simple steel windowbox is a focal point at the visual end of the walk. 
The upper level is planted more freely, with variegated licorice, white petunias and more polka dots. This bedding plant scheme derives more visual interest from its texture and layout than from the plant species.
The window boxes are lush with green angelina, euphorbia, and licorice. The angular nicotiana alata white frames the more orderly growing Perfume nicotiana series in white and lime green.
A custom made steel cistern positioned on axis to the porch, and the side walk organizes the space. It was constructed with legs tall enough to hide the fountain pump, but also to provide for the eventual height of the boxwood surrounding it. Bordered in boxwood, a run of limelight hydrangeas provides another level of interest against the green arborvitae wall.
