Country Home Enhancements
Amherst, MA
Working with a client new to “country” living on this three acre parcel of rolling lawn surrounded by woods, Tom’s design work focused on creating a sense of entry while guiding the larger management of the property.
Entry Area
Redesign of the circular entry drive included reinforcement of sight lines with flowering trees inviting one to enter upon the front walk and enjoy the garden beyond. Entry walk and garden design emphasized privacy and views, shaping an outdoor room with protective tall grasses and flowers and gently stepping down to lower edge plantings along walk and new patio’s Goshen stone edges. This warm, intimate sitting space was enlivened with color from blooms, berries and foliage during much of the year. Thyme, Sage and Catmint creeping in and around warm stones add evocative and soothing fragrance to the experience.
Woodland Edge
Tom also guided the management and enhancement of the property’s highly visible and extensive woodland edge. Invasive plant species control provided the first step in renovating this edge to free lovely and rare specimen trees from irreversible damage and to regain lost seasonal interest and habitat values. Extensive woodland management during the winter removed long-standing tangles of strangling vines and opened this edge up to innovative planting and re-seeding the following spring. Planting included the cost-effective use of “live stakes,” cuttings from native shrub stands, to produce dense desirable shrub cover and visual buffer to neighboring property. Within two growing seasons the edge once again became a visual and ecological asset to the property with dense stands of flowering and fall coloring Serviceberry and Viburnums grounded with lush ferns and grasses at their feet. With Tom’s guidance, the client discovered a whole new resource on their property!
Project Highlights
- Created sense of entry that pulls one in yet is private
- Restored quality woodland edge through extensive invasive species removal and tree management
- Greatly enhanced native biodiversity and visual interest along edge through cost-effective planting techniques
