The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Roots run deep
In a romantic Vermont garden, formal English design converges with a free-spirited american approach. Native plants shake up sculpted hedges, linear beds rein in explosions of flowers and elements of surprise await at every turn.
Old England meets New England in landscape designers Mary and Gordon Hayward’s highly personal garden near Putney, Vermont. Mary, who is British, grew up on a farm near the famed Hidcote garden in the Cotswold Hills. Gordon, an American, was raised in Connecticut on his family’s peach, pear and apple orchard. When they moved to this 1.5acre property with their young son in 1983, the site, which was once part of a dairy farm and today runs along a maple-lined dirt road, was overgrown and scattered with trash, including an old Nash car with a tree growing through it. They started by renovating the 200-yearold farmhouse; then they consulted with local landscape designer Howard Andros, who was also Gordon’s mentor. Andros stood in the front doorway of their home, eyed the trajectory to an old apple tree and with four words — “That’s an important line” — set the garden’s layout and flow in motion.
In the decades since, the couple have worked closely together to create 14 “rooms,” or distinctly designed areas, overflowing with around a thousand varieties of plants. “Howard’s keen insight 30 years ago still rings true,” Gordon says. “To this day, the straight paths in every bed are parallel or perpendicular to that line.” Many of the rooms, meanwhile, are loosely planted within a classic geometric plan, inspired in large part by the English estates the Haywards grew to love while living in the country as newlyweds. They filled them with varieties suitable to their Zone 5 American home, including natives like some ferns, heucheras, ninebark and joe-pye weed, once again merging two cultures and styles. “Our garden has a sense of place, reflects our backgrounds and honors the past,” says Mary. “But we’re constantly refining it to keep it fresh, and strive to learn every day.”
The path to the century-old apple tree, which inspired the garden’s layout, is lined by 10-foot-tall black locust stumps, and accented with bright yellow Heliopsis helianthoides “Summer Sun,” “Autumn Joy” sedum and Lamium maculatum. Along the way sits a sculpture of Jason the Argonaut, which reminds the owners of a favorite trip to Naxos and Crete.
To create two 90-footlong borders leading to a gazebo, designers Mary and Gordon Hayward looked to the red border at the legendary Hidcote garden in Gloucestershire, England, which was designed by American Lawrence Johnston in the early 20th century. While the couple began with a mostly blank slate, they preserved a few existing details on their property, including lichencovered stone walls and a 150-year-old tobacco-drying shed, which they planted with climbing hydrangeas.
Classic lines contain wild blooms
The Haywards planted boxwood hedges, which are clipped into sharp geometric shapes, to accentuate the ends of the long borders. Though the design is English, many of the plants are American natives, including tall, mauve joe-pye weed (Eupatorium maculatum “Gateway”); pink “Eva Cullum” phlox; brightyellow Silphium perfoliatum; and the purple-foliage shrub ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius “Diablo”).
A guided tour takes shape
“The paths are the backbone of the garden, and invite people to wander, linger and experience their surroundings rather than gaze over the space” from a remove, says Gordon. In this photo, shorn yew, boxwood and Viburnum prunifolium hedges further define a grassy route whose gentle curve takes visitors past different vistas as they wind along it.
Serene spots abound
The mostly green pool garden, with shots of white “Limelight” hydrangea, is peaceful compared to the nearby colorful, floriferous borders.
The couple often sit there with their two cats and listen to the fountain and watch birds splash in the shallow pool. Elsewhere, a bench is surrounded by boisterous late-summer blooms that are allowed to seed themselves. To keep the area from becoming totally overgrown, the Haywards judiciously remove some new seedlings.
Bold color breaks through
To keep this area visually exciting through the late summer, the Haywards planted groups of Ligularia dentata “Britt Marie Crawford.” Their large burgundy leaves contrast with a sea of emerald foliage beneath a spring-flowering “Donald Wyman” crabapple tree. This special place has been recognized by the Smithsonian Archives of American Gardens, which will keep detailed plans and photographs in its archive for future generations to learn from.