Inside the walled garden.
The greenhouse.
ontory demanded a pool with a round end as an organic complement to the curve of the exposed granite face,” writes Tom in his blog, “and once the pool was located, it seemed that an extension of the water into the far distance would create a wonderful vista.” This dreamy invention was followed by the
digging of the Long Pond and the building of the Waterfall Dam as a way to transition from the domesticity of the swimming pool to the different discipline of nature. “Ideas can come unbidden from frag-
ments of a leaf or a bird call or the way the light lies on paving stones in the early morn- ing; making them work comes from think- ing and re-thinking with pencil scratches on paper, and from Susie and I talking and dis- cussing and arguing and talking some more (sometimes for years…),” writes Tom, but in speaking, he makes it sound more prosaic. “We wanted to create a series of rooms that would reach out into the hinterland. It hap- pened sequentially. There is an old farmer’s road that led to an old barn, which we tore down, and that became a garden. The road went on to an old chicken coop which made way for the next garden and so on.” He continues: “Then we needed a focal
point, which is where the circular colonnade and rose garden came in and that led to a rock garden, then to a lilac garden . . .” Along the way, they decided to go with
geothermal heat to cut down on the 9,000 litres of propane they were using. So they had to build a hill to cover up the mile of piping for the geothermal system and, of course, the hill gave Tom the opportunity to put in another garden.
28 • Summer 2012
The walled garden from the outside with the bridge to the garden in the background.
Enrance to the black spruce maze. Along the way, a friend asked Tom if he
wanted a “roof”. This turned out to be a 150-year-old gazebo that had been dam- aged in a storm. It is now a feature near the 450-tree black cedar maze. Today, the gardens also encompass a
walled kitchen garden or potager, a feature common in English gardens but seldom seen here. The walls provide protection from the elements, extending the growing season and sheltering some of the more tender plants. A series of ponds and waterways add spe- cial interest and there is a beautiful hump- backed bridge across the Long Pond.
Tom says the orangery is the last big proj-
ect. Time will tell. He is an interesting mix- ture of poet and practical doer. He quotes statistics and logistics, but his inner eye is always seeking out new possibilities for add- ing beauty or, as he would put it, getting rid of ugly. It isn’t just about the hard features. Tom
loves the plants. He is particularly fond of Japanese anemones which he sees as “bouncing in the air like butterflies” when they bloom in September. He loves the time in June when the roses are all in bloom and then in September with the spindle trees and
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