A non-descript backyard that was rarely used by the owners, as it was an undefined, unpleasant space. We worked to create a garden that would be delightful and comfortable year round.

In developing the walled garden, the designer detailed a three-part scheme with distinct oblong rooms leading one on a journey to the very private screen house at the back of the site. At the eastern edge of the sunroom and its bank of mullioned windows, a beige limestone terrace steps down to a central lawn flanked by a flower bed for perennials and apple trees espaliered on the sunny north wall balanced by a southern bed backdropped with a row of Dwarf Euonymus. Between the gardens, a grass carpet focuses on a round pool and small waterspout.

Responding to the structure and footprint of the house, the more shaded south bed is wider than its sunnier north wall counterpart. Yet, unless one carefully looks, the geometric force of the garden draws the eye outward to the sunken lawn, shed and screen house to convey the even bilateral balance of an Italian hillside garden. This design was a collaboration with Y + A.