Photography by Susan Teare courtesy of JMMDS.
Garden designer Julie Moir Messervy, the author of Landscape Ideas That Work, has put some of her best suggestions to to the test–and proved their value–in her own terraced garden in southern Vermont.
Against the velvety verdant backdrops of the Green Mountain State, her garden has outdoor living spaces (including a fire pit lounge area where chairs are strategically grouped to fave the best view), ponds (hello, beavers), and garden beds where wildflowers and perennials create a kaleidoscope of color year after year.
With the house sited at the top of a sloping property, the garden is a series of terraced spaces, including a stone terrace with a fire pit, Bordered by beds of flowering perennials, the fire pit terrace offers views of the mown fields below.
Garden beds are planted with a mix of grasses and hardy perennials including Joe Pye weed, daisies, and coneflowers.
Partially hidden by a spill of grasses, a hot tub is tucked into a convenient spot below a cantilevered deck.
On the deck, red ceramic planters feature a mix of annuals including begonias and potato vines.
Purple smokebush leaves and white coneflowers echo the paint palette on the facade of the house.
An eco friendly shed has solar panels on the roof.
A path leads down to the ponds.
A small outbuilding called the Lake House overlooks marshy plants and grasses at pond’s edge.
Still life with beavers. In the process, the beavers trample weeds and unwelcome volunteers including willow shrubs, red maple saplings, and buckthorn bushes.
After the beavers do their work, says Messervy, “What’s left is a host of beautiful plants that look their best in August through to late fall. Elderberry and spiraea, Joe Pye weed, sneezewort, Queen Anne’s Lace, asters, milkweed, and goldenrod…everywhere! Heaven.”