At this charming compound recently revamped by Matthew Willinger of James Doyle Design Associates, the bees and the bunnies are ‘full citizens,’ coexisting seamlessly alongside three generations of a family within a garden lush with flowers, vegetables and clover, and one absolutely free of pesticides. ‘Full citizens’ is my friend’s term for his partner’s cats, who jump up on the table at dinnertime and generally just do as they please within the household. Well, it’s their home, too, and that’s the noble sentiment expressed here.
It’s not your typical Greenwich garden.
Currently celebrating the firm’s thirtieth anniversary, James Doyle admits this garden is an all-time favorite. It’s certainly the most floriferous for this design group distinguished by its use of clipped hornbeam hedges and sotto voce white roses. “To have a client so excited, enthused and thrilled about flowers is a very special thing,” says project designer Willinger. “We were lucky to get them.”
The roses on the pergola are—get ready—a blowsy apricot-orange Crown Princess Margareta. Spring bulbs feature plummy Fritillaria persica alongside the rich salmon tulip Princess Irene and chartreuse-flamed Spring Green. Tastes shift, and my personal theory is that the adorable Brit Arthur Parkinson—with his championing of bold, color-drenched dahlias and lush, abundant borders—is having a global effect. If you’re gardening for yourself, for the pure joy of shepherding your plants, then this delight in bold color is extremely satisfying.
Large RH planters flank the front entrance of the home, across from the ellipse.
The ellipse is planted with a grove of star magnolia, whose gray stems—uplit at night—add a sculptural component to the design. The border features globular allium, lavender camassia, switchgrass and hydrangea. A curved hornbeam hedge at the back adds protection from the winds and privacy.
The vegetable garden was designed as a series of raised beds working with the natural slope of the property, with an apple orchard on the upper level.
Plantings in the enclosed parterre combine vegetables with herbs, flowers and fruit.
Bird-favorite blueberries are enclosed in berry cages, while raspberries and blackberries grow on the cedar supports in the front.
Teak Gloster chairs surround a table next to a Kalamazoo grill from Albano Appliance.
The succession of blooms surrounding the pool commences in spring with hundreds of flowering bulbs, followed by a profusion of summertime perennials with asters appearing in the fall.
Coping with the slope was a major design challenge, which was met by terracing. Surrounding the pool are perennial plantings that vary in texture and height. The Paola Lenti poolside furniture is through DDC.
Planters, designed with Diane Bilgore of DAB Designs, are filled with hot-colored tropicals, such as kangaroo paw and burgundy-leafed canna.
The rose arbor area is furnished with vintage iron chairs from 1stDibs.
There’s also the Covid factor. The garden was designed in 2021, with the aim of creating a self-contained, family enclave that also was a haven for wildlife. The bones were there: The two-acre, south-sloping site contained two houses and a pool centered on a large vegetable plot. However, much reorganization was required—or as Willinger put it: Nothing lined up. The task was to tie everything together and create a self-sustaining and productive garden that was environmentally friendly. The site uses well water. There’s no irrigation, no use of chemicals. Everything is organic. Two years on, notes Willinger, “If you have to isolate, this is pretty nice.”
The designer worked in close collaboration with the clients. The family loves herbaceous plants. They keep bees. They’re ga-ga over alliums. What they didn’t want was the Fairfield County trope of clipped boxwood and hydrangeas. “We’re very proud of this project. It’s sustainable, water-wise, everything is composted on-site. The design is sensitive and nurturing to wildlife—it’s full of pollinators.” What’s more says Willinger, “The clients are thrilled whenever something comes into bloom; what a joy it is to work with such plant-lovers.”
Family activities are centered on the garden, so special gathering spaces were created throughout. The husband is very interested in cooking, so there’s everything a cook ever wanted—from an Argentinian grill by the pool to fresh herbs growing in the garden. An orchard of family-favorite apples: Mutzus, Honeycrisps and Granny Smiths was put in. By the main house, old terrace tiles were replaced with a quiet gray sandstone, and the pool given a more natural look with a dark—not turquoise—interior. A spa pool was added. By the second house—where the grandparents now live—a terrace with a pergola borders the vegetable garden and caged blueberry shrubs.
But everywhere there are flowers: masses of spring bulbs, a dahlia bed, a star magnolia grove near the front door, a peony plot, the apple orchard, densely planted flower borders, and clover spreading throughout the lawn. The better for the bees, notes Willinger. The better for the bunnies! It’s a friendly, sustainable, cooperative ecosystem. And, simply put: I’d live here in a flash, install my mother in the second house, and never leave!
