The double border was Fred Bland’s first project at his Branford home, and he continues adding rarities to its inventory annually. A totem pole of various birdhouses suits the fancy of many feathered occupants.
A ‘New Dawn’ rose climbs the pergola at the entrance to the vegetable garden.
A bell from the family farm has been passed down to the oldest child through the generations and proudly presides in the dry garden behind the barn.
Aristolochia macrophylla, the native Dutchman’s pipe, climbs on the screen porch.
A sheltered lounging area inside the screen porch.
An ivy ascends an elderly Norway maple.
The house was given a view of the double border with its layering of conifers and blossoming perennials.
Vermilion doors and Berberis ‘Rose Glow’ set off the black house.
The spires of self-sown foxglove echo the exclamation points of evergreens.
Although Fred Bland was warned that nothing would grow beneath a Norway maple, he amended the soil until it could support a meadow of filipendula, goatsbeard, hakonechloa ornamental grass, alliums, baptisia and hostas.
A cedar pergola frames a gravel seating area with its dry garden.
Hostas line the path to the sitting porch.
Stone from the property was used to edge a bluestone terrace around the house.
Anemones and berberis are offset by a yew hedge.
Fred Bland designed a gate to be auctioned at the New York Flower Show and then repeated the design in his own garden to complement the stick-style pool fence.