Advice Offered On Creating A Naturalistic Landscape Design – 27east

Publication: The East Hampton Press & The Southampton Press

By Anne Halpin

Gardeners interested in a more natural look for their landscapes were treated to an inspiring and insightful talk on Sunday afternoon at Bridge Gardens in Bridgehampton by Duncan and Julia Brine.

The Long Bridge at the Brine Garden © gardenlarge.com

The principal designer and his wife and partner in the Pawling, New York-based Garden Large, a naturalistic landscape design firm…

Their talk focused on the process of making a naturalistic garden personal and unique to each site…

The first step in the process involves acquiring a sense of the region and the characteristics of your particular property, what Mr. Brine calls “the givens.”

Mr. Brine used his own family’s property in Dutchess County to illustrate the design process…

For Mr. Brine, naturalistic landscape design responds to the native plants already in place. The landscape is understood as an environment, the plantings part of a whole—a bigger picture than a traditional garden bed or border…

For the Brines, the goal of a naturalistic garden is to, in Mr. Brine’s words, “idealize and partner with nature’s potential in a place.”

A large garden such as theirs can replicate the different ecosystems of slopes, and wet lowlands, the plantings visually integrating with views of their neighbor’s property and the distant ridgelines. On a small property, a naturalistic garden can’t invoke an entire ecosystem, but it can serve as a fragment of nature, a quotation of a natural environment.

The naturalistic garden…can offer a refuge and respite for the senses. And because the plants are chosen to suit the givens, the garden will look like it belongs there, and the plants will thrive. It’s a low-maintenance, resource-conservative place that can nourish the gardener’s soul as it helps nature along…

These are excerpts, for the full article, go to http://www.27east.com/