This three-acre historic Westchester property, known as Seven Pines, has enjoyed a long impressive garden history. Neglect of the gardens, disturbance from the house expansion, and an intensive site program required a comprehensive approach to meld the new to the old.

Aggressive arboricultural protection techniques were employed to preserve and uncover the landmark specimen trees, previously lost in overgrown conditions. A series of garden rooms were knitted into the mature landscape context where each one flows easily to the other, while sharing complimentary edge treatments. Large open lawns, in both the front and rear, were established in proportion to the house’s scale. Emerging from these lawn planes are majestic Pines and Honey Locust trees, which are combined with strategically placed new native Oaks, Lindens and Tulip Trees; each provides spatial transitions and varying light qualities.

A Yoshino Cherry allee marks the path to the village and filters the basketball court’s presence from the open front lawn. The continuity and coordination of site materials, topographic manipulations and repetitive plant communities visually calms the landscape’s diversities and yields a timeless house and garden setting and composition.

photo and articles via hmwhite arch

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