Janet Butler
A dignified Georgian home with two white clapboard side wings, a stone pool house, and high ornamental walls gets a royal landscape treatment here from Howard Design Studio of Atlanta, GA. Springtime blooms include masses of white tulips at the gate, opening off a spacious wide driveway that extends past the front portico of the home. Fruit trees are about to blossom; masses of white flowers cascade over well-trimmed shrubbery in a special exuberance. Symmetrical wide stone paths connect the house, the pool, and the deck areas in one easy-flowing whole, starting with a sundial/sculpture only steps from the back door and surrounded by geometric-shaped beds of shrubbery and flowers.
Variations in height add visual interest: a fern cascades from a porch planter, while semicircular beds at a rear gate provide three levels of “green.” With casual aplomb, trees are espaliered along the brick walls, their “branches” clinging to the rough surface like stylized ivy. (Real ivy is found in the ground cover, not far from the front porch!) And, finally, there’s the cool swath of blue that is the rectangular pool; it’s surrounded by white stone and sculptured beds and backed by mature trees at the back of the patio that provide both shade and privacy. Majestic oaks crown this landscaping achievement, seen across a perfect sweep of lawn that frames the estate like a portrait. Howard Design Studio has won its share of awards, no doubt for the elegance and symmetry of just such estates as Fairfield.
