This 19th century Cape-Cod style house is set just off the road surrounded by flower gardens, patios, vegetable raised beds and an outdoor fire pit. What was once an old storage shed attached to the back of the house was transformed into a new master bedroom. Simple foundation plantings next to the shed – shrubs and perennials – became a beautiful sensory garden and quiet destination patio. This private patio is an extension of the master bedroom. From this relaxing outdoor space, all of the gardens behind the house can be enjoyed in their entirety.
The patio is made from repurposed and reclaimed stone. The steps are one hundred year old, native Vermont foundation stone repurposed from a cellar hole in a nearby town. The warm colored stones of the walls are from a quarry in Sharon, VT, and were built around large repurposed pieces of granite. The patio floor is made from both Quebec granite and rejected marker headstones for Arlington National Cemetery — made in Castleton, VT. A perfect blend of contemporary and repurposed. A walkway of oversized Vermont flagstones links the space to another patio that was designed for outdoor dining.
The more public patio, off of the interior dining room, seats family and friends for meals and get-togethers. The walkway between the two patios has golden sedum and ajuga growing around the flagstones, with a foundation style garden growing on one side of it. Adirondack granite edging stones and pebbles are used on the house-side of the walkway to minimize water splashing against the house.
What’s unique is that the foundation garden isn’t located at the base of the house, but rather on the other side of the walkway. It has the space to move and grow more freely. It gives grace to the entire area, with plants to touch and smell for anyone who walks through. People can also view and enjoy the garden through the dining room windows because it’s not growing against the house.
Filtered eastern light illuminated these spaces as I was photographing them early in the morning. I came back later in the day to catch the long warm rays of light spilling across the plants and colorful blooms of August.
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