The Cornell Residence

Massachusetts

    Mr. and Mrs. Cornell found me and my services on the internet. When I came to their home, they had a very blank slate. Their property was a new construction and they did have some woods behind their house. You can view the before photos and in-depth descriptions of the site here.

    Mr. Cornell told me he really liked to putter outside and garden. He said that maintenance to keep the gardens I planned looking great wouldn't be a problem. They really wanted to see a purple leaved tree in the front yard for two reasons. They have a plum colored door and wanted to tie the plantings in with the color of the house. The house faces west and it very warm in the summertime, so any sort of shade which also wouldn't block their view was very welcome. They wanted to have a low fence enclosing the immediate front yard. We chose to plant a Purple Leaved Plum on the corner of Northwest of the fence. It flowers pink in the spring before its foliage emerges and it has a lovely foliage color the Cornells' wanted. We also placed a Star Magnolia near the side door to bring the open scale of the front yard down to a more personal level were people would be walking. You can see both trees in the photo above.

    There were no traffic patterns leading to the entrances of the house. They had envisioned a curved walkway leading to both doors made of concrete pavers. They needed to add steps to the side door since they had made a simple wooden step. The Cornells wanted a granite step for the side door to dress it up and fit with the traditional colonial architecture.

    We haven't installed any of the plant material other than the trees yet; I think will come this year. Since Mr. and Mrs. Cornell are going to be installing this primarily themselves, this project will be done in several stages.

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Cristin M. Larson; The Garden Consultant and Landscape Design