Year: 2021

Location: Park Slope, Brooklyn

Scope: Design, project management, masonry, planters, planting, irrigation, maintenance

Pennisetum (fountain grass) and meadowy, herbaceous perennials such as gaura linderheimeri (bee blossom) and agastache (hyssop) draw you out onto a bluestone patio that steps up, creating two versatile rooms for family play, dining, and entertaining.

Shade-tolerant flowers, including rodgersia, clethra, heuchera, and anemone wrap around the upper patio where a young specimen cornus kousa ‘Venus’ (dogwood) is just beginning to show off. Shrubs including pieris japonica (Japanese andromeda), kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel), aronia melanocarpa (chokeberry), and rhus aromatica (fragrant sumac) create another layer of texture and color in clusters of oversized, Italian terra cotta pots.

A new lighting system with unique copper sconces adds contrast and interest during the day and a glowy atmosphere that invites you outside long into the evening. 

On the third floor terrace, more generous, Italian terra-cotta pots lift big miscanthus sinensis (Chinese silver grass) and a mix of purple and white flowering alliums.