Year: 2024

Location: Park Slope, Brooklyn

Scope: landscape & drainage design, project management, masonry, carpentry, plants & irrigation

Beneath the surface, a drainage overhaul that includes updated foundation waterproofing, multiple French drains, and a series of dry wells reduces the likelihood of basement flooding and transforms the way this compact, thoughtful garden handles stormwater runoff.

Above ground, a re-imagined parlor-level deck and stairs improve the flow of space, descending onto a foundation of bluestone pavers and delivering you to a native gravel pathway that winds through a meadowy, layered planting. Baptisia australis, pycnanthemum virginianum, monarda didyma ‘Grand Parade,’ coreopsis ‘Moonglow’ and other colorful and herbaceous perennials spill over curved, corten steel edges, lining the way to a dining area – a second patio of vintage bluestones reclaimed and reused on site. 

A fresh cedar fence and a wraparound row of shrubs including cornus sericea (red osier dogwood), viburnum prunifolium (black haw viburnum) and betula nigra ‘Little King’ (dwarf birch) form a textured backdrop. 

A towering, mature magnolia grandiflora ‘Bracken’s Brown Beauty’ presides over the space, renewed and refreshed following a sharp shape-up by an arborist friend.