Year: 2023

Location: Clinton Hill, Brooklyn

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

A three-sided garden transformation adds unique hardscape elements and thoughtful plantings designed to reflect and complement the classic, elegant features of a corner brownstone.

In the backyard, a clean bluestone foundation at street level steps up to a surprising and playful patio with circular brickwork and inlaid metal elements salvaged from the original yard.  A perimeter wall of the same (reclaimed!) brick combines curves and corners to create planting beds and gathering spaces in unique shapes.

A row of white-flowering oak leaf hydrangea will mature to screen the neighbors fence. A dwarf Japanese maple provides a wine-colored focal point along the steps. An amelanchier frames a bench improvised from a piece of architectural brownstone unearthed during excavation. Viburnum, compact ilex, hydrangeas rescued from the side garden, and evergreen azaleas wrap around the street-side corner, letting in dappled light and breaking up the sightlines from the sidewalk.

A mixed perennial underplanting includes alchemilla (lady’s mantle) hellebores, rodgersia, liriope, and ferns.

Along the side, a long row of oak leaf hydrangeas offers long-blooming interest, and speaks to a mass planting of big leaf hydrangeas across the street.

In the front yard, an updated entryway of reclaimed bluestone, with fresh brownstone edges, borders a densely planted combination of amsonia hubrechtii, euphorbia, and ilex. A specimen crabapple stands alone.