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Country Garden Oasis
by Mary Jasch
Owl Light, the house at number 128 River Road, Essex, Connecticut, is straight out of a Thomas Kincaid painting. Settled happily in a manicured lawn, surrounded by subtle color and bird song, the country garden of Gail and Andrew Morris is one of sparkling detail - every line and grouping a surprise that endears the visitor to its cultivated landscape.
The name Owl Light alludes to four different species of owl that Ms. Morris has seen and heard, such as the Great-horned Owl which she can call into sight in February. She has also seen Barred, Screech, and another in the light of early evening.
Walk through vine-covered pillars to the front yard and garden. The words garden and yard are interchangeable here, in this landscape that grades easily from wild to tame. In the wide front yard, umbrella pine and magnolia tower over hosta and a curve of soft pink rhododendron - with one red one for Mr. Morris - highlights the Beaufort brick house. “I always admired the rhododendrons on my parents' property in Pennsylvania," says Ms. Morris of her childhood home.
On the outskirts of the woods, red seedpods dangle and shimmer from a Japanese bloodgood maple. Underneath, the colors of Japanese Painted fern mimic the lichen-covered rock that outcrops around the property. Pachysandra, azalea, rhododendron, and ferns form a naturalistic setting on the rock next to woodland. Following the woodland-garden interface, a blue line of Halcyon hosta forms an almost undetectable gradient between the cultivated and natural.
Alongside the house, Ms. Morris created a romantic garden of white bleeding heart, hellebore, and maidenhair ferns and astilbe transplanted from her woodland garden. She has always been a gardener, she says, collecting knowledge along with plants. She and her husband maintain their gardens and Ms. Morris alone spent 132 hours in May. For them, it's practically a full-time job.
Around back, the top of a wide outcrop scrapes above the manicured lawn. Landscapers had previously planted 600 Calluna and Erica in the shallow depressions of the rock's surface. After four or five years they failed. “The best thing that works here is Cranesbill geranium," Ms. Morris says. Lilac-flowering Mazus reptans smother portions of rock.
The interface again between wild and tame is delineated by a line of native mountain laurel in early June bloom.
Jewel-like plantings decorate the yard. A rock wall positioned like an outcrop shows off a cutting garden with lots of annuals and perennials. At the bottom of the berm, white Geranium instead of purple sparkles against wild plants beside a stream trickling into a quiet pool. Rising upslope, Siberian iris and tall grass command the eye. Nearer the house, bright blue Gunnera and yellow Corydalis known as Linc's Weed accent a small, free-standing bed, and white Mazus 'Alba' sprinkles against a doorstep.
Blue Clematis 'Lasurstern' and white C. 'Montana' sprawl on walls. Climbing hydrangea and Pyracantha lay languidly over a boulder and mauve C. Montana 'rubens' dilly-dallies along the roof of the garage.
Sense the luxurious quiet in this cultivated oasis far from the crowds. But as with any work of art that appears easy and clean, dedication and love have created it.
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published June 09, 2006
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