Tranquil Tree House

by Jake Farley

Through the old tall oaks towards the woods behind the mansion, a dream house beckons all¬aged boys and girls.

Across the water people tread lightly on lilypad¬like stones that string across the black, mirrored pond. Bright green and white sword-shaped iris leaves shoot straight out of the dark water.

Rough-hewn boards lead up to a skinny balcony that runs around the tree house where grapevine rambles and flowers bloom in pots. Even a fishing pole awaits an enthusiastic visitor.

An arched doorway leads into a hide-away room with furniture made from branches and where the tree house itself is poked clean through by tree trunks. Any kid at heart could run away to here.

Cross River Design of Annandale, NJ, designed and built this bit of fantasy. The firm created the tree house landscape as part of Mansion in May designer show house and gardens at the Cross Estate (Morristown National Historical Park, National Park Service) in Bernardsville, NJ.

"My partner, Tony Berardo, and I came up with the idea of the tree house," says Howard Roberts, although it was designed by an outside firm. “We wanted to show the public that landscaping is more than foundation planting."

The firm employed such accoutrements as rough-sawn lumber, the pond, a stone path to walk on water, pots and urns, some native plants and a punch of color and textures. Because it's a show, they sped up the succession of color - heath, water iris, Mt. Fire andromeda, double-file viburnum, Otto Luken cherry laurel.

The tree house landscape is a wonderland and Cross River gets the compliments they are looking for. "Nobody could believe it was fabricated. It doesn't look landscaped. It looks appropriate to the surroundings," says Roberts. "There's moss on stone, ajuga between logs. It looks like it just popped." Wisteria and grape vine wrap around the tree house that appears to be perched on logs.

Neither the design of the hide-away landscape nor its location was by accident. Cross River positioned the tree house to look like it's in a wet, boggy area with a reflection of the house and plantings in the pond.

"We envisioned it in a woodsy area," says Roberts. "We chose that particular spot. We react to surroundings. We knew what we wanted, so we found the spot to fit the tree house."

The design was done on paper beforehand, and Roberts stresses that everyone should take the time to do a complete plan. He says that many landscapes are planted three times over because property owners don't take the time or don't want to spend the money for a researched and applied professional design. It's all about economy, "a stitch in time."

Roberts insists that a creative and workable landscape is only possible by developing a plan first. Just building a tree house with knock-out visual appeal and practicality was the result of a collective with over 200 years of expertise. "Things are embellished in the field," he says. "Vines and fishing poles, finding old logs, but it all comes from proper planning."

He says the biggest mistake people make is not doing their homework. They want to take short cuts, especially on design cost. "People don't do that when they build a house. A design experience figures out costs and eliminates all surprises," he says.

"I hate the word estimate. They don't reflect anything. It's a word that people want to hear. You have a perception in your mind what the estimate covers. Until you lay things on paper and invest the time to put everything on paper, you're wasting your time."

For the person who wants to hire a design/build firm, Roberts recommends:
1. Go: Look at their work that was put in three to five years ago.
2. Ask: Are they still in business? Are the clients still happy? Most landscapes get worse over time, but is theirs getting better?
3. Look: Most landscapes are do-overs. Are the deer eating the landscape? Are the plants becoming disproportionate? Are the hardscapes heaving? Are plants sitting in water?

"Most landscapes show their true color in three to five years," says Roberts. "Most deteriorate. And 80-90% of it goes to the garbage."

Some of the reasons for such high mortality emanating from poor design are improper exposure, deer, over-mulching and bad horticultural practices. All of these problems can be prevented with good design.

Roberts knows people who have spent over three times redoing their landscapes at their homes in Central Jersey, because some second-generation landscapers still sell azaleas to the public. "The deer? Forget it. You might as well throw your money away."

"Usually a design cost is between 3 and 10% of the total cost," says Roberts. "The design is the road map to the success of your project. Some people won't spend the 3%, but will spend the 97%. It's a price to assure the success. The first thing we look at is grading and drainage. Is it wet? Then the infrastructure: walks, walls, driveway, patio. The planting is the furniture."

Indeed, the Mansion in May design to build a tranquil, fantasy hide-out in the trees above a bog was not an easy prospect. Created with practical research and planning and dressed in drama and flair, the tree house landscape exudes perfection to everyone's delight.

Cross River Design
Annandale, NJ
908-236-9291
Email: crd1@prolog.net

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