My client had spent four years building and then adding a meditation room onto her dream home in the secluded forests in the Poconos., As an ardent outdoors woman whose spiritual sensibility lead her to this rustic private site, she wanted to blend with and include nature in her life. When I arrived there was literally nothing on site but her charming house built on bedrock and one inch of poor soil.
I designed the project in three stages starting with the most challenging work - enlarging the driveway and adding a turn-around space. Skilled excavators dug out as much hillside as possible without destroying the old-growth trees. Five stone mason worked for three weeks building low stone walls that created raised beds. A walkway snaked between the low walls and a slope that will become a rock garden. The walk opened up onto a patio complete with a fire pit.
There are many accents to relish including the finely crafted cedar decking with steel airplane wire detail, a custom stone bench surrounded with woodland plantings, three sets of gorgeous stone steps negotiate the site's grade changes, and many planting areas including two rock gardens and a 48 foot-long perennial border in view of her meditation room window. The Two rock gardens, the 32' x 10' vegetable garden and its surround will be constructed in the spring of 2018.