After decades of use as an active Christmas tree farm, the land had been neglected for several years before the current homeowners obtained it. The owners envisioned a landscape with pool, dining and entertaining areas, combined vegetable and flower gardens, and an apple orchard.

Throughout the design process, there was careful consideration of the ways in which farmers shape the land and the elements upon it in a practical way that often results in a disciplined beauty and a focused simplicity. The Christmas trees themselves played a key role; hundreds of the fir trees became the backbone of the design when they were transplanted and pruned into border hedges to create “rooms” within the fields.

A central axis runs through the rooms, starting with the vegetable and flower garden at the eastern end, through the Urn Room and Pool Room, and then dispersing into the fields. Subtle shifts in grade provided opportunities for creative connections with innovative and custom-crafted details.