above: An early-morning view of spring bloom in one of the four boxwood beds. Grape hyacinth bulbs add a pop of color amidst 2,000 pink Angelique tulips.

A Plan For All Seasons

The art of one homeowner’s gardening journey, all year long

INTERVIEW WITH HOMEOWNER PATRICIA CAFFRAY // PHOTOGRAPHY BY STACY BASS

Tell me about your background with gardening.

I had worked until just before my kids were born. I was traveling, and I had an international design consulting business. When I got pregnant, I decided I couldn’t travel like that anymore.

I wanted to stay home, and I was living in New Canaan. I decided, “Oh, gardening would be kind of fun.” I met Marsha Kaufman, who had a company called Gardenscapes. I had hired her to help with horticulture work, and then she kind of tutored me. I followed her around and learned from her. She was so patient, and we would go to the nurseries together, and we would plan things together. I really got the bug.

How long have you been in this house?

We bought it in 2009 but then did a renovation.

The grounds were completely different. There was landscaping between the house and the pool, and that’s about it. We renovated some of the pool house, removing a double jacuzzi and a waterfall. Then we landscaped around the pool area. I used Debbie Nevins for the hardscape. I worked with Rosedale Nurseries, and we did the planting inside.

What was your inspiration?

I like perennial gardens. When I was in New Canaan, I was Russell Page [famed British gardener] crazy. I probably had half the boxwoods in the world [laughs].

We owned the crabapples that are in this garden now, but they were on the other side of the house. We decided to move them, which really helped. They were craggy enough that they kind of married the house with the pool house, with all the stone and everything. We thought if something was more formal, it would be too much.

A lot of the proposals were for the beds to be lower maintenance, more shrubs and stuff. But I just wanted to continue gardening. I went from a property where I gardened almost five acres, but this is a very different property. It’s big, and it’s spacious, and it’s harder to make intimate rooms. So, I kind of used that as a basis for fooling around.

How long would you say it took to get to the finished product? How many years was that in the making?

Oh, a couple. It evolved and it matured. And now I really do have the formula. I used to like to fool around with the pots, and now I know what works; I know how to order it. And then I’ll just enhance it rather than reinvent the wheel.

What are your favorite areas?

I like the crabapple garden the most, because I see it from my office, and it just evolves.

That was the other thing that I learned through Marsha—how to start a garden at the beginning of the season and try to take it to the to the end so that it didn’t really go dormant. And that’s fun for me. I like that about the garden.

I start out with minor bulbs and tulips, and the whole garden is a bed of that. And then you get into your salvias, and it all turns purple. And then, by fall, there’s a lot of the landscape around it. I purposely picked Quick Fire hydrangeas that would turn red later and try to keep the garden going.

How do you approach your plan from season to season?

I try to keep it from being seasonal, making it as perennial as I can.

And then it depends. Last year, we had perfect weather, so I really didn’t need to purchase many annuals. My salvias were good for such a long time. If the purples die down, then the white ones come up. I will add annuals to fill in gaps.

Do you have a favorite season to be on the grounds?

I think late spring. I love when the crabapples are in bloom and the tulips are out. I think that’s spectacular. I like when all of the salvias and sages are in bloom. It reminds me of the British landscape, where it’s all just this massive color.

What’s your favorite flower at the moment?

Oh, I don’t know. I’ll tell you what I’m mad at [laughs]. My dahlias were an epic failure this year. And I tested out some new ones, too.

I think, for me, the sages and the salvias, they pay the rent. You plant them after tulips, and they really do last.

Peonies I love, but they’re ephemeral, right? They tease you, really.

RESOURCES:
Landscape Design: Deborah Nevins & Associates, New York; dnalandscape.com
Nursery: Dan Taylor, Rosedale Nurseries, Hawthorne, NY; rosedalenurseries.com
Landscaping: Heins Landscaping; 203-751-0837
Horticulturist/Garden Designer: Marsha Kaufman