This property backs up to Sloane Gorge and features ravines, sedges, serviceberries, hemlocks, wild blueberry, white pine, chestnut oak and masses of mountain laurel.

The homeowners sparingly cleared the land for their modern house and requested a natural green on green garden.

The sunny main foundation bed is a mini native plant meadow — a mix of containerized ornamental grasses and perennials under planted with a four varieties of native sedge grass plugs. Handfuls of native groundcover shrubs − sweetfern, fragrant sumac and shrubby St John’s wort − transition the meadow to the surrounding landscape. Perennial colors were limited to dusty rose (prairie smoke) and light purple (bee balm) and several grasses feature red coloring − to compliment the burnished red brown of the cedar siding.

One Bloodgood Japanese maple adds elegant color near to the bluestone patio and fire pit.

A weeping white pine is a living sculpture at the top of the driveway.

The front door bed is the most formal with dwarf mugo pine, four Munstead lavender, Globemaster allium and a handful of mustard brown and dark purple Iris germanica.

We also added more ferns, wild blueberry, Pennsylvania sedge and mountain laurel to honor the surrounding terrain.