Approach this house from any direction and you can see why people stop their cars and stare admiringly at this estate. Right at the street, a low stone wall cuts through a bed of flowers and grasses. Peonies, Echinacea, Irises and day lilies grab the eye with color and height. Posts on either side of the drive are topped with tender Hibiscus and potato vine. Walk up the drive and you will hear the water before you see it, falling into the koi pond. Built to be a contemplative area, sound was part of the plan, as well as scent (sweet woodruff), beauty (Japanese maples), seating, and stone. The benches incorporate old curbing found below the property where a carriage route once existed. A huge, many branched oak stands sentry over all.

The front door faces the side of the property. A fence on the other side of what was once a carriage drive used to drop arrivals at the door. Now a walkway, serviceberry trees stand along the side with large Hydrangeas. On either side of the door, large potted Brugmansia flower in summer and fall. On the fence, two varieties of climbing Hydrangea are becoming established; autumn Clematis will claim the top of the fence and further back, summer Clematis adds color along the large expanse of lawn.

Only five years ago the gardens were wild and filled with whatever was dropped there by the wind and the birds. This is a great example of the process of figuring out what works, the scrutinizing of what will survive, what will look beautiful and what to eliminate. Much is now established and some is just starting out. The gardener is finding out what thrives in the heaviest of shade, light shade and and in mixed light. Down a series of steps, a lower garden was discovered by the owners, so totally full of scrub bushes and trees one could not see the drop. This is the newest garden in the making, with various shade lovers like painted fern, lady fern, and oakleaf Hydrangea. A touch of the owner's southern roots are expressed with the inclusion of a hardy mimosa tree, a type of Acacia.

The back of the house was designed to be the formal side, away from the street, and when built, faced the Bicknell gardens, now long gone. The patio is lined with knock-out roses, and as you step down to the grass, an old stone balustrade stands in beautiful ruin fronted with a proud row of Bradford pears. A fountain facing the center of the house brings, again, the comforting sound of falling water. Behind the garage, the province of the dogs, huge perennial Hibiscus along the fence give a bit of "wow" to the last little piece of yard.