A lawn sloping down to the Long Island Sound creates a perfect canvas for a soft-hued medley of flowers and shrubs.
depth. Pink New Dawn roses clothe a tall stone wall behind the garden. “The size of the garden had to balance the size of the house,” the designer says. “It had to be a big gesture. You couldn’t just have a few flowers.” To create a terrace on the other side of the house, Cohen erected a low curved stone wall, raising the grade of the lawn and making it level. From the bluestone patio, it’s a short saunter to the adjacent outdoor spa. Both social areas feature soft-gray powder-coated metal furniture by McKinnon and Harris—an elegant and formal counterpoint to the garden’s casual air. The area beyond the spa along the back of the house is filled with one of Cohen’s favorite plant palettes: Blue Princess holly, Cunningham White rhododendron and native dogwood. Pachysandra ground cover weaves together the plantings. “I like that I can stand on my balconies and look down on the garden,” the homeowner says. It’s much the same way she and Cohen looked down upon that garden along the Swedish coast. But the thing that is most special to her about her garden, she says, is that “it was designed by my friend.”
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