Designer Snapshot: The (Garden) Plot Thickens

By Paula M. Bodah

We all know good design goes well beyond filling a space with pretty things. This is as true for landscapes as it is for interiors, as landscape architect Clara Couric Batchelor, of CBA Landscape Architects, can attest. Her Cambridge, Massachusetts, firm takes special pains to make sure the outdoor spaces they design are beautifully integrated with each home’s architecture, sensitive to the surrounding environment and in tune with the needs of each client. For the suburban Boston property we highlighted in our Special Focus: Landscape Design in the March-April issue, for example, Clara designed a lawn, gardens, fences and stone walls that tie the house, barn and land together seamlessly so that, she says, “It just seems meant to be.” Here, she offers a few more examples of her work.

The challenge here, Clara says, was fitting all the elements the homeowners wanted—including a pool, walkways and gardens for vegetables, herbs and flowers—into into a fairly tight space. The success of the space lies in a simple but strong geometry that echoes the home’s architecture with a series of rectangles connected by regularly space square stepping stones.

Photos courtesy of CBA Landscape Architects

A grand estate called for gardens with some grandeur of their own, so Clara designed this formal expanse that connects two of the properties smaller buildings. From the gazebo at the top of a slope, the homeowners can gaze out onto a reflecting pool and a serene, orderly garden. While a natural fieldstone wall might be appropriate for a farm-like site, this space wanted a more structured wall to act as a border to the whole contemplative scene.

Less is more for his long, curvaceous entry drive to a home, where Clara created a transition from the manicured lawn on the right to the natural landscape on the left by introducing a low stone wall planted with a border of colorful perennials.