Explore a Martha’s Vineyard Landscape Designed by Dan Gordon
June 2, 2023
A clever landscaping plan brings two parcels together to create one glorious whole.
Text by Paula M. Bodah    Photography by Neil Landino
The homeowners, who bought this Marthaâs Vineyard house just as the builder was finishing work on it, had their hearts set on a swimming pool. Landscape architect Dan Gordon knew he and his team could tuck a pool into the backyard, but, he says, âIt would have been really tight, kind of jammed in.â
As luck would have it, the couple were able to buy the adjoining property, a stretch of land with two sweet cottages, which they kept, and plenty of open space. The challenge for Gordon and his colleague, landscape designer Patrick Taylor, was to unite the two parcels into one beautifully cohesive space.
âIt was a fun project because it was largely a blank slate,â Taylor says. âItâs a flat site with really beautiful views to the water and to a neighborâs horse paddocks. It was all about tying the new property to the adjacent land with its native meadows, grasses, and windswept trees.â
The true star of todayâs expanded space is the swimming pool, a long lap pool bracketed by corner hedges, surrounded by lush fountain grass and Russian sage, and partnered with a pergola built by Edgartownâs Timothy McHugh Builders. With its subtly detailed pillars that are already weathering to a soft gray and its reeded canopy above, the pergola has a timeless, classic appeal. âItâs restrained in terms of details,â Taylor explains. âIt provides a nice dappled shade for sitting, and it helps anchor the pool and its perennial beds.â
For the rest of the property, the pros devised a plan that transitions from natural and playful at the perimeter to more structured nearer the house. In back, cedar trees and drifts of fountain grass soften the propertyâs edge. Close to the house, a bluestone terrace with a firepit is delineated by dry-stacked stone walls that hold back colorful beds of purple agastache and yellow coreopsis.
The front has a similar gradual progression from casual to dressy, with an arrival court marked by bountiful masses of hydrangea and Russian sage giving way to the entry walkway with its tidy border plantings and hedge. âWhen you look at the house, it looks very neat and clean,â Gordon says. âTurn and look back, and itâs a more relaxed context.â
Whether theyâre swimming laps or having a cocktail by the firepit, the homeowners no doubt feel relaxed in their own island paradise.
Project Team
Landscape design: Dan Gordon Landscape Architects
Architecture: Fine Line Design
Builder: Steve Kelly Builder
Share
You must be logged in to post a comment.