Neptune stands sentinel over the DunbarsÕ gardens on Oyster River.

Gardens typically evolve slowly over a number of years. And our garden in Chatham is no exception to this rule. It, too, has grown with our horticultural and aesthetic knowledge over the years, and it hasn’t stopped expanding. My husband  Prescott and I still have new areas to develop: a fruit garden, a grotto, new plants to try, and over-grown plants to remove, all resulting in a never-ending horticultural joy.

When we bought the property 40 years ago, the last thing we had on our minds was creating a garden. We were young and content to sit on our terrace and enjoy the water views. Although my husband, Prescott, and I grew up with mothers who were keen gardeners, it took us three years to even plant a tree. (I am happy to report that that tree is still with us, a large Purple Beech, Fagus sylvatica purpurea, shading our terrace.) At this time, we assessed our property and found nothing but five and a half acres of scrub brush, a small bog, and lots of scruffy wind-scorched cedars and pines. The trees of any real merit were two native oaks and one swamp maple tree. The only semblance of a garden was a small, uninspired sunken brick garden with an overgrown Rose of Sharon shrub at each corner. The property also had an enormous car court and long driveway that cut through the middle of the property, dividing it into two distinct halves—and unfortunately making garden rooms impossible to create.

Eureka

After four years, we cleared a small space for a vegetable patch and surrounded it with simple green wire fencing to keep the rabbits out. We didn’t do much more until our first child was born about three years later. One morning my husband announced that he knew the answer to our garden problem. “Move the driveway!” By moving it closer to the property line and curving it in several places, we created an approach road that revealed new vistas at every turn. We also moved and enlarged the vegetable garden, enclosing it with a handsome picket fence. This reorganization of the property transformed the landscape, allowing for several more garden rooms.

Next, we began traveling the Cape, looking at nurseries for plant material. One of our best finds was Fred Conant’s nursery in Barnstable. He had a wonderful selection. We purchased our trees from him, which form the backbone of the garden: two Tulip Trees, Liriodendron tulipifera, the Weeping Beech, Fagus sylvatica pendula, two little Leaf Lindens, and three Kousa Dogwoods, Cornus kousa. By 1985, we had added a tennis court and more trees in all shapes and sizes.

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Study Abroad

The more we gardened the more we realized how little we knew about garden design, so we went to England to study gardens both great and small. In 1990, we met Tim Rees, a protégé of the late English gardener Rosemary Verey, who was the creator of the famed Barnsley House Garden in the Cotswolds. We worked with Tim off and on for ten years: He designed our herbaceous border and tennis court border. One day he handed me a journal with my name embossed on it and told me to carry it with me to every garden and park I visited so that I could write down my favorite plants and ideas. Something I still do, thanks to him. We worked together on every aspect of the garden: planting borders, designing color themes for borders, and moving trees.

Garden Gnomes

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Tim loved our four topiary Boulevard Cypress gnomes so much so that one spring he suggested we make a gnome garden, using 32 three-foot-tall Boulevard Cypress trees. Six years later, after they had grown to about 7 feet, I became inspired by a Russell Page garden photograph, and with the help of landscape designer and plantsman David Haskell, who took over his late father’s company, Allen C. Haskell Horticulturalists in New Bedford, we removed all the grass around the gnomes, replacing it with pea gravel. From England we bought twisted rope edging (cast stone), which I used to define the main walk and planted large sweeps of blue foliage en masse to set off the gnomes (lavenders, hostas, Romneya coulteri, crambie, maritime, and kniphosia). This garden is the central part of our landscape and gives our property its name. David also made a hill with granite steps overlooking the gnomes. After that was completed, David planted a new parterre that replaced the original parterre in the driveway area. I designed a new walkway to accompany the parterre, using reproduction stone fossils that I found in England. It took me two weeks of studying garden books, as well as other design books, to create these designs. Some things are worth taking the time to do correctly. I learned this fact through trial and error—lots of errors, but as a wise someone said a long time ago, a garden is never finished—and I say, “Isn’t that the fun of it?”   

Garden Conservancy

Open Days

Don’t miss the Garden Conservancy’s “Open Days” program on Martha’s Vineyard—a new region this year—on June 28th. The program encourages local gardeners to expand their own plant repertoires in their gardens. For more information, visit www.gardenconservancy.org/opendays.

Jane Booth is a photographer who summers in Chatham.