Our Little Arboretum With The Arch On Top

About

Our quest to live near a train station led us to a circa-1750 house hidden behind a wild sliver of old growth, all that remained of a 500-acre Dutch farm. Tucked among a row of stately homes with pristine lawns that bordered beautiful Anderson Park, we were met with curiosity, and a neighbor's request to remove our mulberry trees that brought flocks of birds to summer's berry drop. Graciously we obliged and removed one, then vowed to prune and contain this little biosphere on our half-acre. As the 4th caretakers of this old farmland, we embraced the role of and nurtured the antique trees and shrubs while adding dozens of deer-resistant native specimens chosen to form a tapestry of color and shapes that thrived without pesticides. Stones covered for centuries were unearthed and dry stacked to contain the old house and antique bluestone patio that rose 50 feet above street level. A split-rail fence and rustic gate delineates two worlds. The front edge is now tamed with dozens of various viburnum species, weeping ornamental trees, blue spruces, gold Cyprus and tall grasses that lead to a stone walkway. A rustic gate opens to a secret garden where a natural-edge saltwater pool was designed with black coating to mimic a mountain pond and to emphasize the reflection of the wall of evergreens that surround it. Those who commit to old homes are usually fanatic or become so during their stay. When our crown jewel, an enormous white pine that embraced a beloved swing, finally succumbed to old age, I insisted that the arborist leave the 20-foot-high stump in hopes of reviving a future tree swing project. Eventually I found a kindred spirit; a landscape designer who once owned an art gallery decades ago that I likely visited as a new art teacher in town. We located the best viewpoint and envisioned an enormous picture frame where 40-foot bamboo stalks would form an arch that linked that stump to a hardy tree trunk embedded in cement. This three-year project became even more magical when we discovered that our tree arborist had been a teenage employee of our garden designer years ago. Those days of drawing, drinking and dreaming remain alive in our drone videos that captured the hours where cranes aided artists and arborists to construct a 25-foot-high arch, now covered with vines of wisteria, climbing hydrangea and honeysuckle. That viewpoint is now a favored spot for watching the sunsets and moon phases through our personal Arch de Triomphe.

This Garden's estimated size is approximately half an acre.

2025 Open Day: Saturday, September 13

Hours: 10-4