Yard of the Week: Old-Fashioned Simplicity and Marsh Views
A landscape designer balances clean lines and rural history at this coastal Massachusetts property
Landing this coastal Massachusetts project felt like fate to landscape designer Amy Martin. While house hunting 20 years ago, she had fallen in love with this home on Boston’s South Shore, but it was in a dire state of disrepair that she couldn’t afford to address. She considers it fortuitous to be able to return decades later, see the improvements the homeowners had made and then get to work on the landscape design herself. “It was so sweet to come back to the house and see how gorgeously this couple had remodeled it,” she says.
The couple, who renovated the home down to the studs, wanted to honor its history while keeping an updated and tidy look. When Martin joined the project, they had renovated the house and added a barn-like garage. But years of construction had taken a toll on the landscape. To remedy this, she designed pathways, terraces, driveways and a patio. While doing so, she found a comforting balance between traditional materials and clean, modern lines.
The couple, who renovated the home down to the studs, wanted to honor its history while keeping an updated and tidy look. When Martin joined the project, they had renovated the house and added a barn-like garage. But years of construction had taken a toll on the landscape. To remedy this, she designed pathways, terraces, driveways and a patio. While doing so, she found a comforting balance between traditional materials and clean, modern lines.
“My clients wanted to keep this feeling like an older property, yet they like things very tidy and clean. So we blended old and modern,” Martin says. For example, the tops of the retaining walls are flush with the ground — a minimalist look. But they are composed of local fieldstone and stacked and mortared, just like an old farm wall.
Granite plays a large role throughout the property as well. Martin used granite from Vermont for the steps, driveway aprons and path and patio pavers, then she bookended all the stone walls with large reclaimed-granite pieces from a local stone yard. Landscape contractor Drew Connall completed all the stonework installation.
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Granite plays a large role throughout the property as well. Martin used granite from Vermont for the steps, driveway aprons and path and patio pavers, then she bookended all the stone walls with large reclaimed-granite pieces from a local stone yard. Landscape contractor Drew Connall completed all the stonework installation.
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Martin kept the plants along the porch low and simple to keep the focus on the architecture.
The clients wanted a second driveway to the right of the home, so their parents could pull right up to the house for easier access. This driveway is loose rock and is not used very often. Martin also designed the black painted cedar fence and gate. “I love to use black on a fence, because it recedes visually,” she says. “And in this case, it also tied in to the black window trim.”
Granite: Plymouth Quarries
The clients wanted a second driveway to the right of the home, so their parents could pull right up to the house for easier access. This driveway is loose rock and is not used very often. Martin also designed the black painted cedar fence and gate. “I love to use black on a fence, because it recedes visually,” she says. “And in this case, it also tied in to the black window trim.”
Granite: Plymouth Quarries
It may seem simple, but designing a driveway requires thoughtful planning. This one needed to have ample space for drivers to turn into the garage. And because the house is located on a busy road, Martin added enough space at the top of the driveway to serve as a turnaround.
The new driveway is asphalt, but Martin added macadam to the top. This involved pouring the same kinds of stones used on a loose pebble driveway onto the asphalt when it was wet. This process is also known as chip sealing. “It looks like an old-fashioned gravel driveway, but it’s easier to maintain,” she says.
She added a granite cobblestone apron along the garage and also along the bottom of the driveway, seen in the previous photo. These aprons add lovely transitional borders to the driveway.
She added a granite cobblestone apron along the garage and also along the bottom of the driveway, seen in the previous photo. These aprons add lovely transitional borders to the driveway.
“The back of the house has phenomenal views of the marshland, so the homeowners wanted to keep those open,” Martin says. Between the marshland and the ocean is an isthmus, and the tiny forms seen here between the marsh and the sky are seaside homes.
Besides the view, the couple, who were planning to retire as soon as the house and landscape were completed, wanted to have space for dining and entertaining. A fire pit, a dining area and casual seating were all on their list. Massive chunks of granite at the edge of the patio serve as benches for a crowd.
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Besides the view, the couple, who were planning to retire as soon as the house and landscape were completed, wanted to have space for dining and entertaining. A fire pit, a dining area and casual seating were all on their list. Massive chunks of granite at the edge of the patio serve as benches for a crowd.
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“We kept the lines super clean and modern, then made more old-fashioned choices with some of the plants,” Martin says.
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To the landscape designer, “old-fashioned” means pastel flowers and plants that evoke nostalgia. She cites lilacs, lungwort, bleeding heart, coralbells, garden phlox, ferns and viburnum as good examples.
The mix seen here, which includes flowering hydrangeas and purple coneflowers (Echinacea sp.), contrasts the crisp lines of the granite with its loose-and-free feeling. Martin filled the beds with plants in a variety of colors, textures, shapes and sizes.
The mix seen here, which includes flowering hydrangeas and purple coneflowers (Echinacea sp.), contrasts the crisp lines of the granite with its loose-and-free feeling. Martin filled the beds with plants in a variety of colors, textures, shapes and sizes.
One of the granite bench corners surrounds two sides of a granite fire pit. A gas line fuels the fire.
This photo shows where Martin needed to add an additional step to the porch due to some new grade changes. It wraps around the sides of the porch. “These homeowners were not interested in some big landscape lighting scheme,” she says. There are small lights on the stairs for safety.
The fire pit surround is composed of reclaimed old granite pieces. “You can find these scattered around at just about any stone yard,” Martin says.
The homeowners wanted to keep a lawn for simplicity and clear views. “We used some native grasses along the back of the property to foreshadow the marshlands,” Martin says. Look back at the photos taken from the opposite direction to see how these grasses mark the first line of plantings at the edge of the marshland.
The patio is the ideal spot for the homeowners to watch the sunset while enjoying cocktails and dinners with friends.
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Yard at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple nearing retirement
Location: Marshfield, Massachusetts
Landscape designer: Amy Martin
Here’s a look at the house from the main road. “Between renovating the house and building the new garage, there had been years of construction. That meant the landscape was a mess,” Martin says. “The only thing it really had going on out front was the giant old ash tree.”
The landscape had some minor grading issues too. “The structured look of the house drew me toward creating significant retaining walls to make different terrace levels,” Martin says. She used grading to direct water toward the left side of the property. Then she installed planting beds to stop the water from crossing the property line, using plants that can handle standing water, such as winterberry (Ilex verticillata, USDA zones 3 to 9; find your zone) shrubs and birch trees.
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