FAWN HILL FARMS
Many things burst into bloom at this time of year, including designer show houses, which generally pop up in areas fertilized by significant amounts of money. For at least a couple of months in high show house season, fans of interior and garden design can scout the latest trends, evaluate the work of various designers and see how the other half lives. The money raised from these large undertakings generally goes to support specific charities, often in the medical or social services realms.
Last week I went to “Mansion in May,” this year’s designer show house sponsored by the Women’s Association of Morristown Memorial Hospital. The “mansion” is Fawn Hill Farm, an estate in Harding Township, near Morristown.
My mission at Fawn Hill was to see the garden areas, which numbered seventeen in all, and spanned a range of styles and themes. Perhaps the most significant thing I noticed was that the gardens were somewhat more restrained than others I have seen over the past few years, probably in response to the tenuous economy. Many of the designers used existing mature trees as focal points. There were lots of beautiful plants, but much of the hardscaping was restored or improved as opposed to completely re-invented. Taking this idea one step farther, the “Secret Garden” area, created by designer Susan Olinger, featured pruned and rejuvenated versions of shrubs already on site.
There were lots of other trends on display, including the practice of lightening up shady areas with plants featuring golden or chartreuse foliage. I saw beautiful tradescantia or spiderworts with bright blue flowers and chartreuse, strap-like leaves. Tufts of golden-green hakonechloa grass were another landscape lightener.
The vegetable gardening trend was most apparent in the large ornamental potager or kitchen garden near the main house and garage. Designed by Susan Cohan of Chatham, NJ, the formal, French-style layout featured raised beds accented by ball finials and separated by gravel paths. In keeping with the spring season, the beds were planted with various salad greens, all of which will be donated to the Morris County Interfaith Food Pantry. The potager was also home to several dwarf fruit trees and the entire layout was the epitome of beautiful, sustainable food production. I am quite sure that I will never be able to duplicate it on my suburban lot, but it was an inspiration.
The Continental motif was also present in “Diana’s Garden,” a circular layout directly in front of the house designed by Hackettstown, NJ landscape architect Brian T. Stratton. A nearly life-size statue of the Greek goddess Diana, purchased by the estate’s current owners dominated a parterre with a central water feature and symmetrical beds edged in dwarf boxwood. Parterres or patterned layouts are traditionally designed to be best appreciated from above. In this case a large second floor window would have given the house’s inhabitants a perfect view of Diana in her impressive sanctuary.
There were two especially significant pieces of art in the gardens–one whimsical, the other simply stunning. The whimsical piece was an enormous cornucopia near the guest house. Woven from non-native and invasive plants that had been cleared from the site, the wide mouth of the cornucopia was filled with more desirable native species. The stunning piece, a beautiful wrought iron arch at one of the garden’s entrances, was in “The Blacksmith’s Cottage” garden, designed by Davies Associates of Parsippany, NJ. The arch, like the smaller arches and trellis in the garden, was created by Montclair iron artist Charlie Spademan, who used the leaves and seed pods of a nearby honey locust tree as the inspiration for his designs. The arch is a leafy bower rendered in iron and the seedpods are evident in the smaller arching arbor at the other entrance to the garden. I would have mortgaged my house for such an arch, except that doing so might leave me in danger of having no garden in which to put it.
Other trends were apparent as well. More than one landscape featured Japanese influences in the placement of plants and sculptural objects. Succulents, those darlings of the horticultural world, were arranged in containers near the pool area as well as in a living wreath on one of the pool gates. There was a plethora of heuchera in various colors, including the newly fashionable amber shades. The big, jagged leaves of chic acanthus were a highpoint of one of the shady area.
Overall, the impression was restful, in keeping with the country setting and the discreet charm of the manor house. There were many ideas that home gardeners could translate easily into less complicated layouts. The Fawn Hill gardens were a far cry from some of the flamboyant assemblages of tropical plants and oversized elements that have characterized past show houses. I emerged from the tour refreshed and inspired.
The Fawn Hill Farm show house and gardens will be open to the public through May 31, 2010. For further information, admission prices and directions, please go to www.mansioninmay.com.