Salvaged finds mix with a colorful profusion of plants to bring one woman's eclectic vision to life
by Cynthia Van Hazinga
There’s nothing I don’t collect,” admits Elizabeth Burdick. She’s a woman with a keen eye and a bountiful spirit, whose half-acre garden in Weston, Connecticut, is a joyous hodge-podge of flourishing plants set off by an eclectic assemblage of practical—and whimsical—ornaments.
The garden, shown here, surrounds a 1930s Scottish-hunting-lodge-style house perched atop a rocky outcrop of land. Elizabeth calls the land a “glacial dump providing an endless supply of rocks,” which is where she began: stones for walls, rocks for steps. “I need the hard texture of stones for contrast with growing things,” she says. “I love old stones in fences and pathways.” (The essential eight-foot deer fence surrounding the garden doesn’t show.)
Above: Twin urns, filled with pansies, mark the way up to a
secluded seating area just past a wrought-iron arch.
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Thriving in such a solid foundation, the garden surrounds the house, offering patches of lawn, two water features, open places for sitting and eating outdoors, flowering shrubs and trees, colorful annuals and perennials, and more than a few surprises. A huge galvanized metal horse trough (found at the dump) becomes the solid support for a tabletop made of an old wooden door cast off by a parsonage. An antique, painted-metal cream separator on legs becomes an outdoor wine bucket, nestled in a tumble of pink powder-puff hollyhocks and phlox.
Left: A cheerful, and movable, bicycle basket of sun-loving
zinnias and portulacas can be wheeled around for a spot
of color in any part of the garden.
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Elizabeth put the vintage cream separator she found at a flea market to good use as an outdoor wine cooler. Pink phlox and hollyhocks are a charming contrast to the green cooler. |
Photos: Richard Warren |
A rich planting of beebalm (monarda), garden phlox and ornamental grasses adds to the house’s cottage appeal. |
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