Previously, a dysfunctional traffic circle dominated the home’s approach. “The owners have a lot of cars and they wanted to be able to park them all and still get around,” Talton says. “The goal was to make the front more usable as well as more beautiful.” Replacing the circle with a paver courtyard solved the issue; a bluestone path leads to the front door while the side-facing garage anchors a spacious parking area. Stone columns and lights flank the driveway entrance. Strategically lit crape myrtles frame the house, scaling down the front façade to conjure that cottage feel.

Beside the garage, a cedar gate set within a stone wall leads to the backyard, which initially presented its own challenges. “There was a constant slope toward the house, and the septic field had to be moved to accommodate the pool,” Talton explains. Stone retaining walls now terrace the property above a rectangular pool surrounded by travertine and thermal bluestone. A cedar-and-stone pavilion with a standing-seam, aluminum roof houses a fireplace and lounge area, while an attached pergola shelters a built-in outdoor kitchen. An existing elevated deck has been upgraded with trim and a repositioned stair leads to the pool area. Water features—one delineated by vegetable and cutting gardens—are set apart to create destinations on the property.

Eagle Ridge building stone crops up throughout the landscape, mimicking the home’s stone accents. A simple planting palette features deer-resistant drift roses, nepeta and Lacecap hydrangea, as well as gingko and cedar trees and evergreen cryptomeria.

Landscape Architecture & Contracting: Chad Talton, PLA, Surrounds Landscape Architecture + Construction, Sterling, Virginia. 

The couple’s Mediterranean-inspired manse dictated a European aesthetic characterized by symmetry, formality and the use of stucco and limestone, which clad the house. In front, a scenic approach terminates in a new forecourt framed by 24-foot-tall Thuja nigra arborvitae that replaced the defunct cypress trees “for instant effect,” says Groft. A limestone veranda now enhances the front façade, where a series of French doors formerly opened out to nothing; piers support large bowls of colorful annuals.

A linear series of gardens follows axes emanating from the house. In back, a bluestone dining terrace lined with crape myrtle leads to an existing swimming pool that was revamped with a limestone surround; a fountain anchors the far end. To one side, Groft conceived a walled garden festooned in white perennials, with stepped walkways culminating in a limestone fountain imported from France. An adjacent roundel defined by cherry trees and limestone ingots surrounds a fire pit nestled in pea gravel. Further out, a woodland garden carpeted with purple phlox and native plants abuts a wide swath of lawn where the wedding took place.

Groft enlisted Walnut Hill Landscape Company to install and build out the project. They ultimately added 150 trees, 2,500 shrubs, 21,000 perennials and thousands of bulbs to the property. Says Walnut Hill principal Michael Prokopchak, “The planting combinations are beautiful. There’s something happening in this garden year-round.”

Landscape Architecture: Eric Groft, FASLA, Oehme, van Sweden | OvS, Washington, DC. Landscape Contracting: Michael Prokopchak, ASLA, Walnut Hill Landscape Company, Annapolis, Maryland.

WONDER WEAVE
A dome woven out of faux rattan creates a classic silhouette for Troy Lighting’s Huxley pendant designed for outdoor use. The fixture uses three candelabra bulbs and measures 24 or 34 inches in diameter. hvlgroup.com

VERY VERSATILE
Linea Light Group’s Alba is a crescent-shaped, indoor-outdoor sconce that can be rotated to direct light up, down or sideways. The outdoor version (pictured above) comes in aluminum with a gray or dark-brown finish. linealight.com

GIMME SHELTER
The MX-4 retractable cassette awning by Markilux provides shade by day and illumination at night. Integrated LEDs and recessed- and surface-mounted spotlights come in warm, ambient or colored light; the awning is available in a variety of colors. Controlled via an app. markilux.com

OLD WORLD
The Terrace Candelabra Lantern from Hammerton Studio delivers timeless, traditional style. Made of corrosion-resistant aluminum in a powder-coated bronze, gray or black finish, the fixture is enclosed in seeded glass. studio.hammerton.com

CHIC GLOBE
Minimalist in style, the Liila Wall Outdoor by Nuura combines a backplate and slender arm with a mouth-blown glass globe. Available in a black or bronze finish with optic clear or opal white glass. nuura.com

A sophisticated yet playful vibe prevails in the sleek, lower-level bath, dubbed the Spa, where Leichsenring embraced an aesthetic that is intended to appeal to kids in the nearby playroom, adults in the game room/bar and yoga practitioners in the adjacent exercise room.

“A grand feature wall continues uninterrupted between the shower and toilet enclosures,” explains the designer, who clad the wall in lively, tridimensional porcelain tiles in nine pastel colors, then offset the exuberant palette with charcoal-colored, large-format porcelain floor tiles.

A column separates the shower and WC, both enclosed by glass panels with frosted sections for privacy. The curb-less shower is bordered by a linear drain and features a floating shower bench, an invention created and patented by Leichsenring. “There are adjustable body jets under the bench to massage feet and legs, three wall jets, a 10-inch rain showerhead and a handheld spray, all controlled by a digital valve,” he notes.

Integrated with cubbies, cabinets and a bench, built-in millwork opposite the shower conveys the feel of a spa. Radiant heat warms the floor and a careful lighting plan illuminates the room via a dropped ceiling—with special emphasis on the center-stage statement wall.

Bath Design: Davis Holland Leichsenring, UDCP, Holland Bath & Spa, North Bethesda, Maryland. Architecture: John G. Katinas, AIA, Katinas Bruckwick Architecture, Bethesda, Maryland. Builder: Paul Katinas, General Contractor, Washington, DC. Photography: Austin Meyer.

THE DETAILS
Wall + Floor Tile: architessa.com. Plumbing Fixtures + Mirror: kohler.com through grofusa.com. Vanity: christianacabinetry.com through kitchenandbathstudios.com. Shower Bench: hollspa.com. Toilet: laufen.com through build.com. Glass Panels: riverglassdesigns.com.

“The buyers wanted bold color,” recalls the designer, who accommodated their wishes with vivid-blue, glazed ceramic tile in the shower, which is designed to feel like an alcove. She clad the shower floor, walls and ceiling in the same blue tile—a herringbone pattern on the walls and ceiling paired with mosaic squares on the floor. Then, to allay the owners’ fears that there still wouldn’t be enough color in the room, Vicas painted the custom vanity in a matching blue hue—Gentleman’s Gray by Benjamin Moore—and topped it with Calacatta Lincoln marble.

After that, Vicas laughs, “I encouraged them to keep the rest of the palette calm.” Calacatta Chablis marble covers the floor and walls around a sculptural soaking tub with clean, modern lines. Phillip Jeffries vinyl grass cloth in a serene blue-gray color adorns the walls.

Interior & Bath Design: Martha Vicas, M.S. Vicas Interiors, Washington, DC. Architecture: Nahra Design Group, Washington, DC. Developer: Coba, Washington, DC. Builder: Ox Builders, Washington, DC. 

THE DETAILS
Sinks, Plumbing Fixtures + Tub Filler: kallista.com. Tub: admbathroom.com. Wall Tile: architessa.com. Shower Tile: annsacks.com. Custom Vanity: okawvalleywoodworking.com. Wallpaper: phillipjeffries.com. Sconces: urbanelectric.com.

Partners Arianna Pannoni and Kasey Bedford began by repurposing a small adjacent dressing room as a shower enclosure, which made room for a separate WC and created an airy, open feel. They then homed in on a warm, traditional sensibility, designing an antique-inspired vanity for character and combining it with an ornate clawfoot tub.

“It was intentional to pair those refined features with casual elements like the subway tile in the shower and penny-tile flooring,” recounts Pannoni. “We added a decorative border on the floor and a beaded accent on the shower wall so the tile wouldn’t feel bland.” Rich wood tones, large-format botanical wall covering and antiqued plumbing fixtures completed the space.

“We had the Sandberg wallpaper selected from the very beginning; our clients just fell in love with the imagery in it,” Bedford observes. “We love adding color to trim, so we picked a shade present in the wallpaper and matched it with Farrow & Ball’s Treron on the baseboard, crown molding and windows.”

Brass-and-opaque-glass Visual Comfort light fixtures and Kravet draperies trimmed with Schumacher fringe contribute to the vintage vibe but still feel fresh.

Bath & Interior Design: Arianna Pannoni; Kasey Bedford, Winsome Interior Design, Lutherville, Maryland. Renovation Contracting: Post & Beam Design Build, Phoenixville, Maryland. 

THE DETAILS
Vanity Top: emerstone.com. Sink: kohler.com through build.com. Tub + Tub Filler: signaturehardware.com through build.com. Subway Tile: huntvalleytileandstone.com. Penny Tile: hydeparktiles.co.uk. Wallpaper: sandbergwallpaper.com. Vanity Mirror: rh.com.

The Loudoun County estate sprawls over 200-plus acres of Virginia horse country, virtually all under conservation easements. To the southwest, the Blue Ridge Mountains beckon across a valley that transitions each autumn from green to rust. On the northern edge of the site, a gracious stone residence constructed in 1932 reflects the dignity of just three owners who’ve occupied it over the past 90 years. In the eyes of Campion and McGraw, the stunning property was fertile ground. “It’s an exquisite old Virginia estate,” says Campion, of Campion Hruby Landscape Architects. “We worked with the clients to reinvent this place for modern life.”

Its current occupants, a horse-loving family of five, acquired the property in 2015 and quickly approached Campion, who had worked on their prior residence in Leesburg. Over the next five years, he collaborated with the owners, an engineering executive and his wife, an equestrienne, to redefine the agrarian landscape.

His master plan encompassed a range of improvements, from a new entry gate and inviting garden rooms to paddocks and a riding arena. It also mapped out a future barn. When the time was right, Campion suggested that his clients contact McGraw, founding partner of StudioMB in Washington, DC, to design it.

“When we came to the project, it was just open pastures,” recalls the architect. “The new owners wanted to bring in horses. The need for a barn evolved into a greater project.”

McGraw conceptualized a grand, multi-purpose structure that would not only accommodate horses but also serve as a venue for family fun and entertaining. Now central to the family’s engagement with their home, the completed whitewashed, timber-frame retreat boasts an airy great hall perched above an elegant, six-stall stable. The 31-foot-high hall is graced by exposed Douglas fir columns, beams, trusses and joints; pine-paneled walls; and a pair of cupolas that bathe the interior in daylight.

Mid-Atlantic Timber Frames of Pennsylvania crafted the 5,700-square-foot structure, which was fitted onto a waiting foundation. Complete with a sleeping loft, the barn’s 3,050-square-foot upper level enjoys pastoral and equestrian views through oversized glazed openings on two sides; a floating wall supports a stone fireplace and a kitchen extends along one end. Sized to host large gatherings such as an annual party for a local riding school, the hall is also intimate enough for family Thanksgiving.

“What I loved about this project was the fact that the clients gave us latitude to create a home for them,” says Campion. “We added the first equestrian piece, then did a master plan for the gardens, then designed the equestrian areas, then went back to the house.”

The main house is a seven-bedroom dwelling with a peaked slate roof, dormers, chimney and white trim. The late DC architect
William H. Irwin Fleming, who orginally designed it, clearly reveled in rustic stone, not only used to clad the exterior but also in a stone-walled study with a flagstone floor and on a massive stone fireplace—one of nine in the residence.

Recent improvements by Campion and McGraw better connect the main house to its pristine landscape. Existing French doors and a Juliet balcony overlook a new stone terrace, pavilion and outdoor kitchen that surround the existing pool. The home’s columned rear porch surveys neat paddocks once dedicated to rolled hay.

The team took design inspiration from the original home. Campion credits Marshall, Virginia-based mason Ed Ashby with honoring the existing stonework. “The magic of the gardens is the combination of hardscape and local building materials with plants that ties it all together,” explains the landscape architect.

Kevin Campion’s master plan respects the natural contours of the terrain. To fine-tune an all-season plant palette, Campion was joined by fellow landscape architect Meredith Forney Beach, whose favored combinations around the new pool terrace include Little Lime hydrangea, Russian sage, ornamental grasses and catmint with “PowWow Wild Berry” coneflower. Spring daffodils and alliums give way to summer roses. In autumn, the foliage fades to gold.

“It’s a very simple, uncomplicated garden,” Campion says. “There’s nothing really fussy, just a sea of native plants with walls and structures that fit into the landscape.”

As for the new barn, this whitewashed building adds a visual focal point. The finely detailed lower level serves an essential purpose in the equestrian family’s lifestyle with efficiency and elegance. The upper level provides the owners with a venue for sharing the estate with a multitude of guests.

“The design was definitely an evolution,” reflects McGraw. “At the end of the day, the barn has become the jewel of the property.”

Barn & Pool House Architecture: Adam McGraw, AIA, StudioMB, Washington, DC. Builder: Potomac Valley Builders, Bethesda, Maryland. Landscape Architecture: Kevin Campion, ASLA, principal; Meredith Forney Beach, principal, Campion Hruby Landscape Architects, Annapolis, Maryland. Landscape Contractors: Planted Earth Landscaping Inc., Sykesville, Maryland, and Redux Garden and Home, Catonsville, Maryland.

The duo was given pretty much a free hand to design the landscape, measuring just under a quarter-acre, for the couple, who resided elsewhere while a renovation of the home by GTM Architects was also underway. “This was their first house with a fairly sizable outdoor space,” Richardson recounts, “and so they were leaning on us to direct them.”

The final plan imparted formal, welcoming appeal to the front of the house while enhancing outdoor living space in back. A brick walkway atop a retaining wall that ran from the front around the side of the house was extended to create a dining area covered with a wood-and-black-painted metal pergola; an adjacent lounge area with a fireplace prolongs outdoor entertaining into the cooler months. A built-in grilling station beneath the pergola is integrated with the fireplace.

A metal fence and planters filled with boxwood now adorn the retaining wall in back, which is softened by a bank of hydrangeas and boxwood. The patio overlooks an oval lawn ringed with Green Giant arborvitae and white knockout roses.

At the front of the house, a metal trellis over the garage carries semi-evergreen Snowdrift clematis and yellow jessamine vines, and a new dog run wraps around the side of the house to the back. Layers of stepped-up plantings provide the privacy the clients requested: pachysandra at ground level, then roses, hydrangeas and tall skip laurels. Adam Sexton notes the simple plant palette of creamy white flowers against the evergreen backdrop. “It fits the neighborhood perfectly,” he says. n

Landscape Architecture: Joseph Richardson, PLA, ASLA, principal; Adam Sexton, project manager, Joseph Richardson Landscape Architecture, Washington, DC. Landscape Contractor: Kohler Brafford, Black Pearl Management, Leesburg, Virginia, Washington, DC.

“I was initially perplexed,” he recalls, “because it was an area without shape. It’s not a square, it’s not a circle, it’s not a rectangle. It’s formed by a wall placed to hold the soil back and allow the house to be built.”

The overarching challenge, Brinitzer decided, was “to make some sort of recognizable form out of what was treated by the builder as leftover space.” To reduce the wall’s visual impact, he installed a custom steel trellis in front of it. Now supporting two swinging chairs, it creates a focal point and a horizon line. Fronting the trellis, a bluestone terrace with limestone insets complements the Craftsman-style house. It provides space for separate dining and lounge areas and a raised square planter containing a tall Natchez crape myrtle.

To obscure the wall and neighboring properties, Brinitzer added Japanese cedars along the property line. Slender Silhouette sweetgums were planted behind the trellis, clusters of Steeplechase arborvitae were pruned into rectangles at different heights and Miami crape myrtles with vibrant pink blooms back the seating area. Prague viburnums are arranged around the edge of the patio, and dwarf mondo grass, astilbe and maidenhair ferns border a new, curved stone stair that descends to the front yard.

“The beauty of this,” Brinitzer observes, “is that I’m using ideas I’ve used before, but in new ways. This was a challenging, not immediately obvious solution.”

Landscape Architecture: Scott Brinitzer, PLA, ASLA, Scott Brinitzer Design Associates, Arlington, Virginia. Landscape Contractor: Wildwood Landscape, Round Hill, Virginia.

With a four-foot drop between the two lots and an eight-to-10-foot elevation change on the new site, the landscape designer says the goal was to “seamlessly merge the two properties aesthetically and functionally,” providing “a private, green haven for the family.” After the adjacent house was razed, most of the one-fifth acre lot was leveled. Goffin only preserved the former home’s garage, which became the yoga studio.

A new retaining wall and cedar fence were installed near the former property line, with a series of steps leading down into the new garden. Now, views from the main house fan out to the vista below, encompassing a large, rectangular lawn, gravel paths and a fieldstone wall.

The yoga studio—clad in stucco to match the clients’ European-style Tudor house—overlooks a meditation garden accentuated by a soothing trio of Winter King hawthorn, boxwood and liriope ground cover. Chairs are gathered in front of a clipped hornbeam hedge—a gesture Goffin repeated around the perimeter of the garden to obscure neighboring houses and the street. Behind the fieldstone wall is a row of Japanese cedar and a five-foot drop filled with oakleaf hydrangea. At the bottom, an existing slate walkway connects via stepping stones up to the main house’s garden and circuitous gravel paths.

Goffin’s designs always feature a simple plant palette. “I try not to use more than five or six species,” she says, pointing out that this garden has “an architectural, orderly and effortless approach. It feels like it’s always been there.”

Landscape Design: Katia Goffin, ASLA, Katia Goffin Gardens, McLean, Virginia. Landscape Contractor: Y&A Landscaping, Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

Besides expansive views of the picturesque Miles River, what excited Arentz most was “the calm energy of the site,” he observes. “You don’t really see any other houses from it, so it feels like you’re on the water by yourself. The location has a really calming effect.”

That effect starts at the sweeping driveway, which was designed to establish an immediate sense of place and a feeling of tranquility as visitors approach and encounter their first water views. “There was a lot of thought given to the entrance drive—the sense of arrival and letting people understand that they’re actually on a peninsula,” Arentz explains.

Once up the drive, the sprawling, Shingle-style residence comes into view, adorned with a columned pediment and fronted by a courtyard rimmed in clipped hornbeam hedges, American boxwood and expanses of bottlebrush buckeye. Looking out from the nearby columned pergola, the eye is arrested by a dramatic focal point: a striking sculpture of a goose in flight by Washington, DC, sculptor John Dreyfuss. Set atop a pedestal and surrounded by lush greenery, “it just feels of the place,” says Arentz. The sculpture also draws the eye to the water beyond.

A main feature of the property is the formal lawn facing south toward the river. It flows out from the expansive porch at the back of the house, where the owners love to sit with their guests and enjoy long views across the grass to the water, with the town of St. Michaels visible in the distance. This gathering spot is also a place for the family to play games on summer evenings, while the lawn is large enough to accommodate tents for weddings and other large-scale events.

Arentz worked to create a sense of flow on the property, ensuring easy access to all the activities the family enjoys, from swimming to boating to relaxing on the porch. Existing loblolly pines stretch high into the sky, encircling the landscape and providing a stabilizing buffer between the yard and the shoreline. Arentz’s team further anchored the site by planting a mixture of hollies and trees that offer shade.

The majestic loblollies are a beautiful backdrop to a wide border of perennial flowers bursting with color and texture. This garden overflows with vibrant blooms: lilies, coneflowers, nepeta, hyssop and baptisia are punctuated by tall spikes of acanthus and softened by both large and dwarf varieties of billowy limelight hydrangea. “The perennial border is really geared to the summer months of entertaining, which is high season for the owners,” Arentz notes.

The eastern part of the property lends itself to the family’s favorite water pastimes. There is a dock from which to launch boating, crabbing, sailing and fishing expeditions, with a cottage nearby that stores fishing equipment. And when they’re not out plying the river, the residents can take advantage of water a little closer to home in the form of an expansive swimming pool with a pool house beside it.

Complete with a kitchen, bathroom and changing rooms, the pool house was designed to reflect the look of the portico and pergola attached to the main residence. A deep covered area anchored by columns faces the pool; its overhang makes al fresco dining a breeze—it’s the perfect spot for a crab feast, perhaps. Umbrellas positioned on the wide bluestone pool surround offer shady perches with views of the river beyond the loblollies.

Throughout the property, Arentz devised opportunities to meander along bluestone paths and walkways, with scenic resting spots where the owners can pause to admire garden beds or enjoy refreshments. Among other destinations, the paths lead to a guest house and tennis court—popular hubs along the site’s eastern spine. Though there’s a lot of structure and order to the property, notes Arentz, “you don’t feel it as you move from one spot to the next. The landscape feels effortless.”

Landscape Architecture: Richard Arentz, ASLA, Arentz Landscape Architects, Washington, DC.

Outdoor Escapes - Green Scene

A clever plan transforms a useless slope into a chic outdoor party space.

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Outdoor Escapes - Cutting Edge

Inviting gardens embrace a renovated 1925 Arlington bungalow.

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Outdoor Escapes - Private Spot

A natural pool and its lush surroundings celebrate the great outdoors.

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The landscape architect pitched the idea of a natural pool. Unlike conventional pools that rely on chlorine to sterilize the water, natural pools harness the relationship between beneficial bacteria and underwater plants to filter out nutrients and impurities.

Once his clients decided to take the plunge, Barnard set out to design their eco-friendly habitat. He conceived a free-form pool with two zones separated by an underwater wall; a shallow regeneration zone is situated on one side with a deeper swimming area on the other.

The plan also included a library and an apothecary/clinic used by one of the owners, a registered herbalist and nutritionist who grows more than 50 species of native medicinal plants on-site. Clad in reclaimed barn siding, the outbuildings lend a rustic touch—as does the cedar hot tub near the pool’s edge.

Barnard also created a lush landscape teeming with native vegetation and stone outcroppings. He partnered with contractor Ben Herr, who built the pool and hardscape and installed every plant, stone and boulder to mimic Mother Nature. “On a project like this,” notes Barnard, “I draw as much of it as I can, then have to trust someone like Ben to put these natural materials together in a way that’s going to look right.”

The owners are delighted with their pond-like pool and its pristine environment. Herr sums up its appeal best with a question: “Who wouldn’t want to jump into their own fresh mountain lake?”

Private Spot - Landscape Architecture: D. Miles Barnard, ASLA, RLA, South Fork Studio Landscape Architecture, Inc., Chestertown, Maryland. Landscape Contractor: Ben Herr, Anthony’s Flowers and Landscaping, Chestertown, Maryland.

Cutting Edge -  A major renovation was underway, spearheaded by Winn Design + Build.

Challenges were many on the long, quarter-acre site. Its corner location meant factoring two street views into the design. Brinitzer had to connect the house and a new freestanding garage in the backyard and screen the home from its neighbor to the south. “I was drawn to the potential to preserve the character of the house and create a casual, comfortable landscape that wasn’t overly rigid,” he says.

Throughout the garden, he defined lines and then blurred them, imparting soft, unfettered appeal. The front walk of limestone has toothed edges, as does a rear terrace that dissolves into a gravel path. “Every edge, with the exception of the seat wall, breaks and opens and doesn’t wall you off,” he explains.

Side gardens present their own allure. On the street side, instead of a heavy evergreen wall that would dwarf the house, a fluid screen of Miami crape myrtle provides privacy year-round. On the opposite side, a natural gravel path traverses randomly placed Virginia cedar, Steeplechase arborvitae and abundant perennials.

The completed landscape not only lures the homeowners outside, but also attracts an array of pollinators. “Bumblebees are everywhere,” marvels Brinitzer.

Cutting Edge - “That’s part of the environmental piece that we loved bringing to the project.”

Renovation: Winn Design + Build, Falls Church, Virginia. Landscape Architecture: Scott Brinitzer, PLA, ASLA, Scott Brinitzer Design Associates, Arlington, Virginia. Landscape Contractor: Dreamland Gardens Inc., Fairfax, Virginia. Masonry: JoPal Construction Inc., Rockville, Maryland. Lighting: Outdoor Illumination Inc., Bethesda, Maryland.

The issue: The terrain began its descent toward pristine woodland only a few feet from the home’s rear façade.

“There was no play space for their two young daughters,” recalls landscape architect Joseph Richardson, who was initially asked to build out a modest lawn. From there, he says, the owners’ plans mushroomed.

Richardson wound up overhauling the entire property, building up the backyard with massive retaining walls in a feat of engineering. The makeover forged a better connection between the front and back yards with a stairway swathed in Big Blue liriope. It also created a lawn for the kids and unfurled an expansive terrace that houses a dramatic, infinity-edge pool and a freestanding spa/water feature.

Now that the project is complete, reflects Richardson, “the pool offers a spectacular view of the natural area.” The terrace blends seamlessly into the landscape. “Full-range flagstone paving shows variations in color and texture,” he continues, “and helps soften the space.” As do native waxmyrtle, Annabell hydrangea and manicured boxwood hedges.

Along the property line, a wall of Western Maryland stone buttresses the spa, fed by water flowing through brass scuppers. A fire pit by Hart Concrete Design tempts guests to linger year-round. A staircase leads the owners past the pool’s waterfall edge and down the slope to a stream and a wooded trail—the perfect extension of their own natural idyll.

Green Scene - Landscape Architecture: Joseph Richardson, PLA, ASLA, Joseph Richardson Landscape Architecture, Washington, DC. Landscape Contractor: Black Pearl Management, Leesburg, Virginia. Pool Contractor: Jose Pimenta Construction, Rockville, Maryland.

It takes labor-intensive pruning, clipping, clearing and clean-up to ensure that the finest shrubbery and perennials achieve their natural form and lend the seasoned garden a grace and depth uncommon in the new.

A Bethesda family has overseen just such a garden for more than three decades, tended most recently by McHale Landscape Design, which won a 2020 Decade award for maintenance. A specimen wisteria has conquered a porch, while ivy and espaliered pyracantha completely hide stone walls.

“It’s a reserved garden,” says Matt Morris of McHale, who has been steward of the property for close to 15 years, working with the owners’ gardener. Morris defines the secret of maintenance as “advising what to do and more likely what not to do.”

The front yard is a classic: dogwood, azalea, rhododendron and boxwood framing a turf lawn. “Mind you, we have some deer issues that curtail what can be done,” Morris admits.

In back, the terrain is terraced, with a swimming pool slipped into a long, narrow slot at the bottom of the yard, beneath a willow. A koi pond lush with aquatic plants burbles beside a patio. Designed by McHale’s Phil Kelly, it was renovated by Morris and crew a few years ago.
“There’s not a lot of air flow,” Morris notes. “The main challenge is always water. Mother Nature just won’t stop raining on you.”

Timeless Retreat - Award: Decade for Residential Maintenance. Landscape Maintenance: Matt Morris, McHale Landscape Design, Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

The client had mandated a pool on a level side lot, but Dunlevy saw opportunities in the slope: With courageous use of cut-and-fill excavation, he addressed runoff—and was able to add an understated pool and plantings worthy of a Heritage award. “Now the client has an asset rather than a liability,” he observes.

The slope dipped 30 inches to the property line. By constructing a 36-inch-tall retaining wall at the boundary and filling it tightly with excavated soil, Dunlevy gained the right elevation for the rectangular pool with space for a spa that spills into it and a circular stone fire pit. Arborvitae and cryptomeria provide privacy. A historic wood-frame garage at one end of the pool dictated the design of an attached outdoor changing area while providing space for equipment.

The pool is bounded by a thermal Pennsylvania flagstone terrace to match an existing upper patio. A meandering path is enlivened with camellia and a Japanese maple. Out of sight but not out of mind is a large dry well topped with a bed of river stones, which manages runoff to adjacent properties. Says Dunlevy, “I always try to be as neighborly as possible. It costs a little more, but it will pay off in the end.” And that flat side lot? It became a baseball diamond.

Savvy Solution - Award: Heritage for Outdoor Living Area/Design-Build. Landscape Architecture & Maintenance: Blake Dunlevy, D.A. Dunlevy, Poolesville, Maryland. Photography: Mason Summers.

Dozens of truckloads of dirt were hauled away to transform a barren slope into a landscape designed for outdoor living and recreation.

The finished property, which won a Distinction award, is now terraced to fit a mountain of boulders; they rise six feet from the edge of a pool and serve as a retaining wall supporting holly and arborvitae. The pile of Tennessee stone doubles as a waterfall and jumping-off point for three kids. A 12-foot-wide spillway stone weighs in at three tons.

“It was pretty easy to install. The rest of the rock was in place,” says Cohen, adding that when the monster stone arrived, “the crane just lifted it up there.”

Cohen designed the pool 10 feet deep to ensure safety for adventurous water nymphs. (A lifeguard’s chair is stationed nearby.) Occupying the lower yard, a synthetic turf sports court hosts basketball and soccer games; when school facilities weren’t available during coronavirus restrictions, the team practiced on the home field.

Surrounds enhanced the existing patio, outdoor kitchen and fire pit with new lighting. Plantings include Arkansas blue star, St. John’s Wort and a mix of ornamental grasses. Pennsylvania bluestone steps lead to the sports court, which is screened from the pool by native grasses. Hanover Appian random pavers around the pool nicely complement those great big boulders from Tennessee.

Play Scape - Award: Distinction for Outdoor Living Area/Design-Build. Landscape Architecture & Installation: Howard Cohen, PLA, Surrounds, Inc., Sterling, Virginia. Photography: Judy Davis.

With an acre and mature trees already framing the property, a landscape designer can easily fashion distinct garden rooms. And if the owners happen to be collectors, those “rooms” may showcase art amid ornamental trees, flowering shrubs, grasses and perennials—all of which make maintenance essential.

On a Zen-calm Bethesda property, owners first created an Asian-inspired garden. Years later, they commissioned architect Robert M. Gurney, FAIA, to add a pool pavilion. Landscape architect Thomas Rainer, then with Rhodeside & Harwell, unified the landscape using ebullient masses of hydrangea anchored by globes of boxwood, with windblown grasses, ferns and perennials to soften the hardscape—and to set off garden sculptures such as a lettered figure by Jaume Plensa.

“There’s a matrix of reliable plants,” Rainer explains. “Most of the plant palette is ‘blowsy;’ the big thing is the looseness. Plants grow to their full height and volume.”

The task of pruning this paradise has fallen to Shorb Landscaping, a winner of this year’s Distinction award for residential maintenance. “The complexity can offer its challenges at times,” admits Ted Pleiman of Shorb, who sends a three-person team weekly to tame drifts of astilbe, coral bells, hakone grass, hosta, allium and daylily. That’s what it takes “to keep everything looking natural.”

Work of Art - Award: Distinction for Residential Maintenance. Landscape Architecture: Thomas Rainer, PLA, Phyto Studio LLC, Arlington, Virginia. Landscape Maintenance: Ted Pleiman, Shorb Landscaping, Kensington, Maryland. Photography: Melissa Clark.

Landscape Design & Contracting: Mike Miller, Sandra Moffatt, McHale Landscape Design, Upper Marlboro, Maryland.