Serene Spaces

(Landscape by Select Horticulture, Inc.)

The world can wait: these soothing landscapes calm the mind and cast a spell.

Gardens have long had an association with tranquility. Gentle verdant slopes, deeply piled lawns and meandering footpaths have a therapeutic effect on the mind and soul. Just think of Buddhist and Japanese gardens, where ancient Zen principles of peaceful contemplation and simply enjoying stillness are embedded in the landscape. The following oases provide a reprieve from life’s usual frenetic pace, offering quiet moments of lush beauty.

Landscape by Schumacher Companies

Schumacher Companies’ glorious formal garden, above, is far too orderly to be Zen, a philosophy that holds fast to the belief that perfection doesn’t exist (have they seen this garden?). Still, it most definitely has a stop-and-smell-the-roses effect on the onlooker. We love the geometry of the hedge against the blooms of color, and the stone path that begs you to circle its grounds. The water feature focal point at center is both an audible and visual delight.

Landscape by Schumacher Companies

The design of this exquisite Cape Cod vista by Schumacher Companies makes all who gather here feel that they’re the only ones in the world. The circular hardscape, set at its own elevation, has a remarkable air of privacy even though it’s configured in a wide-open setting. Flanked with flowerbeds on one side and the shoreline’s natural thicket on the other, this manicured terrace—its grass peeking out from the stone—is the perfect perch to enjoy both the sea and the grounds.

Landscape by Leone Landscape and Construction

The above design by Leone Landscape and Construction for a home in Nahant also prizes its ocean overlook. It was fashioned as a sort of stolen Eden in an informal part of the yard and is secluded but not showy. Native New England fieldstone steppers lead to a limestone bench just beyond the trees and by the hosta. The landscape features small shrubs and perennials to keep the focus on the view.

Landscape by Leone Landscape and Construction

For a Brookline home, Leone Landscape and Construction created a freestanding stone turret upon the impeccable yard’s highest elevation. Here the goal was to build a private space and sitting area that makes the homeowner feel that they’re far away from urban life. The turret boasts natural New England fieldstone with a slate roof and is carved with an archway to frame the view from the interior’s custom stone benches.

Landscape by a Blade of Grass

This picturesque patio of a country farmhouse overlooking the Sudbury River is rustic and restful. The multi-toned hardscape is as hypnotizing as the unspoiled greenery beyond the wall of the terrace. For the hardscape, a Blade of Grass chose a full-color natural bluestone hardscape that pairs well with the swaths of vivid green scrub before it. Shocks of quick fire hydrangeas bridge the two scenes, and a reclaimed granite fire pit ensures that the two wicker chairs are often occupied.

Landscape by a Blade of Grass

This lushly layered woodland retreat in Chestnut Hill bordering a forest of conservation land was created in lieu of a lawn by a Blade of Grass. The arcadian setting was crafted to extend the home’s living spaces to the great outdoors. It contains a few garden seats from which to drink in the shaded landscape that mingles moss-laden New England fieldstone steppers with beds brimming with hosta ‘gold standard,’ Japanese painted ferns, fothergilla, hakonechloa grass and variegated red twig dogwood.

Landscape by a Blade of Grass

Here, an alternate view reveals more of the same leafy palette, as well as Japanese maple, birch and boxwood and a limpid koi pond dotted with water hyacinths.

Walpole Outdoors

While not a landscape company, Walpole Outdoors is committed not only to outdoor living spaces, but to “outdoor lifestyles.” The handcrafted arbor pictured above is a vision in soft gray, and the crowning glory of this inspired rectilinear garden. This arbor provides privacy, is nestled into the whitewashed brick walls and is customized with a bench—inviting residents to stay awhile to bask in the beauty of the blossoms and fountain.

Walpole Outdoors

Even a simple ornamental detail like Walpole Outdoors’ arched cedar bridge, pictured above, can make a world of difference to your landscape. Consider what that Japanese footbridge meant to Monet and the gardens of Giverny. Used decoratively or functionally to cross a property’s stream or pond, a bridge is not only pleasing to the eye, it also serves as a gentle reminder that your grounds are meant for walking.

Walpole Outdoors

The rustic whole timber pergola above lends a natural majesty to a woodsy outdoor space and gives prominence to a pathway. Think of Walpole Outdoors’ pergola as a grown-up version of a treehouse, as it provides a bit of shade and adds an architectural component to the landscape. It also invites ivies, clematis and other climbing vines to ascend its frame to form a vertical garden.

Landscape by Select Horticulture, Inc.

If your tranquil greenspace is a still budding vision, Select Horticulture, Inc., the 38-acre Lancaster nursery known for its flawless trees, plants and shrubs can work with you to bring it to full flourish. They’ve tapped only the most trusted growers for an unparallleled assortment of specimen trees, evergreens, deciduous shrubs, and shade and ornamental plants. Their nursery’s pros are also keenly aware of the benefits of those quiet moments where we stop long enough to admire a flower’s delicate bloom or walk among the trees.

Landscape by Select Horticulture, Inc.