In 2000, Barton and I moved into our c. 1836 Greek  Revival house built by Colonel Dwight Wellington Pierce.  The freak tornado of 1989 had ravaged the forest of tall spruces that had previously shaded a small garden behind the house leaving only very tall broken stumps. Rosa rugosa and pieris cluttered the front of the house so we dug them up and plunked them down in the back yard.  That was the beginning of the garden.

Knowing little about gardening but being a painter/ graphic designer with strong feelings about design and geometry, I created a general “stump plan”  and we dug up and laid field stone paths circling the stumps.  While waiting for them to rot, we planted English cottage perennials: peonies, roses, lilacs, clematis, delphiniums, and lady’s mantle.  It became our haven, or heaven, if you will.

Each year we try and make improvements:  bee hives, a nepeta and narcissi alle, a crabapple alle, a fountain wall, surprise seating areas, a “cocktail lounge”, and Bart’s topiary alligator which watches over us all.

-Debby Jones

View the Robinson garden.

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