In spring the semicircular grass berm behind Silas Mountsier’s house in Nutley, New Jersey, is littered with daffodils blooming beneath slender redbud trees. Mr. Mountsier, 87, was born here, and liked it enough never to leave home.
Since the spring of 1992, garden designer Richard Hartlage, a friend, has worked with the Silas and his partner to re-envision this landscape
Intimate living areas invite quiet conversation and contemplation.
There is plenty to contemplate: Mr. Mountsier’s extensive outdoor art collection is incorporated effortlessly within the botanical scheme.
From the patio beneath cherry trees (a favorite spot for spring and summer lunches) a Burmese storage urn offers the viewer a three dimensional pause.
There is an intimacy between the smooth skin of the Shiva from Mamalapuram and the young spring blue of indigenous Mertensia virginica.
The ephemeral collection of spring flowers beneath includes cultivars of natives such as bellwort (Uvullaria grandiflora) and trout lilies (Erythronium).
Woodland phlox (Phlox divaricata) pop against a quilt of new leaves of a burgundy Heuchera.