MCLD's Beech Ledge Garden Receives 2014 APLD Merit Award!

We are proud to announce that our “Beech Ledge Garden” in Brookline, Massachusetts, has been selected as a 2014 International Merit Award Winner in the annual competition sponsored by the Association of Professional Landscape Designers!  

This year’s list of winners is impressive, and the judging panel was comprised of well-known experts in the field including, Kathy Stokes-Shafer, APLD; Eric Liskey, Deputy Editor, Better Homes & Gardens magazine; Rosalind Reed, FAPLD, Principal of Rosalind Reed Associates; Norman Booth, landscape architect, author and professor emeritus at The Ohio State University; Kathy Brenzel, Garden Editor for Sunset magazine; Billy Goodnick, award-winning landscape architect and columnist of Fine Gardening Magazine; Greg Pierceall, professor emeritus at Purdue University; and Duncan Heather, founder of the Oxford College of Garden Design.

This landscape reveals the story of a family and the architecture of their impeccably restored early-twentieth-century manor home, which sits prominently on two acres of ledge-dotted land in an established Boston neighborhood.  The thoughtful masterplan reimagines the role of a centennial beech and paints life into the setting with multi-seasonal plant characteristics to shape memorable spaces.  New garden rooms are arranged to celebrate the tree, and colonies of viburnums and flowering dogwoods surround and enhance the puddingstone ledge outcrops.  Fothergilla hedges create dynamic structure, and a linear parterre garden — filled with abundant low-maintenance perennials and herbs — produces armfuls of fragrant flowers, spring through fall.  Large areas of lawn are converted to managed meadow, and knee-height grasses strike a textural contrast with the quiet architecture.  Amidst a restored ecological balance, the stunning seasons unfold.  The garden is the result of another awesome collaboration with Gardenform Landscape Construction of Lunenberg, Massachusetts.  Look for more about this garden as we prepare for the launch of our new website later this summer!

Thank you APLD for recognizing this project!  We look forward to seeing you all at the conference in Orlando in November!