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Intimate Splendor

When the land and view are large, success is in the scale

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BARRY WONG / THE SEATTLE TIMES The most frequently used feature of the updated landscape is the sinuous stone circle that curves naturally into the redesigned contours of the front lawn. BARRY WONG / THE SEATTLE TIMES The original terraces off the back of the house are wide open to the lawn and view, ideal for the benefit parties that Bernt and Elisabeth Bodal host. BARRY WONG / THE SEATTLE TIMES Double hedges of Elisabeth Bodal's favorite pink roses line the walkway to the gazebo, centered with the surprise of a pomegranate sculpture by Little and Lewis. BARRY WONG / THE SEATTLE TIMES One garden space after another unfolds, so artfully blended it's impossible to tell what's new and what's original. A hornbeam arch beyond the new pond leads to the apple orchard, planted a decade ago. BARRY WONG / THE SEATTLE TIMES The old orchard serves as green backdrop to display a striking new sculpture by Iceland artist Steinunn Thorarinsdottir. BARRY WONG / THE SEATTLE TIMES The entry garden is a microcosm of Tom Berger's seamless renovation 10 years after his original design was completed. The concrete pond was part of the original scheme, the fountain and urn are new.

Not often does a landscape architect get two shots at designing the same garden. Tom Berger was delighted when new owners requested an update to a garden he first designed a decade ago.

Bernt and Elisabeth Bodal recognized their waterfront garden's strong bones, despite its overgrown shrubs and air of neglect. "It was a nice enough garden," says Elisabeth, but Berger and Jason Morse (of the Berger Partnership) made it special.

No small task, for the Bodal property stretches 350 feet along a bluff overlooking Puget Sound. The scale is vast, the views magnificent, and the house stately. How does the garden compete with all that splendor? How to maintain generous enough scale to accommodate the large charity events Elisabeth hosts, yet create more intimate spaces within the 6 ½-acre landscape?

Berger began by redesigning the contours of the lawn for a less steep, more pastoral effect. Then in the fold of a knoll above the water he created a cozy destination that practically compels family and guests to forsake the terraces flanking the house and move into the garden. A new stone circle is just large enough for Adirondack chairs, a sundial and firepit. Its curved walls offer an invitation to nestle down and admire the western-facing view of mountains and sunset.

At the side of the house, Berger eliminated a raised-bed vegetable garden with blue-painted railroad ties that added nothing to the scene. This less-than-elegant space is now a formal rose garden, with gravel paths, boxwood hedging, a series of pergolas and new beds centered in roses trained to standards. With lawns on one side and a 1,300-square-foot water feature on the other, the highly detailed, formal garden is a distinct contrast to the larger landscape.

Creating destinations


Destinations are an invitation to wander and enjoy the garden, as well as places to relax and take it all in. Landscape architect Tom Berger added an "episodic aspect" to the Bodals' largely undifferentiated landscape by creating intimate spaces for comfort and intrigue:

• The new 20,000-gallon pond and waterfall bring a feeling of nature to this grand garden. Cross the water by hopping from boulder to boulder and feel like a kid again in this mostly formal landscape.

• A stone patio furnished with a firepit and Adirondack chairs is embraced with a sheltering curve of low wall. The stone circle offers respite from the vast view, a perfect spot for conversation or relaxation out of the wind.

• A pomegranate created by local designers Little and Lewis lures you into the gazebo for a closer look. Art can serve as both magnet and focal point; here it rewards the journey down the long axis of the garden.

• The geometric patterning of the rose garden, enclosed by arbors and hedging, adds a sense of intimacy to the large scale of lawns, views and water features.

The rush of water over rocks is clearly audible from the rose garden, yet the scale of pond, rocks and waterfall is a surprise. "I like unexpected things," says Elisabeth modestly of the new greenhouse perched at water's edge. What used to be a sunken garden is now a deep pond surrounded by boulders and plantings of gunnera, rushes and other water-loving plants.

In the entry garden, overgrown evergreens were removed and a fountain added. "This home called for a fountain," says Elisabeth, and this bubbling cascade of water is visible when coming up to or going away from the front door.

Berger was careful to leave alone the parts of the garden that had aged well and suited the Bodals' tastes. The apple orchard and sweeps of handsomely mature oakleaf hydrangeas remain. The round concrete pond that holds a new fountain hails from the garden's first go-round. While Berger left plenty of evergreens to lend scale to the large home and shelter the property from storms, he added a tapestry of smaller trees beneath them. Chosen for flowers and foliage, this understory adds seasonal interest as well as texture and color to what was once an overly green scene.

The synthesis of old and new is captured in how the Bodals have personalized the old orchard with a new focal point: An Icelandic artist friend of Elisabeth's crafted a calmly dignified female statue, which stands guard beneath a rusty arch surrounded by the apple trees.

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and author of "A Pattern Garden." Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net. Barry Wong is a Seattle-based freelance photographer. He can be reached at studio@barrywongphoto.com.