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We also limit our containers to terra-cotta pots in varying forms. By repeating the one material, we underpin a settled, familiar feeling. In the herb garden, for example, we set out a row of 24-inch-tall narrow terra-cotta pots called long Toms against the arborvitae hedge, then plant each with a different annual herb. We fill other terra-cotta pots with Fuchsia ‘Billy Green’ and Helichrysum petiolare ‘Limelight’ and set them at both ends of the bench under the grape arbor.
Again, there is one exception: For just a bit of added color, we placed a royal-blue ceramic pot on the pea-stone path to pick up the color of the nearby blue chairs. In another part of the garden, we set one unplanted 42-inch-high Columbian terra-cotta urn at the beginning of a pea-stone path and its mate 40 feet along the path to draw people down the length of this infrequently visited area at the west edge of the garden.
We also repeat other materials throughout the garden to foster coherence. Because black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) is native to our part of Vermont, and because the locals tell me that a black locust in the ground lasts one day longer than a rock, we've used six-inch-diameter, 8-foot-long black locust posts with their bark still on in any number of ways. They serve as gate posts and as supports for chain swags dangling from one post to the next to create a gentle separation between two garden areas. Buried two feet in the ground, they form six-foot-high portals in a break in a yew hedge. We even use the same posts horizontally as three-inch-high steps by setting half their diameter into the ground. We keep the bark on to establish a visual relationship between naturally occurring locust trees bordering the meadow and locust posts in the garden. By repeating this material throughout, we create continuity as well as a reassuring link between the garden and the surrounding landscape.
Objects in the garden are a personal expression of the gardener. Mary and I try to use them with restraint to keep our garden from getting too busy with things. And, most of all, we cherish these furnishings and ornaments because they make us and our guests feel at home in our outdoor rooms.
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