On the inside, looking out

September 2015: the Conservation Commission is
satisfied with what Betty and I have wrought

Ten years ago in April, Betty and I moved into our newly-built ‘dream retirement house’, our seventh and final home. After decades of moving into houses built by someone else, this one – finally – was of our own design. The lawns and gardens of those other properties were, of course, also someone else’s idea of ‘appropriate’.

You should be able to admire
a garden from inside a home

Just as we had specific ideas about the layout of our house, so Betty had an entire notebook of thoughts about the garden’s design and content. And one of those ideas was something I had never thought of: a garden being something to be admired from inside the home as well as while standing in it.

Her thinking was eminently practical, even though it seemed to go against so many conceptions about "what gardens are for". Betty’s thought was based on the observation that no one wants to be standing in a garden on an 87 degree day with a dew point of 75... and New England has far too many such days. The plants, though, love that kind of weather. So, why not think about sight lines from inside the house when you're getting ready to create that garden? 

That inspiration guided the siting of the house on its lot. Instead of placing our home the same distance back from the street as our neighbors (as was the existing house), we opted to build thirty feet farther back. Doing so provided two advantages: a much deeper garden in front to provide additional privacy, and a clear line of sight in three directions for a large screened porch the we suspected would be where we spent much of our summer hours (and from which this essay is written).

A full-sized window in
the master bathroom?

A view to the outside also affected the design and placement of windows. It takes an act of faith to place a 32” x 48” window in the middle of your master bath. Yes, it has shutters; but they’re left open. To create a full view of the back garden from our new home’s living room, four continuous, extra-tall windows spanning ten feet were incorporated into the design. The library at our soon-to-be old home had been the place where we spent many hours reading or listening to music. The ‘new’ library was designed to have three windows, each with a separate vista.

The view from the kitchen

In October 2014, and with the shell of the house now in place, Betty began sketching a garden concept – imagining the view out of each window. Nothing was cast in stone because we were still at least six months away from choosing the trees that would anchor each bed. But the intent was clear: ensure whatever trees were chosen did not block views from windows. A line of shrubs – each distinct in color, leaf, and form so as not to be mistaken for a hedge – would go across the front of the property to provide a primary privacy screen.

One view from the screened porch

For the first half dozen years, the ‘inside out’ concept was moot. Shrubs and trees were small and seemingly dispersed around a sea of mulch. The lower shutters in the master bath definitely remained closed. Then, seemingly almost overnight, it all came together. The ‘groups of three’ shrubs we had planted (such as Fothergilla, Itea, and Clethra) merged into visually arresting masses.

Ten feet of windows capture the rear 
garden from the living room.

In this, the garden’s eleventh season, the ‘inside out’ philosophy has been verified. The view from the screened porch from every direction is remarkable (even though an allowance was made to allow two Viburnum nudum ‘Winterthur’ specimens to grow to their full, ten-foot height; the better to display their June flowering). The view from the window over the kitchen sink is of blueberry bushes where, at any given time, a rotating cast of birds are gorging on the 2025 crop. And, the views from the library are, well, take a look at the photos. ‘Sublime’ comes to mind.

The view out the front door

My favorite view may be out the front door. A bluestone sidewalk gently bends to the left; flanked on either side by low plantings of perennials that gradually rise to a sweep of Rudbeckia and Monarda, beyond which are those clumps of shrubs. A seldom-used second-floor guest bedroom (as part of aging in place, the rooms we use daily are all on the main floor) has the same view as the front entry, but elevated.

Except for the obvious one, all of the accompanying photos were taken on July 20, 2025.