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For Carmen DeVito and Alice S. Marcus Krieg of Groundworks, a Brooklyn-based garden design-build firm, creating the perfect garden for a client begins with a series of questions, and the one they always lead with is, “What’s your first garden memory?”

The two discovered just how fruitful this answer can be when they worked with their first client, a Lebanese man who recalled playing with his friends as a child beneath the black pines in his neighborhood. They decided to incorporate the tree into a Mediterranean-inspired garden.

“When we planted it he was almost in tears,” says Krieg, “because he was reminded of that childhood era in his life.”

Asking their clients to name their favorite plants and to recall the natural worlds they explored as kids — something that is “very deep-rooted,” notes Alice, no pun intended — helps Groundworks create a garden that will have a lasting impact.

“The way land is used is very personal,” said Alice, and “if you can delve deep into people’s history and heritage, you create a more personal connection to their garden.”

 

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In one particular project, they merged the memories of a couple — he spent summers in Maine, she grew up in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee — into a cohesive, sensory garden for their kids. Big slabs of stone, lots of moss, gaultheria (winterberry), and juniper all referenced his experience, while hers was reflected in the Appalachian-inspired pergola made from birch trunks. The garden was planted with native mountain laurel, joe pye weed, and other native perennials.

 

groundworks-garden-brooklynTactile paving is a forest-inspired design for sensory experiences

Not everyone grows up around greenery, though, and for clients who are native New Yorkers, Groundworks has other questions that will lead them on the perfect garden path. Such as, “When will you spend the most time in your garden?” When they learned that one client intended to use her rooftop garden after work primarily and for entertaining, the information inspired a “moon garden,” filled with fragrant, flowering plants that bloom at night.

 

groundworks-moon-garden-metcalf-brooklynMoon garden filled with white fragrant flowers that attract pollinators and bloom at night

 

“A garden project often comes on the heels of a home renovation which has often taxed the clients’ patience and resources,” said Carmen, “mindfulness of client’s budgets and getting the work done in a timely manner are really important, so we try to make the garden building process as painless as possible.”

 

groundworks-gardens-capoccia-brooklynThis garden plan was intended to compliment and mirror the urban environment for this real estate developer

 

Groundworks’ detailed, in-person design process, and the maintenance that they provide long after a garden is designed, are all in service of creating the best possible experience for their clients.

 

groundworks-garden-butlerA forest-inspired design reflective of eclectic aesthetics: Japanese bamboo, formal hedges, en mass plantings that are loosely arranged illustrate this client’s peaceful approach to her environment

 

“We find it often becomes a very personal relationship,” continued Carmen. “That only happens because we listen carefully and we’re very respectful of who they are and what their needs are.”

 

Contact Alice and Carmen of Groundworks, Inc. to get started on your very own memory-filled garden.

 

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