Arcadia—Ronald Wagner & Timothy Van Dam

Our 1840 Greek Revival-style farmhouse is set in a pastoral landscape of 28 acres. An avenue of sweet gum trees lining the formal driveway is planted in forced perspective to visually extend the approach to the house. The gently rolling hillside is punctuated by a magnificent grove of black locust trees and a grove of deciduous conifers, including bald cypress, metasequoia, and larch trees. A wildflower meadow rises to the north, a new pentagram-shaped grove of gingko trees can be reached by a mown path leading through the meadow, another path leads through the forest beyond. The informal plantings include the lilac border, rhododendron, mountain laurel, and hydrangea beds. A large pond is the focus of surrounding naturalistic plantings of daylilies, rudbeckia, Japanese iris, and swamp azalea, giving views of the wetland beyond. Symmetrical twin terraces at the house feature a wisteria arbor-covered stone dining table on the south and perennial border of peonies and roses on the north. A new stumpery bed of ferns and shade-loving woodland plants has been created to line the service drive to the south.