Great Escape
“When we bought our home, we bought it for the land and not the house,” Cindy Barnhill says. Yet the couple nevertheless drew inspiration from the English Tudor home. “We do a lot of French- and English-inspired gardens,” Barnhill continues. “I believe that your garden should be an extension of your home.”
That belief was the genesis of the less formal, meandering mix of boxwood, herbs, perennials and container gardens-arranged in pots from Gene Switzer Antiques-that graces the front of the Barnhills’ home.
And the approach continues in the backyard, where the most striking element is a gorgeous pool and patio. Neither of those existed 25 years ago; in fact, the Barnhills exchanged wedding vows in the very spot where the deep end of their pool now lies.
Back then the nearly empty land included a horse barn and a tack shed, which the couple inherited from the property’s previous owners. They eventually remodeled those structures, transforming the former into a greenhouse and the latter into a playhouse for their two boys.
They tackled the land and planted the orchard that now is home to approximately 120 mature and 20 younger trees with 85 varieties of fruit and nuts. Then they put in a vegetable garden of epic proportions: Last summer it contained 300 tomato cages along with squash, peppers, turnips, kale, purple carrots and more. “We’ve always been crazy gardeners,” Barnhill says. “We try to do unusual things you don’t see all the time.”
Well-placed antiques and iron archways help achieve that goal while adding architectural interest to the green expanse. Guests sitting in the poolside chaise lounges, for example, have a perfect view of an antique mirror from Christopher Filley Antiques: Attached to the back side of the house, it plays host to a revolving variety of flowering vines from year to year.
The Barnhills’ myriad perennial gardens, berm beds and pathways serve as conduits, drawing visitors further into the landscape. This is particularly evident in an aerial shot of the French-inspired parterre garden just across from the pathway that runs along the house. “You just don’t know what’s behind the next bed,” Barnhill says. “It does give you that feel of ‘The Secret Garden.’”
While the Barnhills certainly enjoy getting their hands dirty, taking care of the expanse that has grown up under their tenure on the land is more than a two-person job. Over the past 25 years, they have worked with Brian Wormley of Bergamot & Ivy, who set up the original berm bed outlines, Reed Dillon & Associates in Lawrence and, most recently, Brett Daniel of Red Square Landscaping Design-all were family friends.
But it’s a little easier to maintain the property these days, Barnhill says. “People think we must be out there from morning to night,” Barnhill says. “We’ve gotten to a point after this many years now though where there’s not that much maintenance if we keep things under control.”
In fact, a lot of the work happens in the off-season, when Barnhill and Daniels spend their days in the greenhouse, planning, pouring over seed catalogs and working on the container gardens.
“It’s fun to go away [for a season] and come back and see what’s come up,” Barnhill says. “You’re still gardening all year long and taking people along on the journey you see out your window.”
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Tags: Architect, art, design, furniture, homes, Kansas City, Landscaping, Magazine, SpacesNovember 17 2011 | Landscaping | No Comments »