Garden: With Artist

Opportunity:
A small unkempt urban back yard shared by two condominiums presented a blank slate for a series of new outdoor rooms for the owners who wanted a wonderful shared garden.

Response:
Turning in on itself, this new garden is paved with dark manganese brick and densely planted to the fence that now encloses the space. The landscape design is a collaborative effort between Sarah Nettleton and Tom Rose, a nationally recognized Minnesota artist. Nettleton also remodeled the upstairs condominium, creating a link with a window seat in the bedroom that is reoriented to face the garden.

The two private garden rooms, each with a terrace, are organized by Rose’s granite sculptures and separated by lush perennial and shrub plantings. In the winter, the stones and paved areas blanketed by snow appear as sculpture.