Residential Gardens

Harwood Residence

Harwood, MD • Ongoing since 1986

Designers

Oehme, van Sweden & Associates
Wolfgang Oehme
James van Sweden

To wed this house with its forested, waterfront setting on a peninsula surrounded by the West River and overlooking the Chesapeake Bay, four-season plantings and informal pathways—two of the firm’s signature design elements—were employed. Of the latter van Sweden wrote: “A skilled garden choreographer … [can] use a twist in a path to turn the visitor suddenly toward a view; the turn will slow the steps and cause visitors to take notice of their surroundings.”[1]

To avoid competing with the natural grandeur of the site, the [clients] settled on a design approach for the ‘bones’ of the garden that is restrained and disciplined.[2]

James van Sweden

 

Learn More

The Artful Garden and Gardening with Water. see resources

 

[1] footnotes [1] James van Sweden and Tom Christopher, The Artful Garden: Creative Inspiration for Landscape Design (New York: Random House, 2011), 111.

[2] James van Sweden, Gardening with Water (New York: Watson-Guptill Publications, 2007), 106.

 

Exhibition