Date: Fri 11-Aug-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: AMYD

Illustration: C

Quick Words:

Garden-Gloria-Scott

Full Text:

Scott's Style Focuses On Design

(with photos)

By Amy D'Orio

(Editor's Note: This is the third installment of an ongoing series by Amy

D'Orio about unusual gardens in Newtown. Stories will appear throughout the

summer.)

Calm waters.

A toy sailboat gliding near the waterfall and a grove of white birches amidst

a lush, green lawn.

Gloria Scott's backyard is like a Shaker chair: neat and quiet, graceful and

simple.

"Nature is so busy, which is why I love simplicity," she said.

Mrs Scott, a landscape designer, has spent years using heavy machinery and

hard labor to transform a swampy, bushy woodland into a sweeping lawn that

leads to two ponds connected by waterfalls.

The vista from her patio is tranquil, and visitors sink into the outdoor

chairs just to relax their eyes on the view.

Too many people get stuck on flowers, Mrs Scott says. They are so busy looking

down at the beds that they forget to concentrate on the overall design of a

property.

Her yard is meant for wide-angle gazes but still includes those nooks where

someone can hide and think.

Mrs Scott lacks the time to care for perennials, bulbs and annuals, so she

uses just a few strategically.

Day lilies soften a stone wall. In the spring, the job is done by daffodils.

The ponds have large irises called Pseudocorus and pink water lilies. Some

days, they are also hosts to a Blue heron

To the side of the house, Mrs Scott has cut into a hill and put in a stone

retaining wall. The top is a cutting garden tucked away from sight.

The lower half is a pink and white primrose garden in the shape of a

horseshoe.

Instead of flowers, the landscape rests on its exquisite lines, which, like a

sculpture, can be viewed from many sides and still remain aesthetically

balanced.

What stands out most is the gentle turn of the stream and ponds - one smaller

than the other - accentuated by little blue forget-me-knots. The fluid line is

contrasted nicely by the long, straight stone wall behind it.

The lawn, shaped by the ponds and the house, is what the art world calls

well-used "negative" space. It is empty, but integral to the overall

composition of the picture.

Mrs Scott helps define this space from the outlying woods with viburnums,

rhododendrons, sweet pepper bush and rose of Sharon. These shrubs also ease

the stark transition from lawn to wood.

Newtown gardener Sydney Eddison remarked that Mrs Scott's property is unique

because of its creative use of green.

It is true; Mrs Scott uses color sparingly, preferring white and the many

shades of green.

Her patio flower pots are a mix of white and gray. She uses Marguerites, Sweet

Alyssum, Helichrysum, Artemisia and Nierembergia. They compliment the neutral

hues of the house, patio and shade trees. Even when filling flower pots, she

is aware of the larger picture she is creating.

Mrs Scott and her husband moved to Newtown from Manhattan about 15 years ago.

In a photo album, they have documented what their home first looked like: a

scraggly lawn and a woodland encroaching on the deck.

The first day they were there, Mrs Scott declared she wanted a pond. They

cleared brush before unpacking.

As time went on and the pond progressed into two, Mrs Scott realized she had a

talent for landscape design. She received some formal schooling and is now

working with landscape designer Betty Ajay in Bethel.

While Mrs Scott likes to pare nature's beauty to a sparer form, she also has a

great respect for its wild state and has left a big section of the property

alone.

Outside a big gate, she has made a path that leaves her neat, green haven for

a second one that follows the same stream that feeds her ponds.

It is her nature walk, giving Gloria Scott the best of both worlds in one

small nook off Parmalee Hill.