Mountain views framed by papery-white tree trunks inspire a landscape design

Is there a more poetic landscape than a stand of birches? An example of such poetry is on a Vermont hilltop, where gleaming white tree trunks and lacy foliage surround a chalet that could have housed Heidi and her grandfather.

While the hues of perennials like Solomon’s seal and astilbe are muted, colorful annuals fill pots atop the wall. Susan Teare

By Regina Cole

April 11, 2017

4 minutes to read

Is there a more poetic landscape than a stand of birches? An example of such poetry is on a Vermont hilltop, where gleaming white tree trunks and lacy foliage surround a chalet that could have housed Heidi and her grandfather. Birches line the driveway leading up to the stucco-and-half-timbered house, forming the foreground to a sunset view of distant western mountains. To complete the rural idyll, Belted Galloway cattle graze their way into the picture.

“This is a very beautiful site in the Woodstock area,” says landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy of Julie Moir Messervy Design Studio in Saxtons River, Vt.. “Before we began, we saw the themes for a design: pasture, cows, birches, and the view.”

A long view toward western mountains inspired a bluestone terrace made for relaxing, dining, cooking, and gathering around curved elements like the millstone fountain. The metal bowl that serves as a fire pit rests on a circle of cut Vermont fieldstone. – Susan Teare

The owners, a married couple whose primary residence is on New York’s Long Island, bought the 3,500-square-foot chalet five years ago.

“The people who built this house had a fondness for Switzerland,” says one of the homeowners, “so they built a chalet and imported wrought-iron hardware for the windows, as well as other architectural elements, from there.” She adds: “They used it as a second home for 30 years, but they never put in any plantings. It was barren in a funny way; the only beautiful landscape element was the birch trees. The outside of the house needed some softening. We needed someone who could make it pretty.”

The driveway leads up the hill past stands of old birches. – Susan Teare

Messervy drew up a plan that makes the most of the birches and the view of the Green Mountains while creating places to sit, lounge, eat, and cook. Working with project manager Anna Johansen and Erica Bowman, who oversaw all the plantings, she reconfigured the approach to the house, placed stone planting beds at the front facade, built a side wall with a thick wooden gate, and at the windows placed pots of tuberous begonias that spill prettily through the iron bars.

Messervy tapped Vermont’s workforce to execute her plan: general contractor Lance Ballard Builders of South Woodstock, Clement Lawn and Irrigation of Perkinsville, and JT Stoneworks of Windsor.

The designer’s primary focus was the rear of the house, where the long view toward the mountains is interrupted only by those grazing cattle and clumps of birches. Here, Messervy was inspired by the chalet’s round and curved details, such as porthole windows, including one in the roof peak, and several arched windows and doorways.

With the millstone fountain nearby, the fire pit serves as a casual gathering place. – Susan Teare

“We created variations on circles and millstones,” says Messervy. “There was an old terrace wall, which we renovated by sweeping it out in a curve, gesturing toward the view.” She used several large millstones, one as the base for a fountain, another, found on the property, as a breakfast table, the hole in the center planted with herbs.

The now-round retaining wall, which encloses an outdoor dining room, a sunken kitchen with a grill and pizza oven, hot tub, and lounging area, is built of hefty local granite topped with a wide bluestone cap. Bluestone pavers also line the terrace floor, alternating with more irregularly cut pieces of Vermont fieldstone. The wall itself acts as a ha-ha, an element often used in 18th- and early-19th-century landscapes as barriers to contain livestock without interrupting the view.

Perennials in pale colors complement the birches. – Susan Teare

For perennial plantings, the homeowners opted for neutral shades. “We wanted to keep the colors subdued, and we told Julie that we wanted a lot of white and pale-yellow flowers,” says the wife. “We didn’t want to compete with the gentle colors of the view.”

A dining table fashioned from another millstone has herbs growing in its center. Beyond it, the sunken kitchen includes a grill and a pizza oven. – Susan Teare

Messervy answered with beds of goatsbeard, Solomon’s seal, astilbe, hydrangeas, and lilies. Bright spots of color are seasonal, like the begonias behind the wrought-iron window bars and in pots placed along the top of the stone retaining wall.

“We vary the annual plantings in the windows and in the planters according to what appeals to us in spring,” the homeowner says. A huge steel bowl made in India and found in England serves as a fire pit. “It’s another round element to gather around,” Messervy says.

Swiss metalwork at the windows holds tuberous begonias. – Susan Teare

“Now the outside has a natural English feel,” the wife says. “It’s a far more interesting garden than anything I could have done, and it makes the most of the things we loved from the beginning.”