The homeowners often enjoy meals on this patio, adjacent to their indoor dining room.
Gardens designed in the Mediterranean tradition are often marked by their simplicity and meandering pathways. They are like stories that unfold as you wander through them. While the Annapolis garden of Mike Miron and Shelley Row unravels to reveal a brief tale, it is not without plot twists, emotional flourishes, and a cast of characters that keep you reading ‘till the end.
In 2002, Miron and Row, a recently married couple at that time, undertook a major renovation to their Tudor style house, afterwhich they called upon landscape architect and good friend David Barnes to help them define their outdoor space, which had been all but destroyed by the construction on their home.
Barnes presented them with two plans from which to choose: one offered open garden spaces and sweeping views, while the other felt more like a courtyard, inspired by gardens in the Mediterranean with a series of smaller spaces joined by pathways. They decided upon the latter.
“We have little pockets of things going on in the gardens,” says Row. “It’s more texturally interesting, more visually interesting, and more intimate.”The entire backyard is quite literally designed around a mature purple plum tree at the center of it all—Miron and Row both loved it for its shape, color, and the way it flowers. “It has these beautiful pink blooms, and our bedroom looks down into the garden, so in the spring, it’s like being in Japan—it’s just delightful,” says Row. It also helped determine the entire garden’s cool color palette, which harmonizes with the home’s blue-gray color.
Originally, plans for the addition to the home took up much more of their backyard space, but when the couple brought in Terry Avrill, he reworked those plans so as not to compromise as much of the yard. Avrill, of T. Avrill Architects in Annapolis, planned for two major egress points from the house to the backyard. Four French doors grant easy access from the living room to the patio, and two more French doors open the dining room into one of several garden areas created by Barnes. The improved flow from indoors to out helps Miron and Row to enjoy their backyard for three seasons. “We couldn’t fully take advantage of the space [before] and we really enjoy being outdoors through the fall,” explains Row. “Now, we eat out there for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and we entertain often.”
"Desert Dance" a marble sculpture that once belonged to the late landscape architect, is now a stunning focal point of this Annapolis garden. Sculpture by Claire McArdle
Not only does the pergola provide very functional shading, but, “when you’re out on the patio, it adds a great aesthetic and you can do a lot of things in and around it,” Avrill notes, adding, “the scale of the house is brought into balance with the pergola.” The construction is in keeping with the overall design of the yard: with simplicity in mind and creating a sense of serenity at heart. Miron and Row love the structure for its versatility. “We drape it with lights, put fabric over it to give it a tent feel, move the dining room table out there for more seating, all kinds of things,” says Row.
Outfitted with cream-colored curtains and furnished with casually elegant seating, it creates an intimate area perfectly suitable for entertaining, but also just enough for a room for two. When the weather is mild, “we’ve slept out there,” says Row. “We just pull the curtains in around us and have this beautiful view of the sky, but with privacy.”
Adjacent to the pergola is a unique water feature, designed like a miniature infinity pool, where the water is an extension of the patio surface, flowing off the edge in a sheet. The pergola is perfectly placed so that it looks as though one of the footings is in the water. Not only does the design of the water feature blend perfectly with the clean lines of the patio’s design, it relaxes with a trickling sound audible when dining alfresco or when falling asleep with the master bedroom windows open.
A final touch to the garden is found in a sculpture by formerly local artist Claire McArdle, who now resides in Colorado. Barnes included a “view corridor” through the outdoor dining area in his plans for the garden. While the space was intended for a garden sculpture, one was never chosen. When Barnes passed away shortly after the Miron-Row landscape was completed, one of McArdle’s sculptures, “Desert Dance,” still stood in Barnes’ own garden. “Shelley and I shared a great deal over the phone and through emails,” McArdle begins, “and I asked her to read something I wrote at David’s memorial service where I spoke about the story of ‘Desert Dance.’” Soon after, McArdle arranged for Miron and Row to have the piece, and it is displayed proudly in the once-vacant spot.
Carved in white Italian Carrara marble, “Desert Dance” is a figure of a kneeling woman, looking up at the sky. “She is still and meditative, but with a connection to the earth and the cosmos,” explains McArdle. “This is something that David and I shared in common and he had a great respect for my commitment to creative life. I think David designed the garden with the same aesthetic.”
It is an aesthetic that suits this couple and their laidback lifestyle quite well. And every time they walk out into their backyard garden, they step into an environment that demonstrates how simple can be stunning, and how the best stories are sometimes told without words.
Annliese Scott is the Assistant Editor of ChesapeakeHome.
Contacts:
Claire McArdle Sculpture: cmsculpture.com or 303-956-8931
T. Avrill Architects: arch.plan@verizon.net or 410-268-0179
