“Duncan and Julia Brine’s six-acre garden, a dreamlike landscape that takes its cues from the old shade trees and fence posts remaining from the farm that was once here, as well as the native plants, like black locust and joe-pye weed, that populate the hills and spring-fed marsh…I could have stayed there all afternoon…”
– The New York Times, Anne Raver
“…a naturalistic display garden of remarkable artistry and diversity…”
– The Adventurous Gardener, Ruah Donnelly
“It’s an amazing place, so varied and so enormous,”
said Sydney Eddison, whose own garden in Newtown, Ct. is legendary.
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“The vastness of his vision is just striking,” said Eddison, herself the author of many gardening books…. To experience and see his collections is just wonderful.”
– The News Times, HomeStyle, Deb Keiser
“The staff at Horticultural Design has been gradually transforming the old cow pastures of Sheffield Farm into a display/trial garden, an inspiration for new ideas in design.”
– Taconic Press Weekend, Mark Adams
A Purposeful Confusion
“In Duncan Brine’s big, beautiful garden, it’s hard to tell the difference between nature and nurture.
When Duncan Brine talks about his garden in Pawling, Dutchess County, he often uses the words “mystery,” “surprise” and”drama.” And if you stroll around the grounds that he has cultivated over the past 17 years, it’s clear that it was those notions, rather than the usual horticultural esthetics, that were the driving force behind its design. The place is by turns mysterious and surprising, with a dash of drama for good measure…
In 1990, the couple moved to a farmhouse in Pawling, N.Y., and soon after bought the adjoining property. The two farmhouses sit on an embankment overlooking a marsh and glade, and are surrounded by gravel pathways that connect different garden areas that showcase perennials and horticultural rarities.
Brine’s expertise in landscape design and large garden project management is evident in the garden, which reflects his theatrical background as well as his interest in regionalism.”
– The News Times, HomeStyle, Deb Keiser
“Rich with maples and groves of native plants, the Brine Garden asks the visitor to recognize that a property is part of a larger context, that it is representative of the region.”There should be no disconnect between the property and the region,” said Brine, who teaches at the New York Botanical Garden. “When designing a garden, you should be mindful of its context as part of the area around it.”
But there is a problem. “We are losing our regional sense of identity,” said the designer, who touts the benefits of planting native species.
In the Brine Garden, the visitor can get a feel for Brine’s sensibility. He plants native, if unusual, plants and has a flair for placing them in ways that surprise the visitor.”
– The News Times, HomeStyle, Deb Keiser
“Over the years, the Brines have turned their six-acre property into a sort of horticultural theme park, featuring all their favorite … perennials, trees and shrubs that they use in their projects.”
– Taconic Press Weekend, Mark Adams
“The garden is personal and intimate, expansive and elaborate, everything that this creative landscape artist has managed to evoke in his fertile imagination, and bring forth on his own personal canvas.”
– The Harlem Valley Times, John Bensen
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“… ongoing experimentation assists him in discovering rules of design that guide his work in landscaping.
One such rule or concept is the use of ‘transparent’ plants, so that a viewer’s eye wanders ever deeper into the planting…. this vision of Brine’s is strikingly apparent as one grouping after another comes to view without obscuring the plantings behind.”
– Millbrook Roundtable, John Bensen
Brine Garden Ambiance
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