Hedge wall room

Photo: Anna Williams

The Green Room
The boxwood parterre (a garden made of low, clipped hedges in tight patterns) is surrounded by taller hedge walls and a "doorway," suggesting a vast room.
Dianne Wallace sitting in her garden

Photo: Noah Greenberg

A Place for Quiet Reflection
For Dianne Wallace, creating the garden was an intellectual as well as aesthetic pursuit: "I went through the process of educating myself before I took the giant leap and made it happen.
Cotswold cottage garden

Photo: Anna Williams

Transformed Space
Wallace used a garage as the setting for a Cotswold cottage garden filled with foxgloves, hollyhocks, and wisteria.
Scarlet dahlia

Photo: Anna Williams

A Cut Above
A scarlet dahlia from the cutting garden makes a bold statement.
Dianne Wallace with a watering can

Photo: Noah Greenberg

Minding Her Manors
"The house truly deserved something special," says Wallace, who was inspired in part by England's Hidcote Manor garden, designed during the same period as her 1912 home.
Clematis

Photo: Anna Williams

A Floral Border
Clematis soften the pool fence.
Salvia border

Photo: Anna Williams

Peaceful Purple
Wallace avoided hot colors like fuchsia and yellow almost everywhere, preferring restful blues, whites, and purples, as in the salvia border surrounding the pool.
Statue of Diana the huntress

Photo: Anna Williams

Garden Goddess
When work began on the new garden, Wallace's husband surprised her with a statue of Diana the huntress.
Window box filled with flowers

Photo: Anna Williams

The Perfect Mix
A window box in the cottage garden is planted each year with a mix of lysimachia, ivy, phlox, and dahlias.
Old-fashioned rose

Photo: Anna Williams

By Any Other Name…
Is there anything as classically beautiful as an old-fashioned rose?
Schematic of Dianne Wallace's garden

Grand Scheme
This schematic shows the layout of the Wallace garden, replete with hedge-walled "rooms," stylish allées, and cottagey borders—all surrounding a sizable great lawn.
Grassy path between hawthorn trees

Photo: Anna Williams

The Road Not Taken
The hawthorn allée—a grassy path lined with trees—is planted with purple alliums, irises, and lady's mantle.