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"Mike Marocco had never had a garden before he bought his Connecticut country house with its eight acres. Inspired by a friend&amp;#039;s New Jersey garden, he hired Richard Hartlage, the designer of that luxuriant landscape, to transform his own property. &amp;quot;Mike and I hit it off right away, and the program for the gardens soon evolved. He was open to the possibilities,&amp;quot; says Hartlage, a gregarious designer who leads the landscape architecture division of AHBL, a planning and engineering firm located in Tacoma, Washington.  Undaunted by the cross-country commute, the pair set to work four years ago on a rural property of open fields surrounded by a mostly deciduous forest of native oaks, ashes, maples and a few hemlocks. &amp;quot;We tried to create a simple, austere garden architecture and fill in with soft, romantic plantings,&amp;quot; explains Hartlage, who first designed the outdoor spaces closest to the house.   Hartlage centered a fountain fashioned from an antique copper washtub in the entry garden. The sunken, walled garden along one side of the house holds showy bloomers like dogwood, phlox, peony and mop-head hydrangea. Old-fashioned ruffled roses, including &amp;#039;The Fairy&amp;#039; and &amp;#039;Iceberg&amp;#039;, set the garden&amp;#039;s enchanted tone with their pale, fragrant blossoms.  Clean-lined terraces with reflecting pools hold sleek, contemporary loungers and dining chairs. Hartlage designed a massive steel moon gate, set into columns of native stone, as a dramatic focal point from the house and terraces.  &amp;quot;It took a year of working with Mike and studying the land before we knew we wanted a meadow,&amp;quot; says Hartlage. While the look is pure romanticism, the acre-and-a-half meadow is actually a carefully choreographed mixture of 60 percent native prairie grasses and 40 percent tough perennials, including baptisia, monarda, four subspecies of switchgrass (Panicum) and a nonrunning selection of goldenrod (Solidago rugosa &amp;#039;Fireworks&amp;#039;). The meadow is cut down to the ground in late winter, and the chaff is left in place for the fresh growth to push through. The meadow won&amp;#039;t need any fertilization or irrigation after the first few years.  The baptisia blooms blue in early summer, kicking off a succession of flowering that culminates in late summer with masses of hazy cream, buff, peach and gold grasses. You can imagine the magical effect when the late-summer sun slants down. &amp;quot;The meadow is the heart and soul of the place,&amp;quot; says Hartlage.  Five of the property&amp;#039;s eight acres are now in cultivated gardens, and Hartlage is contemplating additional woodland plantings and arbors. Seduced by his new gardens, owner Mike Marocco is on board. &amp;quot;Richard hasn&amp;#039;t made one mistake, and he&amp;#039;s been involved every step of the way,&amp;quot; he says. &amp;quot;We keep pushing the projects deeper and deeper into the landscape.&amp;quot; Click here to see the gallery of &amp;quot;Midsummer Landscape&amp;quot;.  Click here to see the resources. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elledecor.com/home-remodeling-renovating/a3923/midsummer-landscape-a-57153/>