<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Seeing the venerable hedges and lavish mixed borders in Jamie Drake&amp;#039;s East Hampton, New York, garden, it&amp;#039;s hard to fathom that a decade ago, his house sat nakedly new atop a hill, ringed by surrounding woods. Gone are the hundred pines and scrub oaks that once marched up the slope to crowd the shingled cottage. In their place, stone walls and sheared boxwood create character, the illusion of age and a foreground for its woodsy prospect. &amp;quot;You enjoy a forest view more if the forest&amp;#039;s not right in front of you,&amp;quot; says Craig James Socia, the landscape designer who conceived the plan for Drake&amp;#039;s five rolling acres.   Tucked cozily amid shrubs and beds, the house is a far cry from the spec property that Drake (the acclaimed Manhattan designer who redid Gracie Mansion for Mayor Bloomberg) bought unfinished, to be a weekend retreat. Before attacking the inside, he asked Socia, the creator of his previous garden, to give the home a proper setting and to shape the outdoors for summer living. &amp;quot;Originally,&amp;quot; Socia recalls, &amp;quot;it felt as if you could step out the back of the house and roll downhill, an uncomfortable feeling.&amp;quot;    Known for mixing formal elements with exuberant naturalism to make gardens people actually use, Socia began by clearing trees and grading the rear slope to expand the flat space on top. For warm-weather lounging, he built a spacious terrace and edged it with lawn and wraparound plantings enclosed by stacked-stone walls. The walls retain the upper slope, while underneath them, more lawn rolls down to meet the surrounding woods.   In front, beside a steep entry drive, Socia skipped lawn altogether and warmed the welcome with a patterned parterre in keeping with the traditional house. Evergreen boxwood balls and hedges structure this garden year-round, while splashy flowers (salvias and South African foxglove) come and go during summer.   This push-pull between order and happy chaos runs throughout the landscape and ties together its far-flung parts. Deer-repellent boxwood, both variegated and green, appears everywhere, like the chorus of a song. &amp;quot;Repetition,&amp;quot; Socia observes, &amp;quot;establishes rhythm and connection that the eye picks up over distance.&amp;quot;   At the same time, focal points add drama: One is an existing swimming pool that Socia flanked with hornbeam trees carved playfully into lollipops. Another is a vine-draped cedar folly inspired by a trip Drake took to Russia. Socia&amp;#039;s fanciful version of a Saint Petersburg summer palace, minus the red paint and gilt trim, is filled with cedar furniture he designed and built himself.  Click here to see designer Jamie Drake&amp;#039;s dream garden.   Elsewhere, his mix of annuals and perennials prolongs the garden season. In the borders behind the house, spring begins with massed bulbs (crocuses, daffodils, hyacinths, tulips), while wisteria hangs heavily on the folly. &amp;#039;Nikko Blue&amp;#039; hydrangeas and assorted roses bloom in summer, along with candy-sweet heliotrope and New Guinea impatiens, and then fall brings peegee hydrangeas, flowering sedums and red-flushed crab apple trees.   Drake loves the feeling of being &amp;quot;hidden away in the woods,&amp;quot; but he&amp;#039;s big on garden parties too. They often start with cocktails and dinner on the terrace. Later, guests might wander, perhaps winding up at the bottom of the hill, in the small-scale, open-air palace that feels as rich and timeless as summer itself. Click here to see designer Jamie Drake&amp;#039;s dream garden.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elledecor.com/design-decorate/room-ideas/a3935/a-designers-dream-garden-a-57686/>