That first autumn, I staked out and dug flower beds around a 50-foot-square piece of lawn just below the south side of the house, using the front door as the central axis. Here, I planted old shrub roses and perennials that I had brought from my previous home. A year later, after we had added a kitchen, I began an herb garden outside its French doors. First, low stone walls were built to hold the slope and provide a level space for a gravel terrace immediately outside the house. From there, I put in steps leading up to a series of beds in a geometric pattern. Between the beds I laid gravel paths, ending at an arbor with a bench to stop your eye.
Pictured: A bench at the end of the path in the herb garden stops the eye and offers a place to rest. On the arbor above are roses 'Trier' and 'Silver Moon.'
