13 Stunning Garden Allées
Photo: Roger Vlitos1/13dam-images-decor-2014-07-garden-allees-garden-allees-01-buscot-park.jpg
A classic example of an allée planted with pleached (interlaced) hornbeam, a tree known for its ability to be trained into a tight mass, can be found at Buscot Park, an 18th-century estate in Oxfordshire, England, now overseen by the National Trust. Underplanted with allium that blooms from May through June and hedged in by tightly clipped boxwood, the allée leads to a lily pond with a fountain and on to another water feature, “Faux Fall” by David Harber, which was added to the garden in 2007.
Photo: Courtesy of LongHouse Reserve2/13dam-images-decor-2014-07-garden-allees-garden-allees-02-longhouse-reserve.jpg
Jack Lenor Larsen, the renowned textile artist, is the owner and creator of LongHouse Reserve, a garden and sculpture park in East Hampton, New York. Well-versed in the principles of garden design, Larsen has fun creating contemporary twists on formal treatments, including his “Study in Heightened Perspective,” a short allée of red azalea that appears longer than it actually is because of strategically placed red-painted posts of varying heights.
Photo: Richard Felber3/13dam-images-decor-2014-07-garden-allees-garden-allees-04-miller-house-and-garden.jpg
The late landscape architect Dan Kiley’s grounds at Miller House and Garden, in Columbus, Indiana, are an example of early-modernist garden design. Using a pared-down palette, Kiley created outdoor spaces that perfectly complement the architecture of the residence designed by Eero Saarinen. Here, parallel-planted honey locust trees and simple crushed stone create a spare, modern allée leading to Henry Moore’s Draped Reclining Woman. (The sculpture was removed during a renovation in 2008.)
Photo: NTPL/Derek Croucher/Alamy4/13dam-images-decor-2014-07-garden-allees-garden-allees-05-hidcote-manor.jpg
The grounds at Hidcote Manor, a National Trust property in Gloucestershire, England, were designed by Lawrence Johnston, a renowned horticulturist whose mother bought the estate in the early 1900s. Johnston was influenced by the French approach to clipped hedges and use of geometry in the garden. The pleached hornbeam in the “Stilt Garden” create a space that feels both like an allée and an enclosed garden room.
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Photo: Courtesy of Dallas Arboretum5/13dam-images-decor-2014-07-garden-allees-garden-allees-03-dallas-arboretum-and-botanical-garden.jpg
At the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden in Texas, a mature planting of soaring crape myrtle makes a majestic choice for an allée. The trees’ smooth, cinnamon-colored bark and gestural branching provide visual interest year-round. The pathway is paved in Pennsylvania bluestone, creating a formal walkway that leads to a water feature dubbed “Frog Fountain,” a much-loved destination.
Photo: L. Albee/Longwood Gardens6/13dam-images-decor-2014-07-garden-allees-garden-allees-06-longwood-gardens.jpg
At Longwood Gardens, in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, a wide mown path is planted with matching rows of Caryopteris ‘Longwood Blue’ and Hydrangea paniculata, creating a dramatic and seasonally changing allée that leads the visitor to a formal pagoda.
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Photo: Stephen Robson/Getty Images7/13dam-images-decor-2014-07-garden-allees-garden-allees-08-haseley-court.jpg
An allée at Haseley Court, in Oxfordshire, England (once the home of the late Nancy Lancaster, who ran the influential London design firm Colefax & Fowler with her partner, John Fowler), is planted with laburnum and underplanted with shade-tolerant plants, like hosta and allium for late-spring color.
Photo: Tim Beddow8/13dam-images-decor-2014-07-garden-allees-garden-allees-09-chateau-de-fontenay.jpg
Set 70 miles from Paris in the Beauce region, the exquisite 16th-century Château de Fontenay was purchased recently by a London family who employed French garden designer Louis Benech to help update the 45-acre property (see AD, May 2011). Part of the reworking of the landscape involved restoring the fairy-tale approach to the house, an ancient oak-lined drive that had been closed off for years.
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Photo: Jean-Pierre Gabriel9/13dam-images-decor-2014-07-garden-allees-garden-allees-07-belgium-estate.jpg
Renowned landscape designer Jacques Wirtz created this garden at a private home in northwestern Belgium (see AD, August 2011). Known for sculpting boxwood and yew into informal shapes throughout expansive landscapes, Wirtz crafted an allée of linden trees here that leads to a modest yet magical alfresco dining area.
Photo: Ian Adams10/13dam-images-decor-2014-07-garden-allees-garden-allees-10-stan-hywet-hall-and-gardens.jpg
At the Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens in Akron, Ohio, approximately 100 gray birch line a long path of irregularly placed stepping stones underplanted with vinca and lily of the valley. At the end of the allée is a vista of a lagoon and the Cuyahoga Valley. The use of birch for an allée is an inspired choice for this area, as the bark offers visual interest in winter and the open canopy a dappled lighting effect in summer.
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Photo: Marion Brenner11/13dam-images-decor-2014-07-garden-allees-garden-allees-12-stone-edge-farm-and-vineyards.jpg
Landscape architect Andrea Cochran used an allée of mature olive trees at Stone Edge Farm and Vineyards, in Sonoma, California, to frame a view of a celestial observatory on the property.
Photo: Dana Gallagher12/13dam-images-decor-2014-07-garden-allees-garden-allees-13-jardin-etnobotanico-de-oaxaca.jpg
Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca, a botanical garden in Oaxaca, Mexico, is loaded with indigenous plants from the region and designed to show the relationship between flora and culture. One of the most striking features of the garden is a whimsical take on a classic allée, a path lined with columnar organ-pipe cactus leading the visitor to a reflecting pool as well as providing protection from the prickly opuntia cactus planted on either side.
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Photo: Clive Nichols13/13dam-images-decor-2014-07-garden-allees-garden-allees-11-parnham-house.jpg
An allée of cone-shaped ancient yew at Parnham House, a 16th-century manor in Dorset, England, is lined with spring-fed water rills, a strong design statement through all seasons. The allée’s central axis is designed as much for viewing from the manor house’s upper terrace as for experiencing firsthand.
