Grooming the Winter House Terrace Gardens

September 5, 2025

Grooming the Winter House Terrace Gardens

Another annual summertime task is checked off the list.

Along one side of my home overlooking the farm, I have a large stone terrace constructed with formal hedged gardens. For the upper parterres, I selected contrasting evergreen shrubs – boxwood, and golden barberry. To provide interest, these shrubs are sheared to different heights, creating a step effect. In the lower parterres, carefully designed and manicured boxwood hedges surround two hand-casted antique fountains. On one side, a low hedge shaped with an inverted V pattern, or chevron. Maintaining all these plantings requires extra maintenance and regular grooming, but I think it’s well worth the effort.

Enjoy these photos.

: I am so pleased with how well these formal gardens have developed over the years. I’ve worked hard to maintain the detailed shapes of the hedges and shrubs. This is the lower terrace that is located just outside my Winter House kitchen. It’s a lovely place to sit and conduct meetings or enjoy summer meals.

: This is what the hedges looked like before pruning began. It’s important to groom the specimens every few months when they appear overgrown.

: Golden barberry, Berberis thunbergii, is a deciduous shrub that is compact, adaptable, very hardy and shows off striking small, golden yellow oblong leaves. Golden barberry takes on its brightest coloring when it gets at least six hours of direct sun a day.

: Buxus is a genus of about 70 species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. The leaves are arranged opposite from each other, making pairs. I use European boxwood all over my farm.

: For trimming and grooming, I use a select group of tools for the terraces. These STIHL battery operated trimmers, shears, and blowers are durable, efficient, and gentle enough to use around this formal garden space.

: These are Okatsune 30-inch long Hedge Shears. Okatsune shears are light and precise, and come in a range of sizes.

: Phurba is my resident boxwood pruning expert. He’s been with me for many years. Here he is pruning and shaping the boxwood by hand using the Okatsune shears.

: To get the top of the manicured hedges level and groomed, Phurba uses the STIHL HSA 140 T battery hedge trimmer. It’s excellent for trimming and sculpting.

: Phurba is able to skim the top of the hedge removing the new growth with precision and ease.

: Here, Phurba works on the upper terrace quadrants, again hand trimming the big boxwood shrubs.

: Phurba makes sure to cover every side of the shrubs and hedges, sometimes carefully having to walk in tight spaces.

: Phurba uses the STIHL hand-held HSA 26 garden shears to trim the golden barberry.

: There are always a lot of clippings to clear, but that’s because these hedges are doing so well. Good, regular pruning stimulates new growth, controls unwanted growth, and removes dead or damaged branches.

: Here is a finished section of a boxwood hedge. Boxwood is a popular choice for formal gardens because of its versatility, ability to be pruned, and year-round bold green foliage.

: Phurba takes several days to do all the careful pruning and grooming. Here, one can see where he has trimmed, and where he still has work to do.

: And have you seen my all-weather furniture by Polywood? These chairs and table are part of my Chinoiserie Collection. These pieces stay out all season long and are designed to withstand storms and strong winds. They are so durable and look perfect year after year.

: My Chinoiserie Accent Tables by Polywood are great for displaying some of my potted plants. This outdoor furniture comes in a variety of colors including my signature Bedford gray.

: It takes time to develop formal gardens. When planning, one must consider type of plants, their size at the time of planting and at maturity, the level of care, the environment, and local weather conditions. It can take up to 10-years for a formal garden to be fully established.

: These gardens look so excellent after a good grooming.

: This is my antique sugar pot in the center of the footpath of the upper terrace parterre. Sugar kettles were used on 19th century Louisiana plantations for the production of sugar. In the winter, I use it as a fire pit when entertaining.