To translate that vision of a natural green progression, Deacon began by producing a basic layout with a central axis?the organizing spine of the garden?that starts at the house and heads out to the horizon line. The garden spaces threaded along this axis were first defined with structural plantings of evergreens. Then he fashioned a variety of ground levels stepping either up or down from one garden space to the next. Thus defined, each space affords a tantalizing peek of what is yet to come, drawing the viewer through the garden.
A secondary axis, developed at the same time because Deacon wanted to have a distinct path through the kitchen garden to a seating area, runs parallel to the central axis. Here the organizing principle lies in the geometric shapes with boxwood as horizontals and yews as verticals.
In a magical mix of colour and form, purpleleaf sand cherries are underplanted with golden Japanese forest grass; this in turn sets off flame-shaped drumstick alliums while showy purple coneflowers dance before tall rusty foxgloves and scarlet lilies.