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Todd Davis
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a statue stands behind an iron gate in a garden
The landscape has taken nearly two decades to perfect. Twelve acres in Ladue, its fabulous features include a pond, three-hole golf course and world-class, site-specific art works. Grand as the whole scheme is, when walking the grounds with owner Barbara Bryant, one imme- diately recognizes her deep affinity for the land itself and the gardens she personally cultivates.
Born and raised in St. Louis, Barbara Bryant and her husband Don Bryant moved into their home in 1984--when both the house (circa 1935) and the garden were in a state of neglect. "It had never been gardened at all," Barbara says. "There were only a few trees, no patios or foundation planting but it was so full of glorious potential." While she worked on renovation, Don, an insurance mogul, worked on the art collection--amassing pieces, which earned him ranking by ArtNews as one of the country's top 200 art collectors. Now his acquisitions hang on the walls and grace the lawns outside.
But what Don adds in granite and steel, Barbara contributes in seed and dirt. Consistent with the tradition of "Capability" Brown (the master English landscape gardener), Barbara has sculpted long naturalistic views across broad lawns punctuated by mature specimen trees. Within the sweep, she has created secluded, intimate areas, frequently deploying boxwood hedges as the walls of her outdoor rooms. With a decorator's eye and great attention to detail, she pays particular note to the immediate views from the house, fashioning mini-gardens that reflect the color palate of the contiguous interior rooms.
Barbara favors boxwood for its four-season dependability. It also creates order throughout the estate, linking one room to another. It's most striking perhaps in winter, when a dusting of snow sprinkled across an infinite number of boxwood parterres is certain magic. The serenity in all that fine green foliage is a necessary counterbalance to a sometimes too hectic existence. "With all the busyness in my life, I need a quiet garden," Barbara says.
She walks the grounds regularly and on a looping circuit demonstrates how the landscape unfolds. Pathways are generous (one was made from an old tractor path), columns and gates are formal, as is the ironwork, reminiscent of the South--Charleston and Natchez in particular.
Like any garden worth the name, this one has seen dramatic change from its early days. Barbara points out that when her children were little, their playhouse was near the pool where she could keep an eye on them. Vegetables and flowers, accordingly, were grown in this area.
With the children now grown--Justin, 16; Christina, a senior at the University of Virginia; and Derek, in his early 30s and newly engaged--the pool pavilion has taken on a different character and offers a breathtaking indoor/outdoor entertaining space. Off from the pool area stands the house's principal formal south-facing terrace, which affords a pastoral view of the pond. Lawn and hardscaping are framed by thickly layered and textured masses of perennials and shrubs. This is where the family often dines in the summer months. Where peonies have just gone out in a blaze, a bank of English lavender is on the brink of bloom.
An accomplished cook, it was almost inevitable Barbara would create a potager, or kitchen garden. Hers is situated next to a charming guest cottage. When asked if she routinely picks for the evening meal, she confesses that fruits and vegetables are grown as much for their beauty as for their utility. As a child her mother gave her a love of roses; from her father she gained a passion for vegetables.
The precision of the potager is remarkably pretty--living geometry of espaliered fruit trees, handsome fences painted a soft lichen-colored green (to blend with the landscape). Tiny box bushes border each little plot--all providing irresistible temptation for marauding bunnies and predatory voles. Within the crisply organized beds are diverse selections of ornamentals and edibles.
The story of the Bryant family garden, its creation and continuing development, marks milestones in the family's history. The woodland garden, for example, started on a Mother's Day with a gift from Christina and Don. It is now a deep, rich, mysterious thicket of wildflowers and native trees.
Taking care of the gardens is enough of a labor of love, but then there are the house's 27 window boxes to be watered every day, not to mention the planting of them in the first place. But it was probably the year spent living in England that gave Barbara the direction the garden has now assumed. Her study of horticulture and garden design at the Chelsea Physic Garden and Christie's and tours of National Trust gardens influenced her style and whetted her creative vision.
Observing the serene refuge of her several garden spaces and the joy of nurturing them go a long way toward understanding Barbara Bryant. She speaks in a wonderful low voice, and when she shows her treasures, her favorite views and the various bits and pieces of antique statuary tucked into hidden corners, it is as if Barbara is showing us her favorite secrets. She laughs about her antique garden ornaments, different in character altogether from Don's contemporary sculptures.
We asked Barbara if she might have done anything differently, if she has any regrets. With a measure of good sense, grace and humor, she replies, "I just hope that my mistakes are ones I like to live with." She is modest.
Twenty years later, there are none.
