Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but for those lucky enough to experience gardens designed by Gayle Burbank, it’s also evident in the eyes of a guest.
“My work is all very organic,” Gayle Burbank says of her gardens and sculptures. “It’s all referenced in nature.” That natural flow translates into landscapes marked by hidden paths, juxtaposed plantings, comforting sanctuaries and, often, her own massive clay sculptures. Whether the gardens are sprawling acre-plus sites in the country or reclusive rooftop terraces in Manhattan, the organic process weaves throughout her gardens.
Burbank adds, “I think it’s important to have a garden be a refuge, to be a place to come and feel peaceful.” She knows from experience the power a garden can have on a life. When she and her husband Ken Cohen bought a home in Bearsville, just outside of Woodstock almost 30 years ago, the two would arrive frazzled from the demands of working in the fashion industry and ready for a peaceful weekend. Burbank would walk out the door and find sanctuary in tackling the land.
Yet, she didn’t know a thing about what she was doing. Thinking she was weeding, Burbank spent a day of pulling out hundreds of lilies. So, she sought the advice of the property’s long-term gardener Bertram Bodie, who was in his 80s. His tutelage gently and successfully guided her.
“I very quickly got completely obsessed with the garden,” she says. The 1.5-acre site was cleared of much of the woods, and shrubs, bushes and annuals were planted, with an eye on color and texture. A pond was added, and the pool became one of many focal points. As a former fashion designer, it’s no surprise that Burbank favors landscape options that accentuate texture. “I love the contrast with things such as big broad-leafed plants next to delicate flowers,” she says. “I’ll put large-leaf plants next to small leaf plants – an evergreen next to red sticks.”
On a whim, she entered her re-designed garden in Garden Design magazine’s annual competition and was named a runner up in the Golden Trowel awards.
At the same time, the fashion industry was evolving, and her hands-on role was not so crucial for company success. Her daughter was 10 years old, and it seemed time for a change. She quit the fashion scene and spent two years studying landscape design and horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden. “And then, I opened up my business,” she says.
Her home was on the Woodstock Garden Tour, and then the popular Garden Conservatory’s Open House Days. She found herself consulting, designing, installing and maintaining all types of gardens – and dealing with all types of clients. “Some say, ‘Just go for it.’” says Burbank. “Others want full control.” Either way, once the design process starts, Burbank becomes fully immersed. “It’s just such a great, creative kind of explosion. It’s all a very organic process.”
She accounts for sun and shade requirements, animals in the area, climate, hardscapes and natural contrasts, and even what plants look beautiful when she walks into a nursery.
“When I get my plants and they’re all at the site, then I do a sculpture.” she says. “I create a land sculpture. It’s always a work in progress. I could never be a landscape architect. It’s too structured.” Burbank’s creativity shines through in a variety of ways. Upstate, she used natural stone outcroppings to create a waterfall for a television director whose property overlooks the sprawling Ashokan Reservoir. Burbank says, “I designed patios and gardens and fencing and the waterfall down the ledge into a stone pond. It worked out really well.”
In Chelsea, she used annuals and shrubs to create a brilliantly colorful garden terrace to complement a sleek, modern and entirely white apartment. “At first, I don’t think she knew what to do,” Burbank says of the client. “She wasn’t happy.” But within a week, she received a phone call from the client, profusely praising both her design skills and the terrace. “It brought a whole different feeling to her life. In New York City, people are living hectic, fast-paced lives… I think of their landscaping as a haven.”
Burbank is also proud of one of the first commercial projects she did: the entranceway to a Greenwich Village apartment. Throughout the years the plants have grown, defining the façade, and yet every season Burbank also decorates with annuals and accents the site. One of her favorite projects involved overhauling a beautiful old stone house in Woodstock where the gardens were in chaos. Burbank never name drops when discussing clients; in this case, she simply says, “They had the resources to let my vision of the place come to fruition.”
Burbank defies categorizing herself into any one style, again relying on texture and contrast. She has designed English-style gardens off the master bedroom, creating a private sanctuary, while also designing areas for entertaining and areas for relaxing. “If there’s a boxwood hedge, there has to be chaos behind it. Too much perfection is not what I’m looking for.”
Although Burbank’s huge, flowing, organic sculptures, which often double as birdbaths and fountains, complement her organic garden designs, she never includes them in a client’s design. “If they see something and want to add it, that’s fine. But it’s never part of the original design.” She keeps her sculpture, which she works on during the winter months, separate from the gardens, which she works on the rest of the year.
Yet, she does acknowledge the inextricable organic link that overshadows all her work. “I feel it’s pretentious to call myself an artist, but really, that’s what I am,” says Burbank. “It’s all tapped from the same place, the same creative stream, and it all flows.
Garden Conservancy Open Days
The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days is an opportunity to visit some of the country’s most spectacular gardens. Gayle Burbank’s garden is slated for a July 2014 Open Days, information available at the Garden Conservancy website or call 888.842.2442