Residence Redux: Reaping the harvest

Flying Fox Photography

An avid gardener puts down roots for the future generations

In the second installment of our “Home for the Year” series, we explore the stunning landscape that the homeowner and landscape architect Greg Bilowz have brought to life. Click here to read the first installment.

A gardener’s passion is one of the more unique distractions (sometimes obsessions) that can fill one’s mind. Despite the season, a gardener often has the object of their efforts firmly rooted in their imagination. What will the harsh winter winds do to my roses? How will the week of spring rain affect the new sprouts that are already susceptible to mold? Will the decorative grasses we planted last year bully their neighboring plants? These are all questions mulled over during morning coffee or sleepless nights, as Mother Nature continues her plan, unheeded by our consternations.

Charlie Laverty has willingly become a gardener—a title he will gladly accept, but without the addition of the modifier “Master,” since he understands that he is a student of the natural world. “I can’t fully explain it, but I do love gardening,” Laverty says. “It came on later in life. It’s kind of a diversion for me. I suppose I get a bit lost in the process, which is a wonderful way to relax. I spend about 25 hours a week working in the yard when I am at the Cape.”

Aided in this endeavor, Laverty has enlisted the inestimable talents of landscape architect Greg Bilowz of Bilowz Associates, Inc. of Sterling, Massachusetts. “Greg is a great guy,” Laverty says, “but he is also a tremendously talented architect and horticulturist.” Bilowz echoes the same sort of sentiment when asked about this project. “The Lavertys are some of the nicest people I have ever encountered in my many years of doing business, and Charlie’s genuine love of gardening has distinguished this experience from any other.”