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?EUR??,,????'??Your assignment,?EUR??,,????'?? as they used to say on the Mission Impossible TV program, is to create a new environment for a 3.7-acre weekend retreat in Garrison, N.Y. overlooking the Hudson River Valley near West Point. What? No espionage, no taking down of a foreign despot? The MI Team just couldn?EUR??,,????'???t handle the assignment, but the LaurelRock Co. could?EUR??,,????'??+design/builders with facilities in Georgetown and Bethel, Conn. and a team of landscape architects, landscape designers, horticulturists and skilled crews headed by Dickson DeMarche, FASLA.
The requirement included:
Below: The stone pathways and boulders are the native stone from the site and nearby New York and Pennsylvania. The prevalent ledge rock on site is gneiss, a coarse-grained, imperfectly layered, metamorphic rock with alternating light and dark bands of differing minerals. The light bands are generally quartz and feldspar, with hornblende, biotite mica, garnet or graphite composing the dark bands. The flora here is a river birch (?EUR??,,????'??Heritage?EUR??,,????'???), dwarf Fothergilla and rhododendron (?EUR??,,????'??Yaku Prince?EUR??,,????'???) shrubs, scarlet Meidiland shrub roses and more myrtle.
The home has a contemporary feel with a soup??? 1/4 on of Frank Lloyd Wright. It sits atop a steep, east-facing slope, fully exposed to sun and wind?EUR??,,????'??+a tough spot for plants, plus the terrain is rocky, with only a shallow bit of soil buffering the bedrock. A large amount of fill was required for the septic fields.
The client?EUR??,,????'???s desired site for the pool was in close proximity to the house?EUR??,,????'??+a steep slope with exposed ledge rock. Ledge outcrops were also evident throughout the relatively narrow, buildable portion of the site. The tree cover was primarily chestnut oak and a few hemlocks clinging to the rocky site, with grasses and some mountain laurel in the understory. Neighboring residences are seen to the north and southeast of the site.
The challenge included:
Complementing the home?EUR??,,????'???s contemporary wood and stone architecture with rock formations, softened with a landscape of low-key plantings.
Balancing the effect of the new structures (guest house and garage) and the landscape, so that they co-existed without one dominating.
Minimizing paving, with the hard surfaces being primarily those of the buildings and the exposed ledge.
Allowing a natural contouring of the land throughout the site.
Orienting major views from the buildings and outdoor living areas toward the view of the river valley.
Striving for a feeling of peace and contentment.
The guest house, built atop the new garage to conserve space and create more view, was sited back from the main house at the base of the hills on the east side of the narrow plateau. Rock blasted from the building and pool excavation went to create a rocky slope around the new garage that blended well with the surrounding slopes.
The garage was situated closer to the entrance of the property, allowing removal of the driveway from the center of the property. The driveway servicing the main entrance to the house was modified into a loop to reduce the width of paving and pulled away from the house to allow space for plantings to visually soften the approach. The guest parking was placed on the side of the loop away from the house, again to reduce contiguous expanses of hard surfaces.
The steep terrain below the new porch became cascading pools and terraces, created via blasting, boulder rip-rap and stone retaining walls.
Water springs from under an existing boulder to flow into the spa where it overflows to fall four to five feet into the swimming pool, then overflows between rocks to a reservoir where it is pumped back to the spa. The location of the outfall from the pool makes it appear the water is flowing from the spa and pool down to the river. This feeling was enhanced by forcing the water between large rocks set on the bond beam of the pool, creating a stream-width ?EUR??,,????'??vanishing edge.?EUR??,,????'??
The imported fill for the new septic fields were shaped into sloped clearings, envisioned as ?EUR??,,????'??meadows,?EUR??,,????'?? but the client prefers lawn. Plantings of native hemlock, mountain laurel, dogwood and viburnum at the far edges of the ?EUR??,,????'??meadows?EUR??,,????'?? provide privacy and a transition from the open field to the woods.
Native species predominate on the perimeter of the site, with more of an ornamental palette closer to the buildings and outdoor living areas. The pool area plants had to be attractive and tough enough to handle the direct sun in summer and the cold winter winds. The plants chosen were: cotoneaster and juniperus evergreen shrub species; varieties of clethra, deutzia and spiraea deciduous shrubs; meidiland and carefree delight roses; dwarf fountain grass; sedum, coreopsis and nepeta perennials; and vinca and ajuga groundcovers.
Below: The new driveway servicing the main entrance to the house was modified into a loop to reduce the width of paving, composed of 1-in. deep 3/8-inch sieve of native crushed stone rolled into liquid asphalt over two-inches of compacted asphaltic concrete paving (mixture of bitumen and aggregates) on a six to eight foot deep base of processed stone. The new guest house (left) now has a garage beneath it. The trees are Cornelian cherry dogwood. The shrubs are American cranberry bush (viburnum ?EUR??,,????'??Wentworth?EUR??,,????'???), oakleaf hydrangea, Summersweet (?EUR??,,????'??Ruby Spice?EUR??,,????'???), mountain laurel chokeberry and a groundcover of myrtle.
The LaurelRock Co. cites this project as a model of teamwork resulting in a completed work that exceeded everyone?EUR??,,????'???s expectations. The owners clearly stated their objectives, then worked closely with both the architect (Peter Smith AIA, Newburgh, NY) and the landscape architect to review and comment throughout the process, but letting each professional run with the design program to contribute their maximum creativity. Although the architect and the landscape architect were engaged independently by the owners, the two offices closely coordinated their designs to achieve the desired balance between site and structure. The engineers were sensitive to the need for accommodating the necessary septic systems with the least amount of disturbance to the natural lay of the land. Almost without exception, the contractors understood that they were important members of the team, contributing creative solutions to the inevitable field problems encountered and providing very high quality execution.
Project: Hudson Valley retreat, Garrison, N.Y.
Design/Build: by The LaurelRock Co.,Dickson DeMarche Landscape Architects
Offices: Georgetown and Bethel, Conn.
Web presence: laurelrock.com
About the company: Dickson DeMarche Landscape Architects, a land planning and site design firm started in the mid-1970s. The LaurelRock Co. was formed in 1993 by DeMarche and his son, Burt, president of LaurelRock. The company has evolved into a full-service residential design/build and site management firm for clients mostly located in Fairfield and Westchester counties. The maintenance division services more than 100 clients.
Francisco Uviña, University of New Mexico
Hardscape Oasis in Litchfield Park
Ash Nochian, Ph.D. Landscape Architect
November 12th, 2025
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