Kim
Sokoloff is a professional photographer who uses
his talent with the camera to record important family
celebrations like Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. So when
the Sokoloffs’s son Sam became Bar Mitzvah
last October, many photographs were taken. But the
family has more than pictures to remind them of
this significant family event. They have Sam’s
Bar Mitzvah garden, an exquisite Japanese-inspired
sanctuary in the front of their Elkins Park home,
created for them by Brad Baker, of Baker Creative,
Inc. in Wyncote.
The
Sokoloffs’ main motivation for planting the
garden was to make their home look both beautiful
and welcoming for the Bar Mitzvah weekend. Although
the formal celebrations surrounding Sam’s
Bar Mitzvah were held elsewhere, the Sokoloffs hosted
a family Shabbat dinner, a small gathering of the
immediate family and some special out-of-town guests,
at the start of the Bar Mitzvah weekend. The Sokoloffs
also expected family and friends to drop by throughout
the weekend.
“We
wanted the walkway to look welcoming,” explains
Terry Sokoloff. “We wanted to put our nicest
welcome mat out, especially for guests at such a
happy time.”
But the Sokoloffs wanted more than just a nice looking
yard for that one weekend. They wanted to create
an outdoor living space that integrated the interior
and exterior of their home and enhanced their family
life. And they wanted a lasting reminder of this
very special family celebration.
Significant
family events, particularly those symbolizing a
new stage in a family’s life (a Bar Mitzvah,
graduation or wedding), often provide the impetus
for major home and landscape renovations. Even if
they don’t hold the main celebrations at home,
families entertain more around these events, perhaps
hosting pre-event dinners or post-celebration brunches,
and they want their homes to shine. Many families
also see these renovations as an opportunity to
update the interior and exterior of their homes
to reflect their families’ changing needs
and desires.
For
the Sokoloffs, the main focus was the entrance to
their home. The walkway from the curb was relatively
new, but the yard to the right of the walkway was
an overgrown patch of grass, weeds, and out-of-control
day lilies. The remnants of a flagstone path had
sunk into the soil and become covered with grass.
The space was enclosed by an overgrown shrubs, azaleas,
mahonia, rhododendron and – in Terry’s
own words – “some pathetic looking rose
bushes.”
The entrance to the house was hidden behind a large
mock-orange tree, the branches of which obstructed
the front door and created a cave-like entry. The
tree’s foliage also blocked the Sokoloffs’
view of the garden from their kitchen window. Not
that the garden was much to look at.
“It
really looked like a jungle,” admits Terry.
When the Sokoloffs were ready to tackle the jungle
they called in Baker, a Pennsylvania Certified Horticulturalist
and an acquaintance of the family (Kim Sokoloff
had photographed Baker’s son’s Bar Mitzvah
and had seen Baker’s horticultural work).
Designing
the Landscape
Baker,
a fit, affable man who confesses he’s more
comfortable outside than in, sees himself as a consultant
for his landscape clients, combining their ideas
and desires with his vision and expertise to create
beautiful and functional landscaping that fits not
only the clients’ present needs but also their
future plans. Whether planning for an event like
the Sokoloffs’ Bar Mitzvah or designing projects
in the regular course of caring for a client’s
landscaping, Baker begins by meeting with his clients
and walking around the property. He listens to the
clients’ ideas, questions and concerns both
for the upcoming event, if there is one, and for
the landscape as a whole. He also asks the clients
to think about their goals for their home and property.
With this information and his own observations,
Baker creates a detailed drawing of the property,
the proposed projects and their costs.
Baker
met with the Sokoloffs in the early summer before
Sam’s October Bar Mitzvah. Self-described
minimalists (“we don’t even have a painting
over our fireplace and we like it that way,”
explains Terry) they wanted the exterior of their
house to echo the minimalist interior. Terry also
wanted the garden to be comfortable and comforting
space, a place where she could sit and relax.
The
Sokoloffs had very specific ideas about the design
of their front yard. They liked the simple, tranquil
style of Japanese gardens. They wanted visually
interesting boulders and in particular at least
one large enough for Terry to sit on. They were
also very explicit about the colors they wanted
– and didn’t want – in the garden.
Inside the entrance to the house, the walls are
painted a bright mango color, which Terry describes
as both soothing and striking at the same time.
The Sokoloffs wanted the boulders in the garden
to have similar tones to further tie the interior
and the exterior together. They choose earth tones,
as well as blues and purples, for the plants, and
were adamant that there be no bright pinks or reds.
And since both Terry and Kim love to cook, they
also wanted edibles and herbs in the garden.
Creating
Sam’s Bar Mitzvah Garden
Baker
created the garden in three stages. First, he tamed
the jungle, removing the grass, weeds and other
undesirable plants.
“You
spray lots of Roundup and then you wait for everything
to die,” he explains with a laugh. Baker left
the mature shrubs to frame the garden and define
the space.
Next, he shaped the basic garden, installing the
plants and natural elements that are constant in
the garden from season to season, and from year
to year.
In
designing the space, Baker considered the views
from every angle: from the street, coming up the
walkway, standing at the front door, and even looking
out the kitchen window. He placed boulders in various
shapes and sizes – at least two big enough
for Terry to sit on – throughout the space
to create the look of a natural rock outcropping
and to draw the eye through the garden and into
the landscape beyond. The glorious earth tones of
the boulders echo the colors inside the house, in
the plants, in the brick walkway and in the flagstones,
which were leveled and rearranged to create a path
that meanders through and around the garden.
Around
the flagstones and boulders, Baker planted perennials
with a traditional Japanese look: nandina, hinoki
cypress, Japanese fountain grass, tree peonies and
camellia. He selected these plants not only for
their style, but also because they bloom at different
times throughout the year. Many of them also change
color or shape (losing blooms and developing visually
interesting seed pods), giving the garden a different
look with every season. Baker also arranged the
plants and boulders to create topographical interest
– changes in height visible from different
angles – something the space originally lacked.
The
herbs and edibles – lavender, thyme and basil,
among others – were placed at the center front
of the garden to take advantage of the only spot
in the garden sunny enough for them. The scents
of the plants, the herbs (particularly the lavender,
the laurel bushes and sarcacocca) also figured prominently
in Baker’s design of the garden. He structured
the space so that the prevailing wind would carry
the scents of the plants in bloom up the walkway
and to the front door.
Baker
incorporated some of the existing elements of the
original landscaping into the Japanese-influenced
garden. The Sokoloffs worried that the mock-orange
tree overshadowing the entrance to the house would
have to be removed. Instead, Baker pruned the tree
and mature shrubs at the front of the house to create
a more open and airy look. The branches also frame
the view of the garden from the kitchen window.
Baker
completed this second stage of the garden at the
end of the summer, giving the Sokoloffs time to
enjoy the space before the Bar Mitzvah. At first,
the simple, austere design of the garden seemed
almost too minimalist, especially to Kim, who suggested
that perhaps they needed more plants to fill in
the space. The Sokoloffs decided to experience the
landscape for a while and soon came to appreciate
the serenity of the garden. For Terry, the garden
became a haven of calm and tranquility, where she
could retreat from the Bar Mitzvah planning, which
she describes as one of the most hectic and stressful
times in her family’s life.
Dressing
Up the Garden
In
October, just before Sam’s Bar Mitzvah, Baker
planted fall annuals to add color and “dress
up” the garden. Various shades of yellow figured
prominently in the perennial plants, so Baker added
blue and purple pansies, deep green and purple kale,
and yellow mums. He accented the garden and the
walkway at the corner of the house with urns and
planters filled with kale and herbs, grouped together
with small pumpkins.
For
the Bar Mitzvah weekend, Baker also added temporary
lighting – rope lights in the mock-orange
tree and uplighting in the garden – to offset
the darkness of the entryway, to create shadow play
on the wall of the house, and to highlight the architectural
qualities of one of the more unusual boulders in
the garden.
A
Lasting Reminder
The
Sokoloffs are thrilled with their landscaping, which
they call Sam’s Bar Mitzvah garden. Terry
loves the aura of calm, like a buffer zone of tranquility,
around her home.
“It has completely transformed the way we
walk up to our house,” she says. “My
blood pressure goes down when I drive up. Sam’s
Garden is good for my health!”
Terry often takes her cats for outings in Sam’s
Bar Mitzvah Garden, where the cats (who usually
live indoors) like to sit on her lap and enjoy the
fresh air.
And
what does Sam think about “his” garden?
“Kids aren’t big on quiet contemplation,”
Terry says with a laugh. “So he doesn’t
use the garden the same way that I do. But he understands,
from a 13 year old’s point of view, that fixing
up the garden for his Bar Mitzvah was a priority.
He knew that it was a special time for our family.”
“We only have one son,” she continues.
“We were only going to have one Bar Mitzvah.
The garden was a wonderful splurge, something that
we’ll have for years, to remember Sam’s
Bar Mitzvah by. Every time we look outside, we have
a memory.
Meg
Charendoff is now a frequent contributor to Special
Sections. She looks forward to writing a first-person
article about dealing with her own son’s Bar
Mitzvah.
