Route 22 in Dutchess County, New York, is a meandering ribbon of old-school highway, a throwback to a time before 18-wheelers dominated the major thruways, before interstates rerouted traffic from the main streets of small towns. Along such a road, you can find any number of hidden delights.

Duncan and Julia Brine's six-acre garden in Pawling, New York, is one of those hidden treasures. Running smack up against this minor highway (and perhaps in defiance of it), the Brine garden is the embodiment of Duncan's philosophy of "gardening large." This concept doesn't necessarily relate to size; it's the idea that an entire property, be it two acres or twenty, should be seen and treated as one garden, as a series of interconnected spaces that reflect both the personal style of the creator and the history of the place.

"A large garden shouldn't be defined by acreage alone." Duncan says.

BEGINNING THE GARDEN

When the Brines first moved to their property in 1990, it wasn't exceptionally large. It included only the house and two acres of land, which they began to fill with the choice plants they had collected over the years. To accommodate the plants until an appropriate site was prepared for them, the Brines started a nursery area, something Duncan encourages every gardener to do, even on the smallest lots.

To screen the neighbors and enclose the garden, they planted an allee of bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) along one side and a hedge of giant Chinese silver grass (Miscanthus x giganteus) diagonally across from it. In the intervening space, Duncan created a path and garden covered with gravel and filled with masses of brawny and bold plants: joe-pye weed in all its variations(Eupatorium fistulosum, E. perfoliatum, and E. rugosum), a weeping katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum 'Pendula') in which to get lost, and Ligularia dentata. This area was a preview of what lay in store for the garden yet to come.

In 1998, when the Brines bought the house next door (which they turned into an office) and the four acres that came with it, Duncan was able to become even more expansive in his design work. Rather than divide the new property into a series of smallish gardens, he seized the chance to "garden large." The new acreage, which represented a multitude of topographies and design challenges awaited his guidance. "When I design gardens, I do a lot instinctually. I do what feels right." He says. "The landscape is encouraged to be itself and, while assuming an identity, it still connects with its surroundings."

A JOURNEY OF THE MIND

Before becoming a landscape designer, Duncan worked for a brief period as a filmmaker and an art director for television. Some visitors liken the Brine garden toa set.

The comparison may be accurate; he does set the scene in a dramatic, large-scale way. But rather than garish collec­tions of overbred plants that compete for the spotlight, Duncan's landscapes are enigmatic and subtle, more Out of Africa than Days of Our Lives. Part of the wonder of the Brine garden is the journey it I takes you on. Duncan wants to surprise you, to make you I feel lost, so that you can look up, find yourself surrounded by sophisticated plantings, and wonder if they were planted by human hands or if they made their own way to that spot.

The journey begins at tl1e Brines' office, a 1920s-era farmhouse accented by a tall, rustic board fence of oak and locust, which offers enclosure for less deer-resistant plant­ings without creating a claustrophobic feel. Both the office and their similar home sit on the high point of the proper­ty and look west to distant hills. A path turns downhill, coursing through marshlands and over two bridges that cross the same switchbacking stream. It leaves visitors looking back up the hill, over a cascade of no-mow grass, to the office. "Only by moving through space does one truly discover the garden;' he says.

CHOOSING BATTLES

Navigating the narrative that is his garden, Duncan, forev­er topped with a once-white pith helmet, leads visitors bushwhacking through a veritable forest of Phragmites australis, an invasive plant found along roadsides through­ out the East, which Brine has incorporated into his garden plan. The stand of gigantic grass dwarfs anyone who en­ters it, making even the tallest member of the troop feel elfin by comparison. Instead of mulch, Brine simply uses the felled stalks of the phragmites and Miscanthus x gigan­teus to direct the path. The cushiony stalks are especially helpful underfoot during muddy times of year.

A native-plant purist might favor eliminating the phragmites altogether, but Duncan suggests a different strategy when dealing with invasives: Don't just go charging into an area that is overrun with nonnative plants. By taking over large swathes, you'll soon become over­ whelmed. "It's important to deal with areas that have fewer invasives first;' he says. "Work on the frontier, where inva­sives aren't as prevalent. Don't let them penetrate farther into your invasive-free area."

Duncan uses a number of nonnative plants, as they fit into his scheme, but his first choice is to plant natives and, more specifically, indigenous plants-those that are not just native to the United States, but to his county. Provid­ing habitat for wildlife is key to creating a large naturalistic garden that truly reflects the locality of where it's planted.

"We want to ameliorate the misdeeds of earlier landowners who, instead of appreciating the natural sys­tems at play, sought to stamp their land with contrived styles, derived and imported from other places:' he says. "The challenge of a large property is to detail it expressly for its location and to make it whole, no matter how dis­parate its parts."

The Brine garden strikes a delicate balance between large scale and intimate detail. Mature trees and shrubs sometimes act as a backdrop for perennials and grasses to be seen up close, or as a unifying element throughout the landscape. In return, perennials help fill spaces until slow­ er-growing woodies hit their stride.

To artfully pair woodies and perennials in a large land­ scape, Duncan often chooses large-leaved or large-scale perennials, such as the Ligularia dentata 'Desdemona' and Phlomis russeliana he's planted against the hedge of Mis­canthus x giganteus in the gravel garden. Another section of the garden is devoted to arctic blue-leaf willow (Salix purpurea 'Nana'), planted in undulating silvery mounds. By covering large areas with large-scale plants that require less weeding, he has also cut down on maintenance. For instance, while one gardener may have filled a hillside with plugs of groundcovers, Duncan has flooded it with Stephanandra incisa 'Crispa', which flows like a waterfall.

THE LAST TURN

Part of Duncan's goal in leading you through the garden is to surprise you with what lies around the next corner, to enhance the drama evoked in each garden space by juxta­posing them in sequence, while also responding to changes in the topography of the land. The logo for the Brines' business, Horticultural Design, Inc., is a labyrinth, a meditative maze of shrubbery that forces seekers to slow their pace, appreciate their surroundings, and anticipate the next turn in the path. So it is in the Brine garden. H

Duncan Brine's Tips For Gardening Large

DESIGN FOR THE WHOLE at once. Include a network of paths to access every comer of the property, even if you're not prepared to start planting all at once.

⚘ For a more natural look, eliminate lines and hard edges.

⚘ Obscure edges by allowing a variety of mixed plantings to grow up around them. Avoid lining up evergreens on the edge of your property; plant evergreen screening strategically only where it's needed.

⚘ Only take over as much new ground as you can reasonably manage. This includes strategically eliminating invasive plants by starting with less-effected areas first and working slowly into more-effected areas.

⚘ Mass large-leaved perennials and shrubs as groundcover to establish an identity for the landscape and to set up easier care. Even on a small property, set aside a nursery area to accommodate impulse purchases and other plants whose place in the larger garden is not yet  ready. -CMP