so he said to me, how about putting a sea of Japanese maples in that hidden back meadow? drench the area in red, and delicately cut foliage. lovely, lacey patterns against the blue sky, light dappled shade underfoot. enough plantings so that one feels enveloped, almost lost. to wander into with a lover, or to picnic there in a little shelter, or the site of magical puppet shows for little ones... a destination.

but what would it look like? he snapped some pictures of maples already on the grounds, and of the lovely, Mid-Summer Night’s Dream-like setting. then half an hour on the computer, presto! like Humphrey Repton, the famed 18th century landscape gardener, who dazzled his clients with a “before” watercolor of their manor house in red leather binding, and an overlay “after” of his proposed transformation.