Harmonia: Landscape Designer Roxine Brown

By Hilary Sterne

Harmonia Inc. was founded by Roxine Brown out of a profound appreciation for creating landscapes that coexist in perfect harmony with the natural surroundings that grace each property. Her landscapes are romantic, organic, and look as though they have always existed. Designing landscapes is a collaborative process that begins as a blank canvas and evolves into a plan that transforms the total environment. It blends the wondrous colors and textures from live plants and trees with other architectural forms to fit with a property’s indigenous character.

Brown, who comes from a long line of serious gardeners, moved to New York from Northern California at age 31, where she worked in the fashion industry for such labels as Liz Claiborne, Halston and The Limited, designing women’s clothing. She yearned to reconnect with the outdoors, and eventually she and her husband bought a shingled two-story house in East Hampton, nestled in a towering white pine forest.

She designed the home to be “as if the outdoors were brought into the indoor living space”—white on white, with lots of windows and vaulted ceilings that allow for a lovely interplay of light. Outdoors, she planted a bamboo grove beyond the lower deck, soothing blue hydrangea and Japanese maples in the upper pool area, vivid lavender rhododendron along the outskirts of the property, and white Annabelle and oakleaf hydrangea throughout. A magnificent, 25-foot-tall weeping beech provides a restful green wall between the front of her property and the back, which features a koi pond, a pool and Japanese maples. Brown took on a couple of freelance gardening projects during her stays out East and before long, she realized she’d found her vocation. She launched her landscape design business in 2003.

Landscapes and gardens are as individual as each of us. They are personal and beautiful expressions of who we are. Whether it’s a simple field of flowers that extends as far as the eye can see, or the architectural elements Harmonia includes to create elaborate outdoor “living rooms,” The company’s work is always a reflection of how you’ll want to enjoy your property for years to come. What distinguishes Brown’s lush, free-flowing designs is how organically they fit in with the surroundings. A Harmonia garden “feels very much like it just came from nature,” Brown says, “not that it was put there by a human being.” And when conceiving of outdoor spaces for clients, she chooses specimens and palettes that both echo the natural backdrop and help set just the right mood.

Harmonia is as comfortable working in the intimate setting of a village home, as on an oceanfront estate or woodland property. The firm can work directly with the client, or partner as part of a team to include the architect and builder. The scope of Harmonia Inc.’s services includes comprehensive design plans, installation and seasonal property maintenance. The firm’s expertise includes soil assessment, specimen trees, native plantings, fine stonework, interesting outdoor structures and creative garden accessories. This full-service approach is offered to insure the highest level of plant quality, health and long-term growth and maturity. Visit Harmonia’s design studio, located at 141 Maple Lane in Bridgehampton. harmoniainc.com