Design New England - July/August 2010

visit dominique browning

a tall gate hung with Tibetan prayer flags protects the entrance to the small front garden where
steppingstones lead the way through textural ground covers that Browning selected and planted
herself.

the front garden, a would-be feast for deer.

Though her house is modern, her approach is quintessential old-time Little Compton, where the treasure of a gorgeous natural setting is more apt to be disguised than trumpeted to passersby and where a high value is placed on privacy.

After finishing her book, Browning began
a beautifully designed and engaging blog called
SlowLoveLife.com where she further pursues the
theme of learning to appreciate everyday moments.
She also started a monthly column called “Personal
Nature” for the Environmental Defense Fund web-
site, edf.org, and she continues to write for major
magazines. “I’m working harder than I’ve ever
worked,” she says. “I’m writing all the time.”
But now she lives more in the present, thanks
in part to her beautiful surroundings. “My first win-
ter here, I had one scrawny snowdrop,” she says. “But
a friend told me to concentrate on that one like I’d
never seen a snowdrop before. One snowdrop can
give you more than a thousand if you let it.”

For information about the ongoing Trinity Church-Arnold Arboretum joint Gardens & Spirit lecture series, go to trinitychurchboston.org or arboretum.harvard. edu or call 617-536-0944, extension 217.