stooping to new heights
BROOKLYN HEIGHTS DESIGNER SHOWHOUSE
is a biennial design exhibition that invites designers to reimagine the interior and exterior spaces of a single home in historic Brooklyn Heights.
The layered, colorful planting in the front garden of the Showhouse reflects our interest in place-based design, connecting the building’s architectural character with the textures and seasonal rhythms of the broader regional landscape. Plantings, both in-ground and in earth-toned containers, soften and complement the brownstone, ironwork, and other built elements.
Atlantic white cedar and eastern red cedar provide focal points and evergreen structure while the fine foliage of bald cypress adds softness and seasonal change.
The broader palette combines native species and their cultivars with selected ornamental plants, balancing varied textures, heights, and seasonal moments. Flowering shrubs such as red chokeberry, Virginia sweetspire, and possumhaw viburnum bring flowers, foliage, and berries throughout the year, while lower layers of bearberry, creeping phlox, winter heath, hardy plumbago, and lyreleaf sage soften the edges of the garden.
Perennials, including heart-leaved aster, purple coneflower, and Virginia meadow beauty add seasonal color and support pollinators.
The result is a layered planting that feels balanced and abundant without becoming overly formal.
Ornamental gravel laid over the existing concrete skirt extends the garden’s material palette to the building’s edge. Its mineral texture softens the appearance of the concrete and creates a visual connection between the planting and masonry.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TORI SIKKEMA
COURTESY BROOKLYN HEIGHTS DESIGNER SHOWHOUSE