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Charlotte Moss’s Virginia garden centers on a linked rill and pool inspired by European gardens and the sound of water. In an interview with Homes & Gardens, Moss also explains how travel memories, her grandmother’s irises and the needs of entertaining shaped the landscape. The report does not announce a new project or provide a publication date.
Interior designer and author Charlotte Moss has described how she shaped her Virginia garden around a water feature influenced by European gardens, with family memories and spaces for entertaining informing the wider landscape. In a Garden Diaries report for Homes & Gardens, Moss explains how a linked rill and pool became the garden’s focal point, giving readers a first-person account of the inspirations behind the design.
Moss said the property originally had a small fenced garden planted mainly with peonies, flowers and herbs, while trees dominated the rest of the landscape. She and her team removed old trees, planted new ones—including magnolias, sycamores, boxwoods and apple trees—and added terraces and a small, all-green parterre beside the flower room.
The central water feature runs from an upper rill to a main pool and lower rill, ending at a round basin with an obelisk. Moss said she wanted copper beech trees to frame the water and grasses to move in the breeze, combining visual movement with the sound of water. She identified Rousham Gardens in Oxfordshire and other European rills as inspirations.
Other elements also reflect places and memories that Moss says stayed with her. Espaliered apple and pear trees were influenced by a garden she visited in France. The iris garden occupies an older brick garden at the house, with brick paths, limestone columns and climbing roses trained along chains to form what Moss calls a “rose fence.”
How Memory Shaped the Garden
The report shows how a garden can be organized around more than planting choices: Moss describes travel, personal memory and daily use as forces that shaped its design. The water feature links a visual reference from Rousham with a memory of noticing water sounds at the Keukenhof gardens in the Netherlands, then gives the Virginia landscape a focal point for movement and gathering.
Her account also connects design decisions to how the property is used. Moss said the garden supports outdoor meals, drinks and quiet sitting, with a stone sofa beside the pool and a terrace for dining. Her comparison of garden design with interior design offers practical insight into how paths, planting and seating can create distinct outdoor spaces without treating a garden as simply a decorative view.
The personal story behind the irises adds another layer. Moss recalls her maternal grandmother growing them and remembers being struck by how briefly a cut flower lasts. That recollection, she said, informed her appreciation of the flower and the need to be present when it blooms. The report presents these details as Moss’s own reflections, not as a formal design prescription.
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From a Small Garden to a Landscape
Moss describes the Virginia property as a landscape that required substantial alteration after she first arrived. The original fenced garden was limited in scale, and the wider grounds were heavily wooded. The subsequent work included removing some older trees and planting new varieties, alongside expanded hardscape and terraces intended for sitting and entertaining.
European references recur across the design, but Moss says they surfaced through remembered visits rather than a plan to reproduce a single garden. She linked the espaliered fruit trees to a French garden, the rose fence to Eyrignac in the Dordogne, and the rill to Rousham and other European examples. She also recalled that her husband drew her attention to water sounds at Keukenhof, prompting her to add a water feature to their East Hampton garden before the idea became central to the Virginia design.
The garden is connected to Moss’s flower room, whose windows look toward the parterre. She describes that room as a place for flowers and for plants being rotated, orchids returning to bloom and plants needing repotting. The source report also includes Moss’s comments on gardening tools, but does not present a broader announcement about a new garden, book or design project.
““The visual memories from my travels are inescapable.””
— Charlotte Moss, speaking to Homes & Gardens
What the Report Does Not Specify
The source is a profile and first-person account, not a project announcement. It does not give a publication date in the supplied material, identify the landscape team or provide a construction timeline, budget or measurements for the garden. It also does not say when the design work took place or whether the garden has recently changed.
Descriptions of the garden’s inspirations and experience come from Moss. The report does not independently verify the full design history or provide comments from landscape architects, horticultural experts or other visitors. No new plans or future work are announced in the source, so it is unclear whether any further development is expected.
No Further Project Update Given
The Homes & Gardens report offers a retrospective account of the garden rather than a schedule of upcoming work. It identifies no next milestone or announced project. Any further changes to the Virginia landscape, or additional details about its design and planting, have not been specified in the source material.
Key Questions
What is the main feature of Charlotte Moss’s Virginia garden?
The focal point is a linked water feature: an upper rill flows to a central pool, then to a lower rill and a round basin with an obelisk.
Which European gardens influenced the design?
Moss names Rousham Gardens in Oxfordshire as an influence on the rill, Eyrignac in France as the inspiration for the rose fence, and a garden she visited in France as a reference for espaliered fruit trees. She also recalls hearing water at Keukenhof in the Netherlands.
What role do personal memories play in the garden?
Moss connects the garden’s design to travel memories and to her grandmother’s irises. She says these recollections influenced her choices, including the garden’s water feature and iris plantings.
Is the report announcing a new garden project?
No. The source is a Garden Diaries profile about Moss’s existing Virginia landscape. It does not announce new construction or future plans.
Source: homesandgardens.com
