A Garden of Snow at Beanacre Farm

Snowy Bench and Bushes

From there, it was just a hop, skip, and jump to grouping evergreens—both clipped into fanciful shapes and growing naturally—to form vignettes. Needless to say, nothing is under wraps, except for the blanket of snow that gives his meticulously sheared shapes definition. And the empty spaces are equally eloquent. “It’s also about the voids,” Gerard says.

Snowy Textured Tree

Since every footstep is a laborious expedition, he crafts destinations. Whether it’s thwacking the snow from the boughs of his evergreens or paying call to the remnants of summer vines, seedpods, and berries etched in frost and sugared with snowflakes, Gerard is “out there every day, no matter what.” His garden is about the tracery of tree peony branches, the cushion of sedums holding their pillows of snow, and the tangle of twigs forming an arch. “Think shadows,” he says, “think sunlight.”