Anyone arriving at the Trowbridge home on the western edge of Peterborough will notice the gardens before anything else -- the varied colors, shapes, sizes, and textures of the plants and flowers in the gardens.

“I love color,” Laura Trowbridge said while leading a tour of the garden. “And I love big plants, and the feeling that I can walk right up to the garden and the plants are as big as I am. It’s kind of an illusion, because while it looks kind of wild and out of control, that is deliberate, and it’s actually all totally controlled. ”

Trowbridge, a professional garden and landscape designer with over 20 years of experience,  loves unusual plants, as well as mixing annuals, perennials and shrubs. Any given square foot in her garden may contain common annuals such as zinnias, exotic plants living outside for the summer like a prized banana tree and unusual specimens such as castor beans. On the west side of the house, the lawn drops off, creating a wide view. 

“When we moved in, there was nothing out here but the stone wall, and I immediately knew I had to put a garden there, and I knew it needed to be a big, colorful garden to fill this space, with so much open sky,” Trowbridge said.

Trowbridge designed the gardens to reflect the different sections of the house. The wilder gardens in the back balance the contemporary, glass-filled addition, while the more-traditional gardens in the front of the house complement the original part of the 1765 Cape house. Over the years, Trowbridge’s gardens have been featured in regional and national publications, and she has written about the garden herself for “Fine Gardening” magazine and other publications.

Trowbridge said that the moment she and her husband, Jamie, walked into the house back in 1997, she “immediately felt at home.”

“I grew up in an antique house just like this, in Massachusetts,” Trowbridge said. 

When they bought the house, the Trowbridges had four children under the age of 8.  

“For the first few years, we spent all our time crammed in the tiny original kitchen,” Trowbridge said. “And as the kids grew and we needed more space, we had to decide to either leave, or add on to the house. The only thing I didn’t like about this house was that it was dark, as most Cape houses are. So we added on to bring in as much light as possible.” 

In 2001, the Trowbridges added onto the west side of the house, including a larger kitchen and seating area,  along with a master bedroom and bath upstairs. 

“Now, we use the old kitchen for arts and crafts and projects when the grandchildren come over,” Trowbridge said. “Our kids just love visiting this house.”

The house, built in 1765 , is one of the oldest in Peterborough, and the original inhabitants farmed most of the land in the vicinity. According to Trowbridge, the road to Peterborough Village originally ran right past the side of the house. 

“You can tell by the big old maple trees where the road used to be. None of these paved roads that are here now were here then,” she said.

The back patio on the west side houses Trowbridge’s collection of houseplants, many tropical and looking like something out of Dr. Seuss. Some are in pots so large they can’t be moved.

“My husband just put his foot down on some of these,” Trowbridge said with a laugh. “So with some of them, I dig the roots out and overwinter them in the basement, where they go dormant. The rest, I either cut all the way back and throw them on the compost pile, or they come inside for the winter as houseplants.” 

For years, every fall, Laura and Jamie would pack up the plants that couldn’t fit in their home, load them in a trailer and drive them a few miles away to the home of friends, where they would spend the winter. When they designed the addition, she deliberately included a “sunny corner,” facing southwest, where all of her beloved houseplants could hunker down until spring. 

“Now we don’t even have room for the couch over there anymore. It’s all for the plants,” Trowbridge said.

Every year, as winter approaches, the Trowbridges rotate the furniture in the main room, swapping the couch for the dining room table. 

“I move everything around with the seasons – the art, the rugs, the furniture. It gives the space new energy.” Laura said. “Most people can’t do that, but it’s easy for us to do because this is just one big square room.” 

All of the art in the house was created by family members, from Jamie’s grandmother, the painter BeaTrix Sagendorph, to drawings by grandchildren. The entire family also helps with the gardens, coming to spread mulch and compost every spring. Until recently, the gardens included chickens and beehives.

“I had chickens for 35 years,” Laura said. “But then at this house, just a few years ago, the bears found us, and they destroyed my chicken coop and killed all my chickens. We can’t have bees anymore, either.” 

Trowbridge credits her mother with instilling a love of gardening, farming and family. She recalled that the only fruits and vegetables her family ate in the winter were her mother’s handmade preserves and canned goods.

“My mother kind of lived off the land before it was such a trend,” she said. “I love having a cozy home. Home and a big garden, and family – we had the same priorities when I grew up. It is just natural for me to do this.”  

For information about Trowbridge, go to lauratrowbridge.com.