apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Robert planned and planted the maze almost 20 years ago as a way to make use of a side yard that was open to the street and wasn’t a safe place for his small children to play. It took about 5 years to grow to the height that it is now (about 7 feet tall), but realizing he hadn’t pruned aggressively enough because the bottoms of the hedges were a bit thin, Robert trimmed down the center a few years ago in hopes that the walls would grow back more thickly branched. Once the middle had been cut down, he decided he loved the bright open space that he had created and the sense of leaving humdrum life behind and entering a secret world.

As well as being a nice place to wander, the maze features two “rooms” that are excellent spots to set up a lounge chair when anyone in the family needs to get away from it all. Pruning all of the hedges is quite an endeavor, but now that he gets to see his 2-year-old grandson happily scampering along the paths, he knows that it’s worth it.

(images: Sarah Rainwater)