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Once you've walked across the drawbridge, over the moat and passed through ornate iron gates you approach a sign over the courtyard door that reads, “Beyond this place there be dragons." By this time you realize that while your body is in the Dallas suburb of Preston Hollow, your mind is somewhere between there and Middle Earth. Along with the rest of the media attending the Garden Writers’ Symposium in Dallas, I was thoroughly captivated by the so-called Hobbit House of Preston Hollow. The rest of the homes in the tony suburb are comprised of old estates and new, grand mansions. But, the Hobbit House is wholly unlike its neighbors on the narrow, winding, blacktop road. Its house and grounds were not built for show but for the delight of their imaginative owner and her five grandchildren.
According to the Dallas News, the following four rules must be followed in the maintenance of the gardens around the house:
Rule one: Hobbits are short, about 4 feet tall. The maintenance crew with Southern Botanical, the Dallas firm that installed and maintains the landscape design, must leave overhanging limbs and thick, coiled vines intact. The canopy on pathways through the native woods can be cleared no higher than 4 to 5 feet, to retain the sense of mystery and discovery around every turn.
Rule two: The property requires meticulous attention to detail, but it must look naturally wild.
Rule three: All seasonal flowers in the small garden outside the dining room's wall of windows – including hydrangeas in summer and bridal wreath in spring – must be white, twinkling and sparkling like a fairyland.
Rule four: The property must be maintained using organic methods and products.
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I was astonished to find that what appeared to be an ancient dwelling was only four years old! Just outside the house, close enough for tea parties, there is a custom Edwardian conservatory furnished with concrete table and chairs. Some of the fanciful elements came about as solutions to difficult drainage. The property is at the low point on the street's undulating terrain. Rainstorms, groundwater and neighbors' poorly designed irrigation systems send water streaming from all sides to collect here. Consequently, a deeply set brook that recirculates and seeps over mossy rocks was constructed like a moat along the front facade of the house.
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