A Home Office—in the Garden

A garden office allows time and opportunity to smell the flowers.

By Carole Ottesen

Photographer Lou Mazzatenta

Every weekday morning and evening, thousands of people in our area climb into cars to commute to and from work. The typical Washington commute averages 30 minutes, ranking it the third longest in the nation, according to the American Automobile Association. Weather, accidents and holidays can make driving times longer and infinitely more stressful.

Such lengthy commutes are unhealthy, says psychologist and stress expert David Lewis. Commuter heart rates and blood pressure compare unfavorably with those of combat pilots and riot police, according to Lewis.

Some lucky people skirt unpleasant commutes altogether, finding instead a pleasant workplace close to home. Landscape designer Jayne Bourke is one of the lucky ones. She still winces when she remembers what her long commute was like.

“When you’re in your car, you’re grappling with traffic, with the radio, the cell phone. That took me to a very different place,” recalls Bourke.

The Stress-less Commute

Now she enjoys an enviable one-minute walk from her back door to her office in Oxford, Md. If she stops along the way to smell the flowers, it takes a bit longer.

“It’s as long a commute as I want to make it and as short as I want it to be,” she smiles. Three years ago, Bourke converted what had been an old tool shed in her backyard into an office. Today, the tiny cottage, resembling the century-old houses in Oxford’s historic district, is a convenient work space that adds great charm to her house and garden.

“I wanted it to fit with the house and be a focal point on the side of the house,” says Bourke. A cupola that tops the structure “is the original.”

Walking through the garden to her office does more for Bourke than simply save her time and keep her heart rate and blood pressure low. Something else happens along the way.

“There’s something about touching nature. It changes your thoughts. I stop being in my head and allow nature to change me. I take in the day, the weather, the rain, the sun, the season. The quality of light is different. I breathe in fresh air instead of exhaust fumes.” Her greatest gift, Bourke adds, is being able to work in a garden office.

Separating Busyness from Creativity

For the more mundane aspects of business, Bourke maintains another office in her house. That’s where accounts are kept, where orders are made and where all of the administrative work gets done. Two offices keep the two aspects of her business separate.

Not mingling the varied aspects of daily life with her creative work allows for purity in her designs, Bourke says, comparing this phenomenon to a painter’s application of a clear color that never turns muddy because it isn’t mixed with anything else.

Like Bourke, psychotherapist and writer Alice Miller has an office in her house and another in a small outbuilding in her garden. She, too, allocates different kinds of work to each place. The house office is where she sees patients, writes bills, and where the telephone rings.

“Being a therapist is the best job in the world, but it’s pretty intense,” says Miller. The garden office allows her to unwind between patients and “makes me a better therapist.”

Miller uses her garden office to “gel ideas,” write and find solutions. It’s a place of peace, quiet and surprising solitude.

Decompressing Detour

To find the cottage, one has to know it’s there, hidden in the farthest corner of a one-acre garden. To access the garden office, one must take a series of meandering paths that traverse different garden rooms. Getting there is a big part of its charm.

“It takes a couple of minutes if I’m walking directly, but I never do. I’ve been known to detour,” Miller says. “I have to smell the flowers and find Travis the turtle. He came from Second ChanceÖa refuge for injured wildlife.”

By the time she arrives at her destination, she has shaken off some of the day’s concerns. Inside, all is familiar and cozy. “It is made of cedar and it smells nice,” she says.

“I sit in that big old rocker and do my writing on a pad of lined paper—sometimes just a few lines and sometimes a lot. It all gets thrown in a box and then the material just sort of organizes itself.”

Both Miller and Bourke are fortunate to work in professions that lend themselves easily to working at home. However, in this internet era, a virtual office is an increasingly viable and attractive option for many others. Any home office will save the time and stress of commuting, but one surrounded by garden will also refresh the spirit.

“Out back, there is freedom. It’s inspirational,” says Bourke.

“It’s like I step into another world,” says Miller. “It’s my sanctuary.”