The Verdant Estate Gardens studio team
About

A studio devoted
to the long view.

Our Story

Founded on the conviction that great gardens require great patience.

Eleanor Chase established Verdant Estate Gardens in 2004 after a decade working with estate landscapes in the Cotswolds and the Pacific Northwest. She chose the Hudson Valley for its exceptional natural beauty, its demanding climate — which rewards those who understand it — and its tradition of serious, cultivated domestic landscapes.

In twenty years, the studio has grown from a one-person practice to a team of twelve specialists in design, horticulture, stone masonry, and aquatic ecology. The founding commitment — to work slowly, carefully, and with complete attention to the character of each individual property — has never changed.

We are not a production company. We do not operate on a volume model. We take on approximately fifteen new projects per year, each one receiving the full attention of the principal team. This is not a constraint but a deliberate choice: the quality of our work depends on it.

"We are not in the business of making gardens look new. We are in the business of making gardens that age beautifully." — Eleanor Chase, Founder
The Team

The people behind the gardens.

Our strength comes from deep individual expertise and the kind of working relationships that only develop over years.

Eleanor Chase
22 years experience

Eleanor Chase

Principal Designer & Founder

Eleanor founded Verdant Estate Gardens in 2004 after a decade working with estate gardens in England and the Pacific Northwest. She studied landscape architecture at the University of Edinburgh and spent formative years apprenticed to a renowned garden designer in the Cotswolds, where she developed the slow, considered approach to design that defines the firm. Her work is guided by an enduring belief that the best gardens take time — time to design, time to plant, and time to mature into something that feels inevitable.

  • Estate garden master planning
  • Formal and naturalistic design synthesis
  • Plant composition and seasonal interest
  • Garden restoration and renovation
Marcus Stone
29 years experience

Marcus Stone

Head of Hardscape & Construction

Marcus joined Verdant Estate in 2009 after fifteen years as a master stonemason working on historic restoration projects throughout New England. He brings a craftsman's sensibility to every hardscape project — an insistence on proper base preparation, meticulous jointing, and the kind of finish details that only become visible on close inspection. Marcus sources most of our natural stone personally, visiting quarries and salvage yards to select material whose colour, texture, and character are right for the specific project.

  • Natural stone terraces and walkways
  • Dry-laid and mortared masonry
  • Retaining walls and grade transitions
  • Outdoor kitchen construction
Yuki Tanaka
14 years experience

Yuki Tanaka

Water Feature Designer

Yuki's background spans aquatic ecology, traditional Japanese garden design, and contemporary water engineering. She studied at the Tokyo University of Agriculture before completing a graduate program in ecological landscape design at Cornell. Her koi ponds and water gardens are designed as living ecosystems — biological communities that maintain their own balance with minimal intervention. Yuki is responsible for our water feature installations from initial concept through the biological establishment of new ponds.

  • Koi pond design and engineering
  • Biological filtration systems
  • Naturalistic swimming ponds
  • Japanese-influenced water garden design
Daniel Holt
30 years experience

Daniel Holt

Senior Horticulturist

Daniel grew up on his family's nursery in Litchfield County and has spent thirty years studying the plants that thrive — and the plants that merely survive — in the Hudson Valley's demanding climate. His knowledge of native and adapted plant material is encyclopedic, and his eye for plant combinations, seasonal interest, and long-term development is what elevates our planting designs from competent to remarkable. He oversees plant procurement, sources unusual specimens, and manages establishment care for all new installations.

  • Native and adapted plant selection
  • Naturalistic planting design
  • Tree and shrub procurement
  • Plant establishment and care
20+
Years in the Hudson Valley
280+
Estates designed and built
12
Specialists on our team
15
New projects per year maximum
Service Area

Where we work

We serve the Hudson Valley and surrounding areas within approximately sixty miles of our studio. Select projects extend to Connecticut, the Berkshires, and the New York metropolitan area.

Hudson, NY
Rhinebeck, NY
Millbrook, NY
Chatham, NY
Kinderhook, NY
Livingston, NY
Hillsdale, NY
Ancram, NY
Pine Plains, NY
Red Hook, NY

Hudson Valley USDA Hardiness Zones 5b–6b. Our plant selections are calibrated for zone 5b minimum, ensuring plants survive even our coldest winters.