The cutting garden is visible from the rear terrace . In contrast to the white and green border gardens , it is a riot of color . Laurie ’ s mother is an exceptional gardener and meticulous flower arranger . This inspired Laurie to create a separate , fenced cutting garden for a few reasons . First , cut flowers are not always the prettiest choices for a flower border , as they tend to have long , lanky stems . Also , as Laurie says with a smile , “ My mother is a perfectionist , so we thought having the garden slightly out of sight from the house would take some of the pressure off . Of course , as you can see , she keeps it pretty perfect anyway !” There are herbs in the cutting garden too .