In summer, the rail fence in the front yard is highlighted by a row of white 'Annabelle' hydrangeas resembling beaming faces in a wedding receiving line. White delphinium, astilbe, and 'Casablanca' lilies lend height to the perennial beds, while green-and-white 'Royal Standard' hostas weave a variegated carpet. "The 'Casablancas' are magnificent when they bloom," says Carithers. "And at times we've enjoyed 4-foot-tall hostas like snowdrifts." In the spring, he takes advantage of fragrant blooms by hosting dinner parties with cocktails served outdoors.

Complementing the white blooms are poignant garden ornaments, each evoking a personal story: garden chairs received as a wedding gift; a rare 150-year-old granite obelisk from a New York City antiques shop (it required eight men to install and is "perfectly scaled for the garden"); and a lacy antique garden bench on which Carithers was photographed holding his son, Will, the day he was christened. Two pastoral statues, one of a boy and one of a girl, shipped all the way from Vincenza, Italy, are particularly sentimental. They remind Carithers of his now-grown son and his late beloved daughter, Elli.

Always looking forward to a new project, Carithers is intrigued by the possibilities for a small lawn on an upper terrace. The man known for creating genteel new spaces out of old is eyeing the space with thoughts of transforming it into a cutting garden. He's not sure it will get enough sun -- or more important, whether, with its elevation, he will be able to see it from inside the house. "At least I'll enjoy walking through it," says the designer, "and maybe cutting enough flowers for the table."