Seven years ago at 80 Virginia, Leslie MacAvoy and Parks Scott started transforming the patchy scrap of lawn dotted with a few old rose bushes by creating flower beds around the porch and a big vegetable garden to supply plenty of summer produce with extra to freeze and can for winter. Gradually they expanded the flower beds around the house and along the street, with plans for a large shade garden on one side. “The gardens haven’t been planned so much as they have evolved as an expression of our aesthetic sensibilities, our values, and the way we live,” Leslie says. What has emerged is a cottage garden focusing on perennials and self-sowing flowers, which fits with the farmhouse style of the place.