To Lucie
terraces "Maybe you are dealing with a sloped lot. Instead of bisecting the space with the typical brick or concrete steps, this designer employed steel risers that deliberately and profoundly extend into the garden. By contrasting naturalistic prairie-style plants with well-manicured turf, the designer added unexpected interest, creating a case study in texture, structure and color."
Connection between sidewalk and garden "You can begin with your sidewalk, as this photo shows. Instead of the utilitarian poured concrete slab that moves visitors from point A to point B in a predictably mundane manner, this sidewalk moves people with style and meaning. Bands of pavers extend into the surrounding garden, making a connection with it as the garden politely returns the favor. Those who travel down this sidewalk connect with the garden in a profound way that is not easily forgotten."
Overplanting to create low-maintenance summer color. A clipped yew hedge (Taxus baccata) borders the back of the lawn and separates it from the parterre at the rear of the garden. The parterre is really the jewel of the garden, with exquisite mixed plantings that you would not normally expect in a garden of this type and age. An almost overplanted mixture of mainly herbaceous perennials and ornamental grasses, sometimes referred to as a perennial meadow, is punctuated by three painted wooden trellis obelisks that support purple-flowered clematis. Though the planting scheme varies throughout the large parterre border, the use of the three painted obelisks combined with the use of the tall purple verbena (Verbena bonariensis) along the spine of the border creates cohesion.
cascading plants onto stones (I like sculpture, but not this one. I want to create serene, inviting.)
Q