A grand home on the coastline in Virginia Beach boasted two-story wrap around covered porches that were central to the family’s entertaining lifestyle. Unfortunately, there was not a strong focal point looking out, rather a hodge-podge of plantings that visually did not register from the house.

To give the garden a strong shape and offset the dominance of the driveway, the bed lines were changed to suggest an intended circle, and a large, custom curved ½ pergola was added to give the garden visual weight and heft. A huge antique olive oil jar was placed as a central focal point, with two curved seat benches set on brick landings in the grass to frame the urn, provide seating, and layer the visual weight.

Using the existing plant material as a base, plants were moved and massed together, with incidental or underperforming plants tossed, and plants that were working added to in numbers. Evergreen, salt tolerant junipers were massed along the side for screening from pedestrian traffic. The result is a garden that moves and changes throughout the season and registers as a visual counterweight to the home.