In this yard, Paul Richards added tall plants to provide layers of screening. “As you look down the garden, you don’t see the whole thing. You have to walk through it to find out what’s there, creating lots of interest,” he says. “That’s also helped by the way the path goes from one side to the other.”
For larger gardens that you are looking at from some distance, broader planting strokes will make a bigger impact. Think of the visual difference between a few large swaths or clumps of a single type of plant, such as a white flowering perennial, compared with a scattering of the same perennial planted in mixed borders. The clumps and swaths of a single color will draw the eye from afar.
Location: Etobicoke, Ontario, a neighborhood close to downtown Toronto Designers: Dan de Vries and Jay Vanderkruk of Cedar Springs Landscape Group To separate a kitchen and dining area from an outdoor lounge, the designers of this Ontario backyard added a handsome freestanding wall. The wall separates the two spaces but leaves them room to relate to each other, thanks to a 5-foot-diameter circular cutout.
A built-in raised bed installed to the side of the deck grows edible plants for the family. “It was really important for my husband to have a space to grow veggies,” Smith says. Hallman Mailloux lined the bed with plastic to create a barrier from the pressure-treated wood and insulated it with foam in order to regulate the soil against temperature swings.
The dry stream bed is both decorative and functional. It empties into a 6 inch main PVC pipe that drains into the front swale. Besides the stream bed drain tile, the sump line and downspouts empty into this drainage system.
Whitworth, of Plan-it Earth Design, created this rain garden in Portland, Oregon, between two houses, directing roof runoff from both into a dry streambed. She used plants such as heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica), a mix of grass-like carex varieties and gooseneck loosestrife (Lysimachia clethroides) — all plants that don’t mind moist soil — to soften the edges.
The designers of this London backyard went a step further to welcome wildlife by adding a naturalistic pond with water-loving plants along the edges and a safety dock for birds to land or turtles to sun themselves in the center.
The best type of hedge for wildlife is one that’s been planted with mixed species that come into leaf, flower and fruit at different times. Since hedges become fairly permanent structures, decide in advance on the type of plant you want so you can tailor your choice to the eventual height of hedge you’d like. You can also create neat low hedges for a more formal look with rosemary or lavender, for example. Always check before trimming your hedges for any nesting birds.
cute, subtle little pond
slopey yard after
slopey yard before
The perennial beds include the following mix of natives, hybrids and pollinator-friendly plants: Beebalm (Monarda ‘Scorpion’), boxwood (Buxus ‘Green Mountain’), cornflower (Centaurea sp.), Culver’s root (Veronicastrum virginicum), dense blazing star (Liatris spicata ‘Kobold’), fall phlox (Phlox paniculata ‘David’), hyssop (Agastache sp.), lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina ‘Big Ears’), masterwort (Astrantia major ‘Moulin Rouge’), mountain fleece (Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Firetail’), purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea ‘Fatal Attraction’), Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia ‘Little Spire’), shasta daisy (Leucanthemum x superbum ‘White Breeze’), stonecrop (Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’) and white turtlehead (Chelone glabra).
Blue and green are analogous colors, meaning they sit right next to each other on the color wheel. They have a harmonious feel when used together, since they don’t contrast each other the way colors opposite on the color wheel do.
just like the coveted dining spot in your favorite restaurant, a garden booth can increase intimacy and a sense of seclusion while you’re dining outside. In this London backyard, a booth constructed of a brick base, raised deck flooring, slatted wood seat backs that double as privacy screens and wooden bench seating form a private corner nook for hosting dinner. A couple of seat cushions and throw pillows would make the space even more inviting.
in this backyard in upstate New York, simple low-backed metal chairs and a sleek outdoor table nearly disappear from view among a stunning meadow planting of billowing ornamental grasses and flowering perennials.
Koehler carved into the slope with a striking curved retaining wall with an integrated bench. By carefully calculating the amounts of cut and fill during the planning stages, he was able to complete the grading without bringing in additional fill. This was a big budget-saver.
great use of a slopey yard - love the stone seating
Mature rhododendron, purple-leaved fringe flower (Loropetalum chinense) and large ferns were retained from the original landscape to add lushness and maturity to the design. For foliage color variation, the designers added gold and bronze Japanese maples, gold-green ‘Frans Fontaine’ hornbeams (Carpinus betulus ‘Frans Fontaine’) and chartreuse grass-like Breeze mat rush (Lomandra longifolia ‘LM300’). A mix of flowering vines and perennials, including bougainvillea, geranium, Latin American fleabane (Erigeron karvinskianus), anemone and ‘Kent Beauty’ ornamental oregano (Origanum ‘Kent Beauty’) provide seasonal interest.
beautiful - lots of hardscaping but still lush.
Howard built a high fence at the rear of the lot. “We stained it darker to lose it slightly and planted a yew hedge in front,” he says. “This will grow to around [13 feet] high, which will help to reduce the noise of the trains and provide a green backdrop.” In front of the hedge, Howard planted a mix of ferns and euphorbias to brighten up the dark area.
The soothing water feature spans the width of the yard. The alcove behind the lower spout conceals the pump, and the pipework goes to the top spout, which is set into a slate surface. The pool is made of concrete covered in a couple of coats of pond sealant paint. Limestone gravel at the bottom lightens it up, and nontoxic chemicals keep the water clear.
In a Northeast front yard, Pennsylvania fieldstone flagstones create a meandering path across three-eighths-inch native washed gravel made from crushed bluestone. Mounds of gray-green catmint (Nepeta sp., zones 4 to 9) soften the edges.
Gardens using jewel-toned color palettes benefit from tones chosen from opposite sides of the color wheel (like orange and blue or yellow and violet). Pairing plants with foliage or flower colors in closely complementary hues makes each color stand out in contrast to its neighbors. For example, in this seaside garden by Bliss Garden Design on Bainbridge Island, Washington, dark purple ‘Caradonna’ sage (Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’) and cool blue ‘Little Titch’ catmint (Nepeta racemosa ‘Little Titch’) set off bright orange California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) planted close by.
In this woodland garden outside of Boston, landscape designer Matthew Cunningham banked the beds with pastel blooms mixed with plants that have silver to medium green foliage. Here we see white peonies, dark purple ‘May Night’ sage (Salvia ‘May Night’), lavender-pink ‘Globemaster’ alliums (Allium ‘Globemaster’), silver-leaved Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia), lamb’s ears (Stachys byzantina) and evergreen inkberry (Ilex glabra).
There are plants with deep taproots, those with shallow fibrous root zones and many that reach between. Putting plants with various root types together — instead of filling a bed with plants that all have the same root mass — will create zones of soil life at every level. Healthy soils increase plant health and sequester greater amounts of carbon from the air. I’m not a fan of tilling or adding deep levels of amendments to ornamental perennial beds — it’s costly and destroys soil structure and life. I do like adding a thin layer of compost and organic mulch (leaf mold, wood chips or the cuttings of dead plants from the spring cleanup) on top of the soil.
Shipman is pleased with her shed. She picked a design that has a door in the middle of the longest stretch. “It means you never have to reach into the depths, through cobwebs, to find what you’re looking for. Everything is visible and within reach,” she says. She positioned the shed against the center of the fence, rather than up at one end. “It means you create two secluded seating areas either side. Heaven knows why people so often put sheds in the corner,” she says. The shed has a sedum roof, meaning that, as well as being wildlife-friendly, it is attractive when seen from the upstairs windows.
The view from the back of the garden is a sea of blooms. From the left are Allium cristophii (globes), Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’ (spires), Rosa ‘Buff Beauty’, Rosa ‘Mortimer Sackler’ (pink blooms), Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’, Clematis ‘Rouge Cardinal’, Buxus sempervirens, and Echinops ritro ‘Veitch’s Blue’ (not in flower). Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’, a yellow grass, is in the foreground.
“I used a wildflower border turf and, because I laid it onto ordinary border soil — rather than impoverished ground, which is what you’d often put it onto — it’s gone mad. The wildflowers are loving it! “It’s great for bees and butterflies, which, in turn, bring in birds, so I have tiny birds hopping about among the flowers too,” she says. “Spiders love it as well. It brings life and movement to my small garden.”
cottage garden seating
33 by 33 feet cottage garden
A big trend is to use path lights that look more architectural, rather than the traditional flower or mushroom shapes,” Mackell says. For example, the LED-powered BEGA bollard luminaires seen here have a simplified geometric shape, echoing the proportion of the home’s rectangular windows. They project light from two sides onto the lawn and the pathway.
rooftop sauna and wildflower garden The plants used are a mix of those on the homeowners’ wish list and other native plantings that would thrive in the rooftop space. These include ornamental grasses such as blue joint grass (Calamagrostis canadensis), Indian grass (Sorghastrum nutans), Muskingum sedge (Carex muskingumensis) and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). Other plantings include orange coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida), butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), longbract wild indigo (Baptisia bracteata), whorled milkweed (Asclepias verticillata), red columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), smooth oxeye (Heliopsis helianthoides), whorled mountain mint (Pycnanthemum verticillatum), nodding wild onion (Allium cernuum) and Short’s aster (Symphyotrichum shortii). “These plants are extraordinarily hardy,” Petty says. “They have to be, given the extremes of the region.”
would be nice as a pond
An outdoor fountain placed in a garden bed will draw more birds than one set in a tiled courtyard. The surrounding foliage offers safety and gives birds a quick hiding spot from predators.
The team solved drainage in three ways. First, the masons left small gaps between the dry-stacked stones to allow the rock walls to be porous to water. Second, on the hidden side of each wall is a crushed-rock system. Third, pathways between the stone steps feature crushed basalt gravel, which absorbs water rather than contributing to runoff.
Hilarie used a variety of native plants in the shade garden, including Jack in the pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) and pink turtlehead (Chelone lyonii), both shown here, as well as foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia), baneberry (Actaea sp.), Canadian wild ginger (Asarum canadense), creeping phlox (Phlox stolonifera) and a variety of native trees.
“My shade garden is ‘wilder’ than other areas of the property and is meant to convey a tapestry of shade-loving plants that blend a cultivated look with more of a naturalistic style,” Hilarie says. This flagstone path leads through a shady glade, past broad-leaved hosta, ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris) and dogwood (Cornus sp.).
The garden house sits partially concealed by deciduous trees, amid a sea of primarily native ferns including hay-scented fern (Dennstaedtia punctilobula), ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), Himalyan maidenhair fern (Adiantum venustum), northern maidenhair fern (A. pedatum) and lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina).
love the natural rocks and the colour scheme
An enclosure is a traditional solution for hiding bulky plastic garbage and recycling bins. This design in Boston by Michael D’Angelo Landscape Architecture gives the typical approach a modern twist with evenly spaced horizontal boards for both the bin enclosure and the fencing. The enclosure’s sloped roofline also would make it easy to lift the lid of a bin to add trash, recycling or green waste without needing to pull out the bin completely.
a single, well-positioned bar on the exterior niche of this petite shed makes it suddenly easy to balance a wheelbarrow upright and out of the way. Not only does this save space, it’s a good reminder not to leave your wheelbarrow sitting out where it can collect rainwater (and breed mosquitoes).
This garden shed from Outpost London may be small, but it works hard. Pegs fitted onto the back of the door hold frequently used tools, upper shelves provide storage for watering cans and soil amendments, and a larger space below can fit a bicycle. An adjoining potting bench provides room to spread out gardening projects on the worktop and store extra pots and soil on shelves below.
native pollinator meadow
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