The perennial beds receive no supplemental irrigation, save for occasional hand watering. They require deadheading and occasional staking. The planting is only a year old, but Wheatley-Miller says some of the perennials will be due for dividing and replanting in three to five years. Although the perennial garden was only planted last fall, by midsummer the plants had fully taken off and filled the beds with color — a show designed to last until the end of autumn, with boxwoods and holly adding winter interest. “Plants now provide color, texture and scent from spring into late fall,” Wheatley-Miller says. She says her clients see lots of butterflies and enjoy the small happenings in the garden, from bulbs emerging in spring to perennial peonies bursting into bloom. With the entry plantings done, the team is turning to the next item on the phased-installation landscape list. “We’ll make improvements to the waterfront side next, adding a play area along the inlet waterway for the grandchildren, a woodland walk and a treehouse,” Wheatley-Miller says. It sounds like the fun is just beginning for the Cazenovia Lake house garden.
The perennial beds receive no supplemental irrigation, save for occasional hand watering. They require deadheading and occasional staking. The planting is only a year old, but Wheatley-Miller says some of the perennials will be due for dividing and replanting in three to five years. Although the perennial garden was only planted last fall, by midsummer the plants had fully taken off and filled the beds with color — a show designed to last until the end of autumn, with boxwoods and holly adding winter interest. “Plants now provide color, texture and scent from spring into late fall,” Wheatley-Miller says. She says her clients see lots of butterflies and enjoy the small happenings in the garden, from bulbs emerging in spring to perennial peonies bursting into bloom. With the entry plantings done, the team is turning to the next item on the phased-installation landscape list. “We’ll make improvements to the waterfront side next, adding a play area along the inlet waterway for the grandchildren, a woodland walk and a treehouse,” Wheatley-Miller says. It sounds like the fun is just beginning for the Cazenovia Lake house garden.
After: To open up more planting possibilities, Wheatley-Miller dug up the existing shrubs along the brick walk and expanded the planting beds from 4 feet to over 6 feet wide. The extra room allowed her to create a tiered effect, layering perennials by height in the beds. A watercolor palette of deep purple, pale lavender, soft yellow, rose pink, silver-green and zingy magenta forms a tapestry of color, with abundant nectar- and pollen-rich blooms attracting bees and butterflies. Wheatley-Miller cites hyssop (Agastache spp.), beebalm (Monarda spp.), and knotweed (Persicaria spp.), among others in the border, as being particularly effective pollinator magnets. Wheatley-Miller reused a number of perennials from the existing border, digging up, dividing and transplanting them to other areas of the garden — a move that reduced waste and helped save her clients’ budget. Plants reused in this border include dense blazing star (Liatris spicata ‘Kobold’), native white turtlehead (Chelone glabra), purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) and stonecrop (Sedum sp.). She also saved a large peegee hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata ‘Grandiflora’), seen in bloom in the background, which helps anchor...
2. Backyard Fun for a Brooklyn Family Harper Design Build partnered with Brooklyn landscape architecture firm Todd Rader + Amy Crews to turn an untamed backyard in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood into additional living space. Houzz users loved the pattern in the fence, where two different-size boards create a rhythm in stripes. The homeowners recently added sunshades to the clear cedar pergola for privacy and shade. A ceiling fan in the pergola provides a breeze on hot summer days. Tip: Use contrast on a patio. Here a combination of ipe decking, bluestone pavers and Cor-Ten steel accents provide an interesting view from the brownstone home.
3. Cottage Garden Style for an Illinois Farmhouse Ginkgo Leaf Studio designed this Illinois farmhouse-style home’s backyard with colorful cottage gardens in mind. Landscape designer James Drzewiecki zoned the patio into two conversation areas and a pergola-topped dining area. Patterns of bluestone and brick help define the different areas. Tip: Large patios can feel vast when composed of one material. Mix materials to create a comfortable human scale.
This Los Angeles patio has idyllic California outdoor living covered — a pull-up bar outside the kitchen window, a second bar across from the grill and a covered dining area for al fresco meals. Not shown here is the fabulous lounge area also located under this roof. Tip: Consider a pass-through window from kitchen to patio. It will make serving an outdoor dining area easier.
8. Under a Pergola in Northern Utah ROOF glass?? on top of pergola This powerful pergola crafted by Magleby Construction in Lindon, Utah, defines a comfortable patio space complete with a porch swing. The large timber posts of the pergola play off architectural details on the home’s exterior, including the front porch. And the composition of the horizontal boards on the fence create depth, shadows and interest. Tip: Consider wiring a pergola for features like ceiling fans, lighting and speakers.
There’s no better place to go modern than Palm Springs, California. The oversize pavers, long rectilinear fire pit, gridded patio design and limited material palette of this Palm Springs courtyard patio put the focus on the desert and the vast sky overhead. Cushy cubic modern chairs and a large abstract sculpture complete the look. Tip: Pebbles and clean-lined concrete make a compelling patio surface pairing. Here, the colors of the surrounding desert landscape inspired the selections.
6. Bold and Beautiful A gorgeous cabinet color paired with beautiful tile are among the many elements that make this kitchen a looker. The wrong choice of bold bright color here could have distracted from the stunning tile, light fixtures and that awesome dining room display cabinet. But the purple-blue hybrid — with its perfect touch of gray — is different and interesting, yet still neutral enough to complement the overall design.
3. Light and Dark Here’s another kitchen design that favors windows over wall cabinets. It’s also another example of how to use an expensive backsplash tile in an affordable way — not tiling all the way to the ceiling — without compromising the overall look. I really like designer Orlando Soria’s use of gradations of color, with the darkest hue on the island, a lighter blue for the backsplash, then topped off with light, bright white. Because most of the colors are cool here, the dash of warmth from the flooring and pendants balances the cool hues nicely.
In larger courtyards, arranging containers into groups of three, five or more can help create high-impact vignettes. With clustered containers, designer Beth Dadswell of Imperfect Interiors transformed this site of a former London dairy into an inviting courtyard garden. Dadswell used a combination of purchased and recycled containers, including oil drums painted glossy black for the trees. “We layered cardboard around the insides,” the designer says. Plants include a cherry tree, hydrangeas, ferns, two types of jasmine, evergreen clematis (Clematis armandii), evergreen boxwood, ornamental grasses and a deciduous serviceberry (Amelanchier sp.).
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