Italian-Inspired Terrace In this side yard outside a Mediterranean-style home by Jon Eric Christner Architect in Orange County, California, a metal trellis frames the view of a bench in the corner of the property, while a rustic metal bench in the foreground provides seating in the sun-dappled shade of an olive tree. Fragrant rosemary and vibrant roses lining the flagstone walkway complete the look of this romantic side yard.
Calming Water The sound of running water in a water feature can help mask the noise of air-conditioning units, traffic or other nearby nuisances. For this narrow backyard and side yard in Washington, D.C., landscape architect Jennifer Horn included a water feature with a waterfall and a rectangular rill filled with pebbles to help transform the patio space into a tranquil retreat.
Bench With a View Flanked by snowy white hydrangeas and lush green hedges, these double benches outside a home in Tuscany invite the visitor to stop and linger. The pathway’s gentle curve also helps visually break up the narrow yard, drawing one’s eyes through the space rather than straight down to the end. Banks of blue and white agapanthus further soften the side yard’s edges.
In this front yard, the designers at bspk design added a series of wall panels, painted the same color as the home’s exterior, to screen the large living room windows from the street. The walls not only create a visual boundary between public and private space, they also serve as backdrops for ferns, shrubs and potted plants in the interior courtyard. More on Houzz
Movable Barrier Tall potted plants in the right spot can help create a visual separation between a public space and a private one, helping an entrance feel more removed from a busy street. Plus, they can be a useful solution for renters or anyone who is unable to build a fence or more permanent barrier. Design tip: Choose hardworking evergreen plants or large-scale ornamental grasses, rather than flowers, to act as a moveable privacy hedge. Taller containers and dense foliage can also help with some noise abatement.
he courtyard is large enough for a small stone patio, low-water plantings and a recirculating fountain, effectively creating an open-air entryway room. Design tip: Use a fountain to cover up the noise of traffic with the soothing sound of running water. If noise abatement is a priority, opt for a fountain design that has a “fall” that will create a splash, rather than a spill-over-a-container design that has a more subtle sound.
If local building codes allow it, you can block the view of a busy street and gain a bonus outdoor room by enclosing the portion of the front yard just outside the front door. For this project in Austin, Texas, Tim Cuppett Architects used three-quarter-inch-thick panels of frosted glass to create a luminous screen that increases privacy without decreasing light. Another way to allow some light to pass through a fence is to choose a style that includes latticed panels or to leave small gaps between horizontally placed boards.
The team at dSpace Studio created this lounge area, enclosed by a shade structure of ipe wood and steel, as part of a backyard remodel for a Chicago family of five. Ceiling-mounted heaters provide warmth for chilly evenings, while acrylic panels on top of the pergola keep the area weather-protected. There’s even a TV mounted to the wall opposite the sofa, which — as project manager Robert McFadden points out— also makes it a great spot for watching fall football.
Pick the Right Tools for the Job (Without Going Overboard) Having the proper tools makes garden chores more pleasant — but don’t think you need to buy out the store on day one. Just a few tools and supplies should keep your garden running smoothly. The basics include: Gardening gloves. Choose a pair that feels comfortable and protects against thorns. Shovel. This is essential for preparing sizable garden beds and for digging holes for trees, shrubs and large plants. A shovel with a pointed tip is more versatile than a flat spade. Trowel and weeding tool (or a Japanese gardener’s knife). Use these tools to dig holes for planting and pull weeds out at the root. Long garden hose and spray nozzle. Select a hose long enough to comfortably reach each of the main areas of your garden. Hand pruner. Sharp clippers can trim branches and cut back woody plants like rosemary. Metal rake. Use this to spread mulch and prepare beds for planting. Leaf rake. Use a flexible plastic or bamboo rake to gather leaves.
wall adds depth. Southwestern Landscape by Tate Studio Architects Tate Studio Architects 8. Add Boulders Large rocks placed in a landscape can help change the topography by creating miniature hills and mountains within a planting bed. A sprinkling of small boulders amid cactuses and desert shrubs works well to add drama to the landscape surrounding this Phoenix home by Tate Studio Architects. Tip: If you’re planning to add boulders to your landscape, leaving one-third to two-thirds of the boulder underground will make it look more naturally anchored in the garden. Placing plants nearby, some nestled up against the boulder, also can help make it look more at home.
Browse more path inspiration Contemporary Patio by OUTHOUSE design OUTHOUSE design 7. Invest in Built-In Planters In a tight city lot — where there’s no room for berms, sunken patios or winding pathways — built-in planters may be your best bet for instant level changing. When design-build firm Outhouse Design came on to reimagine this backyard in Sydney, the space — measuring 11½ feet wide by 20 feet long with 10-foot-tall walls — felt like a concrete box. Contemporary Patio by OUTHOUSE design OUTHOUSE design The addition of large built-in planters creates height variation for plants and an anchoring point for a space-saving bench. The plants themselves — dwarf magnolia trees on one side and climbing vines on the opposite wall — help draw the eye upward, while a wood-paneled wall adds depth.
surface of raked gravel below. Mediterranean Landscape by Sage Ecological Landscapes Sage Ecological Landscapes 5. Suggest a Stream Bed Dry stream beds use a combination of raised berms and sunken areas lined with rocks and gravel to create the illusion of a stream running through a garden while adding dynamic level changes within the yard. In this garden by Sage Ecological Landscapes in San Luis Obispo, California, the designers suggest water with a dry stream bed that can be traversed by a small bridge.
After ripping up the concrete patio, the husband-and-wife team excavated the ground underneath to slightly slope the yard away from the house. They then covered the patio with loose bricks laid atop a bed of sand to help facilitate water drainage. “Rainwater can now seep through the bricks evenly and no longer pools on top of the concrete,” Sanders-Jacob says. All of the plants in the backyard are drought-tolerant and require minimal watering.
This view shows the steps that go from the front door to the street. To improve the light, Beverley replaced dark, scrubby bushes with retaining walls and a bench.
Design to Cut Down Maintenance Your garden won’t feel like a serene retreat if you are constantly reminded by the weeding, pruning, mowing and other garden chores that need to be done. Design your garden, or rethink certain areas of your landscape, to require less week-to-week maintenance. One idea: Reducing the size of your lawn and replacing it with a seating area and gravel patio that requires only occasional raking can seriously cut down the time spent on weekly garden chores. Conversely, having a more relaxed idea of what your garden “should” look like and allowing plants to be a little more natural or leaves to linger on pathways can also help reduce time spent on maintenance. Part of a townhouse project by London architectural firm Mackenzie Wheeler, this small walled garden is an urban oasis.
Newly planted espaliered fruit trees
New Eco Landscapes, which designed this space, often creates unusual brick arrangements that are just as interesting when viewed from above as from ground level. This smart design strategy is useful for urban yards, which typically have very limited outdoor space and are often viewed from multiple stories. Learn more about this New York City backyard
. Brick Spiral Looking down at this patio in New York City feels almost like looking into a spinning vortex or the spiral of a shell. Bricks arranged in concentric circles blend with the organic curves of metal-edged planting beds to create an eye-catching and unexpected design.
Japanese-Inspired Path Exposed aggregate (a concrete base with pebbles showing) may get a bad rap for looking dated, given its popularity in the 1960s through ’80s, but don’t rule it out if you’re looking to add texture to a design. It can look particularly well-placed in Asian-inspired gardens. In this Japanese garden, for example, an exposed-aggregate pathway visually reads as half gravel bed and half stylized stream bed, thanks to the texture of the aggregate and portions of irregular flagstone.
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Moore used different gravel sizes to suit different needs in the design. “The larger gravel is used to ensure that it more effectively stays in place in the paving gaps through the primary circulation zone. The finer gravel is used in the patio area to create a softer patio lounge surface,” he says.
Sneezeweed and Beebalm The magenta-purple flowers of ‘Scorpion’ beebalm (Monarda ‘Scorpion’, zones 4 to 9) complement the red-orange sneezeweed pictured in this Dutch meadow-style garden. Aptly-named, beebalm (Monarda spp., zones 4 to 9) is a bee and butterfly magnet wherever it’s planted. Sneezeweed (Helenium spp., zones 3 to 8) offers a late-summer to early-fall floral show. Try the speckled orange and red ‘Mardi Gras’ sneezeweed variety for petals that look like they’ve been tie-dyed, or try yellow-flowered Helenium autumnale for a North American native. Gardening tip: Deadhead sneezeweed and beebalm regularly in late summer in order to extend their blooms as long into fall as possible (up to October for sneezeweed or September for beebalm, depending on care and climate). Light requirement: Full sun Water requirement: Moderate
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The patio is north-facing, so to avoid the possibility of a green layer appearing on the damp, sun-starved surface over the winter, the couple decided to have a gravel patio. “We laid very basic slabs to create a firm level and to add an extra layer of protection against weeds. Then we put sand followed by gravel on top,” Rebecca says.
Garden designer Molly Wood created two distinct outdoor living spaces in the side yard and back corner of this home, also in Orange County. An outdoor kitchen and bar slots into the patio adjacent to the home, while a shaded L-shaped sofa anchors the corner of the yard. A sleek pebble-and-concrete walkway, bordered by hedges and feathery asparagus ferns, links the two areas.
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