Photo by R. Smiddy: Creeping Jenny ground cover adds interest to the base of these trees and pulls you through the trail
Design ideas for a huge traditional backyard stone landscaping.

Photo of a contemporary landscaping in Los Angeles.

Cottage home design photo in St Louis

Design ideas for a mid-sized traditional full sun backyard mulch formal garden in San Francisco.

Mid-sized trendy courtyard patio container garden photo in New York with no cover

Photo: Janice Tucker for Santa Fe Botanical Garden Growth habit of alkali sacaton Sporobolus airoides taken at Leonora Curtin Wetland Preserve, Santa Fe, NM (La Cienega), a Santa Fe Botanical Garden site.

This is an example of a mid-sized traditional drought-tolerant backyard landscaping in Salt Lake City with no cover.

California native meadow grass drought tolerant landscaping
This is an example of a mid-sized mid-century modern drought-tolerant and full sun backyard mulch landscaping in Los Angeles for winter.

photo and landscape: Dave Demers - CYAN Horticulture As a long-time neighbor of CYAN Horticulture, the owner of this small south-facing garden gave us carte blanche on her project, as long as the severely damaged lawn was made to disappear altogether. A relax yet carefully studied meadow-like planting of bulbs and perennials, grasses and evergreen shrubs, now flank a narrow walkway. Maintenance is here kept to a minimum and seasons are wisely felt in this ever-changing arrangement.

Design ideas for a small craftsman full sun backyard concrete paver landscaping in San Francisco.

www.nicholasgingold.com
Design ideas for a traditional full sun front yard landscaping in Orange County.

Rebecca Lindenmeyr
Photo of a mid-sized modern full sun side yard landscaping in Burlington.

ThinkGreen LLC http://www.thinkgreenllc.com 2014 PLNA Awards for Landscape Excellence Winner Category: Residential $30,000-$60,000 Award Level: Gold Project Description: Located in the residential area near the Philadelphia Art Museum, this project was Philadelphia’s first Platinum LEED rated row home. The available outdoor space in any major metropolitan area is typically limited. The client was dedicated to increasing the amount of available outdoor space for entertaining and planting. The sustainable efforts that went into the interior renovations were continued in the exterior spaces with a series of green roof gardens. The lower level terrace features two separate spaces it was the largest. Directly out the glass rear doors of the house is a paved area using local materials that have high albedo. A couple of stairs down leads to a seating area surrounded by River Birch, ferns, and vines such as Virginia Creeper and Trumpet Honeysuckle which create a screen from the neighbor’ s yard. The second level garden is an extensive roof garden with approximately fifteen inches of soils. The space was planted with a variety of native meadow plants such as Purple Coneflower and Beardstongue, and Switchgrass. Fruit trees were planted in several corten steel containers. After a couple of years the client decided he wanted more use of the space so the meadow was thinned out and a path to the end was installed as well as creeping sedums in between the steppers. A spiral stair case leads to the upper level garden. When you reach the top of the stairs in the summer months a vegetable garden full of tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers thrives in planting boxes. Beyond the garden is another seating area. At the front end of the building a line of Eastern Red Cedars is planted to create a privacy wall from the neighbors across the street. The plant palette is predominately native species that can withstand the tough conditions of the limited soil depth and the heat of the sun. Plants such as Bee Balm, Prickly Pear, and Wild Petunia have done exceptionally well on the green roof. When needed they can be irrigated using the house’s grey water system. In addition the benefits the roof gardens provide for the heating and cooling systems make this house and it’s landscape intimately linked together. Photo Credit: Thinkgreen LLC

Richard P. Rauso, ASLA
Inspiration for a mid-sized traditional full sun backyard mulch landscaping for fall.

image of dwarf mondo grass line in decomposed granite walkway. photo credit: ashley thorner
This is an example of a contemporary landscaping in Seattle.

Inspired by the Dutch designer Piet Oudolf, perennial grasses are integral in this design
Design ideas for a huge rustic full sun and drought-tolerant backyard landscaping in Burlington for fall.

Photos by Patrick & Topaze McCaffery of Taproot Garden Design
Design ideas for a large mediterranean full sun backyard stone landscaping in San Francisco for spring.

Mixed planting of feather reed grass 'Karl Foerster', russian sage, and juniper 'blue pacific' contrast a row of arborvitae 'green giant' and 'spring grove'. Limelight hydrangea peeks over the top of the grasses in the background.