Planning a landscape upgrade? Get inspired by the Houzz community’s favorites so far this year
Courtesy of: Annie Thornton
10. Dry Creek Bed
This Dallas home’s stunning suspended hallway connects two wings. But it’s what the building is bridging that’s an inspiring landscape feature.
A dry creek bed runs through the landscape, adding design interest when dry but helping to move and drain water that makes it onto the property when it rains. This feature can be used on its own or in conjunction with other stormwater management tools, and it can be designed in a variety of styles.
9. Refined Naturalistic Garden
This naturalistic garden in Colorado is anything but messy-looking. Rough-cut stone steps wind across the hillside, and mounds of flowering shrubs, some native but all low-water users, are massed around the hillside, creating balance and cohesion without looking too manicured.
8. Sculptural Seat Wall
Rusted steel continues to maintain its popularity, and this sculptural seat wall in California’s Sonoma wine country shows off its strengths with the elegant curve, striking color and all-weather resilience. While you could build a beautiful bench with stone or concrete, in this setting, where you could almost mistake the bench for a Richard Serra art piece, it’s easy to see why the designers didn’t.
7. Lots of Spillers
The rule of thumb for container garden design is to have one thriller, one filler and one spiller. In this project, one plant fills all those roles. The draping tendrils of silver ponyfoot (Dichondra argentea) sweep back at the pathway like a heavy curtain. The plant pops against the rusted steel planters, and it contrasts with the spiky form of the large cape rush (Chondropetalum elephantinum).
6. Central Axis
Both modern and traditional styles rely on one or multiple axes, and this garden in Chicago shows us how pleasing to the eye it can be when everything is built off a central line. Not only is the path from the home to the garden clear, but also the garden feels balanced and in order.
5. Garden Journey
Landscapes, regardless of size, can inspire a sense of journey, as this Colorado design does. The slightly off-center steppingstones slow visitors down enough to stop and admire the native and drought-tolerant flowers planted on both sides of the path. The pergola-covered flagstone patio lies beyond, with evergreen trees obscuring but hinting at the spectacular view that awaits.
4. Storybook Playhouse
Who doesn’t love dream playspaces? This playhouse in West Midlands, England, combines everything we love about garden playhouses, from the intricate details like the window trim and Dutch door to its location perched up in a grove of trees.
3. Natural Stone Steps
Natural stone slab steps can be a way to call attention to your garden path or to allow it to nestle into the backdrop of a more naturalistic garden style. They also emphasize the journey, causing visitors to slow down and take their time. And, if you use local stone, natural stone steps put the garden in its local context. In this garden, boulders and plants spilling over the edge of the path round out the garden’s natural feeling.
2. Bold Edging
The backyard of this windsurfing vacation home in the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon features two main ground covers: lawn and decomposed granite. Instead of separating them with an invisible edging, the designers opted for a thick band of rocks, emphasizing the geometric shape of the border and contrasting with the scattered boulders.
1. Subtle Lighting
With landscape lighting, visibility and safety are important, but so is creating a mood that will encourage you to linger in your outdoor gathering spaces. This courtyard in Ahmedabad, India, uses a reflecting pool, in addition to downlights and well-spaced lanterns, to lighten up the outdoor area.
Not intended as a solicitation if your property is already listed by another broker. LPT Realty, LLC is a Licensed Real Estate Brokerage.