garden
Not a good idea to include mirrors in garden in case birds fly into them. Shiny tiles/textured glass can help bounce light around, make area feel bigger. A wall of rippled glass formed a backdrop to planting/water features, visually doubling space, making it feel more lush, green.
Blur your yard’s boundaries, perhaps by painting the fence black, as seen in this design by Jilayne Rickards, and they’ll feel further away (and your yard, magically, larger). Cover perimeter fences in climbing plants and they’ll, quite literally, disappear.
Woodland shed. For most people, a garden shed or storage area, whether it’s for tools, supplies, equipment or toys, will be an integral and noticeable part of the landscape. You can minimize it by nestling it into an inconspicuous spot. You can also make a garden feature that complements the rest of your landscape.
shed
zen garden
rustle of bamboo, texture of a gabion wall and warmth of a fire pit. gabion wall around seating area serves as a retaining wall for the planter and a support for the bench. Bamboo adds privacy; lush, layered plantings create intimacy.
The fire feature is made of two parts: a steel sculpture above and a tinted concrete table with a hollowed-out fire bed below. sculpture created by Hogtown Sheet Metal + Custom Fabrication, made of stainless steel rods in a design inspired by branches. base designed by De Brabandere, made to complement and show off the structure and conceal a gas line that runs under the feature to power the fire bed.
Install percolation pits beneath home’s downspouts, add permeable decomposed granite and ground covers between pavers to capture rainwater. designed a meadow-like garden with perennials and ornamental grasses. Plants arranged in clumps and swaths, mimicking how they might reseed naturally. offer multiple seasons of colorful flowers. winter interest thanks to bright twigs of Arctic Fire dogwood (Cornus sericea ‘Farrow’ zones 2-9). Attracting wildlife a priority. Native plants were selected as much as possible: serviceberries and dogwoods to attract birds, fruit trees for wildlife and many flowering perennials for bees and butterflies. Included other bee- and butterfly-friendly perennials: black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’, zones 3-9), tickseed (Coreopsis grandiflora ‘Baby Sun’, zones 4-9), English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia ‘Munstead’, zones 5-8), Coronado red hyssop (Agastache ‘Pstessene’, zones 5-9), red-hot poker (Kniphofia uvaria, zones 5-10) and pink-flowering thyme. Drip irrigation provides a modest amoun...
direct half the roof runoff water into this front yard rain garden and the other half to a second rain garden in the backyard. She dug a trench to serve as a dry creek, and filled it by repurposing all the existing boulders and stones on the site as well as some logs from the creek bed. She also added organic amendments, such as compost, to the sandy soil.
focus on sustainability, good looks and productivity. decomposed granite (DG) paths lined with granite cobblestones meander; a permeable option that allows rainwater to slowly seep into soil rather than run off. beds topped with xerimulch finely shredded wood [not bark] mulch that breaks down over time, nourishes soil. shelters soil from direct sun, helps prevent water loss from drip irrigation system.
fence
restricted number of plant varieties prevents expanse from looking messy. “I pick seven or so plants and repeat them in blocks of 3s, 5s and 7s, Otherwise it can become overwhelming. The repetition gives a calming sensation.
a bench, a bubbling fountain and an apple tree within two simple curved walls. These were made from high-gloss steel in a warm terra-cotta color, though Cor-Ten steel could also work nicely.
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