Molly Maguire Landscape Architecture. The existing plantings were edited to allow for year round color and interest. Woodland natives were added at the edges of the property extending the garden into the 'borrowed' forested City Park boundary beyond.

Inspiration for a contemporary garden in Toronto.

Traditional side yard garden in Minneapolis with a garden path and natural stone pavers.

Webster, MA lake house. - Complete lakeside landscape renovation using boulders and ornamental grass plantings, New England fieldstone wall, granite steps, bluestone pathway and fire pit. - Sallie Hill Design | Landscape Architecture | 339-970-9058 | salliehilldesign.com | photo ©2008 Brian Hill

The Upper Shade Garden The small enclosed Shade garden occupies the site of the former owners’ “kitchen” garden. It was here, protected from the deer by rock and wire fencing, that the two elderly ladies grew vegetables and flowers for the house.

Matthew J. Cunningham
Photo of a traditional backyard outdoor sport court in Boston.

Allan Block products can be used to create many types of applications including stairs. These projects were built in Pennsylvania and Maryland using products from Nitterhouse Concrete. They offer great colors and textures to compliment any outdoor landscaping the customer has requested. Customer created a backyard oasis with flowing walls, stairs and paver pathway to lower part of yard. Photos provided by Allan Block Corporation

This is an example of a country garden in New York.

Owen McLaughlin
Photo of a large asian backyard partial sun formal garden in New York with a garden path and gravel.

Granite Steps and Softscapes
Photo of a mid-sized country backyard full sun garden for summer in Manchester with natural stone pavers.

A raised multi-level bluestone patio complete with a fieldstone outdoor fireplace built with locally sourced fieldstone, as well as multi-tiered fieldstone retaining walls, bluestone slab steps and fine plantings.

Jasen Wyrembelski - 586-634-9928 SEE MORE @ >>> http://jjwbrick.com/landscaping-photo-gallery-michigan/

Autumn fern, (Dryopteris erythrosora) in a shde container Le jardinet
Traditional garden in Seattle.

Blending contemporary forms and lush plantings, this Garden maximizes the sensory experience of the materials and planting from inside and outside the home. The garden occupies an interior courtyard framed by four interior walls. The home, designed by Architect Cliff May was built in 1948 and the following year was featured in House Beautiful Magazine. The clients list of needs and desires was brief. They wanted a space that would complement the mid century modern home and provide visual interest from inside the home. Some form of water was also requested. They had a budget of $30,000. In order to stay within their budget the clients performed the demolition of the old garden. The designer’s intent was to create a garden that would possess a clear sculptural quality and would be as visually striking from inside the home as it would be from inside the courtyard. The strategy behind the design was to use hardscape materials characterized by simple geometric forms and a planting palette that would emphasize form over color, and then to arrange the materials to achieve an interpretation of modern aesthetic. The views from inside the homes three main living rooms present the garden as a graphic composition of space, hardscape materials and planting. Inside the courtyard the edges are defined by stone and planting. The floor is composed of rectangular slabs of Teakwood flagstone with a counterpoint of Mexican beach pebbles set within the joints and around the edges. Concrete along the edges of the Teakwood pads reduces migration of the modified stone and sand base. The contrast of the Mexican beach pebbles accentuates the pattern of the flagstone. The outside perimeter of the pebbles is contained with low profile edging. An existing catch drain was utilized for storm water runoff. A concrete block pier set on a concrete footing is covered with black stucco and provides a perch for a custom made copper bowl that circulates water into the L shaped water feature. The water features subterranean basin is constructed of pressure treated wood with a custom box liner insert. Since the Teakwood flagstone was unavailable as coping for the water feature, the designer chose Shawnee Buff stone to complement the Teakwood flagstone. The subtle sound of water spilling from the copper bowl and the reflective qualities of the water help to create an atmosphere of relaxation. The planting is composed of shades of green with white flowers in order to accentuate the graphic design. ‘Justin Brouwer’ Boxwood, ‘Sum and Substance’ Hosta, white Anemones, black bamboo and ornamental grasses contrast dramatically with the clean lines of the hardscape elements. The black bamboo is set in 30” diameter concrete containers to control the vigorous plant from spreading. The construction of the interior courtyard space challenged the building team. They set up baffles between the front door and the door to the courtyard as well as temporary protection over the floor to allow the process to move forward without too much disturbance to the client’s lives. All of the materials were shuffled through the temporary portal. The clients love the space and recently said that “the design is so well thought out and simple that they would never get tired of it.” The designs sculptural quality compliments the modern feel of the home and creates a sublime yet dramatic view from within the house or within the courtyard. The clients plan to purchase two black Bertoia Diamond chairs with red cushions which should perfectly integrate with the space.

Design ideas for a mid-sized tropical backyard full sun garden for summer in Miami with natural stone pavers.

Paul Kiefer / Specialty Gardens LLC
This is an example of a small traditional courtyard full sun garden for summer in Grand Rapids with a garden path.

The problem this Memorial-Houston homeowner faced was that her sumptuous contemporary home, an austere series of interconnected cubes of various sizes constructed from white stucco, black steel and glass, did not have the proper landscaping frame. It was out of scale. Imagine Robert Motherwell's "Black on White" painting without the Museum of Fine Arts-Houston's generous expanse of white walls surrounding it. It would still be magnificent but somehow...off. Intuitively, the homeowner realized this issue and started interviewing landscape designers. After talking to about 15 different designers, she finally went with one, only to be disappointed with the results. From the across-the-street neighbor, she was then introduced to Exterior Worlds and she hired us to correct the newly-created problems and more fully realize her hopes for the grounds. "It's not unusual for us to come in and deal with a mess. Sometimes a homeowner gets overwhelmed with managing everything. Other times it is like this project where the design misses the mark. Regardless, it is really important to listen for what a prospect or client means and not just what they say," says Jeff Halper, owner of Exterior Worlds. Since the sheer size of the house is so dominating, Exterior Worlds' overall job was to bring the garden up to scale to match the house. Likewise, it was important to stretch the house into the landscape, thereby softening some of its severity. The concept we devised entailed creating an interplay between the landscape and the house by astute placement of the black-and-white colors of the house into the yard using different materials and textures. Strategic plantings of greenery increased the interest, density, height and function of the design. First we installed a pathway of crushed white marble around the perimeter of the house, the white of the path in homage to the house’s white facade. At various intervals, 3/8-inch steel-plated metal strips, painted black to echo the bones of the house, were embedded and crisscrossed in the pathway to turn it into a loose maze. Along this metal bunting, we planted succulents whose other-worldly shapes and mild coloration juxtaposed nicely against the hard-edged steel. These plantings included Gulf Coast muhly, a native grass that produces a pink-purple plume when it blooms in the fall. A side benefit to the use of these plants is that they are low maintenance and hardy in Houston’s summertime heat. Next we brought in trees for scale. Without them, the impressive architecture becomes imposing. We placed them along the front at either corner of the house. For the left side, we found a multi-trunk live oak in a field, transported it to the property and placed it in a custom-made square of the crushed marble at a slight distance from the house. On the right side where the house makes a 90-degree alcove, we planted a mature mesquite tree. To finish off the front entry, we fashioned the black steel into large squares and planted grass to create islands of green, or giant lawn stepping pads. We echoed this look in the back off the master suite by turning concrete pads of black-stained concrete into stepping pads. We kept the foundational plantings of Japanese yews which add green, earthy mass, something the stark architecture needs for further balance. We contoured Japanese boxwoods into small spheres to enhance the play between shapes and textures. In the large, white planters at the front entrance, we repeated the plantings of succulents and Gulf Coast muhly to reinforce symmetry. Then we built an additional planter in the back out of the black metal, filled it with the crushed white marble and planted a Texas vitex, another hardy choice that adds a touch of color with its purple blooms. To finish off the landscaping, we needed to address the ravine behind the house. We built a retaining wall to contain erosion. Aesthetically, we crafted it so that the wall has a sharp upper edge, a modern motif right where the landscape meets the land.

Large traditional backyard partial sun garden in Los Angeles for summer.

This 1889 Victorian underwent a gut rehabilitation in 2010-2012 to transform it from a dilapidated 2BR/1BA to a 5BR/4BA contemporary family home. The patio features large concrete pads separated by 1/2" gravel. Board formed concrete retaining walls retain the impression of the wood forms. An herb planter to the right of the stair serves for kitchen cuttings. The original aggregate patio was broken up and dry stacked for the rear terrace wall. This house achieved a LEED Platinum green certification from the US Green Building Council in 2012. Photo by Paul Dyer