curb appeal/fav.
If painted wood is more your style, be sure to choose lumber that won’t swell or shrink too much — movement causes cracks. “The coating is going to last significantly longer that way,” He uses acetylated wood — which is resistant to bowing, twisting and warping — for his projects, keeping maintenance and future repair costs to a minimum. “It can be used without maintenance of any kind and still not decay. If the owner wants the wood to look nice, they’ll likely want to clean it annually.”
Go Monochromatic Exude modern sophistication with a dramatic exterior in a single color. Ideal for transitional-style homes, like the one seen here one in Bethesda, Maryland, it can work well for a multitude of aesthetics. The key is to vary the tones and textures to bring much-needed depth. The siding seen here was charred using the ancient Japanese technique of shou sugi ban.
Embrace the biophilic trend and celebrate your natural surroundings with an unpainted wood exterior. Add a clear coating to preserve the wood’s original hue or let it weather to a beautiful soft gray, as seen on this home in St. Joseph, Michigan. Its acetylated wood siding pops against the black window frames and is low-maintenance, durable and resistant to rot, insects and fungi.
n the front yard, the same granite used elsewhere leads to the entry. Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) adds a red accent in a field of green.
Evergreen hedges line a grass path that leads from the backyard to the front of the house, as this is the side of the house that overlooks neighbors. “One of the main goals for every homeowner I’ve talked to is privacy outside,” Martin says. A row of arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis ‘Smaragd’) grows on the right side of the path, with inkberry (Ilex glabra ‘Shamrock’) growing opposite it.
Panicled hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata ‘Grandiflora’), one of the garden’s few flowering plants, bloom from summer into fall, with their white blooms transitioning to a dusty rose. Seed heads appear on the grasses later in the season. The redbud tree blooms in spring.
Door paint: Stony Ground No. 211, Farrow & Ball
A pink front door complements the matte black siding of this home in Los Angeles. The unusual combination feels fresh, eclectic and balanced. Door paint: Wild Flower; exterior paint: Midnight, both by Benjamin Moore
black w/brick
Messina and her team gave the interiors and exteriors a refreshing coat of white paint. The exterior entryway’s wood floors were replaced with bluestone. The light fixture was replaced with a more statement-making Moravian star pendant. The team kept the original door and painted it a country blue as a way to soften the black-and-white palette and as a nod to the client’s love of gardening. These kinds of personalized details appear throughout the house.
10. Pink Muhly Grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) Native to prairies, pine barrens and open woodlands from Massachusetts to Kansas south to Florida and Texas It’s difficult to find a native grass that puts on a show as dramatic as pink muhly. In fall the medium-green, fine-textured grasses explode with clouds of pale magenta blooms, best appreciated when planted in drifts and masses. Despite their delicate appearance, the plants are tough — able to withstand high summer temperatures (particularly in partial shade) and grow in poor soil. Try pairing pink muhly with blue-green agaves for dramatic form and color contrast. Where it will grow: Hardy to minus 5 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 20.6 degrees Celsius (zones 6 to 9) Water requirement: Low Light requirement: Full sun to partial shade Mature size: 2 to 3 feet tall and wide Learn more about growing pink muhly grass
cabinet color texture
the different size paves
Barbara Pintozzi Email Save 7. Cottage-Style in Upstate New York Bursting with blooms, this romantic perennial garden in Buffalo, New York, overflows onto both sides of the sidewalk, enveloping a passerby with summer flowers. If you embrace a “more is more” attitude toward gardening, re-create this look with a mix of colorful spring- and summer-blooming perennials, and optimize for plant height to create lush layers of flowers. Plants in this garden bed include: Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia, zones 5 to 9) Day lily (Hemerocallis sp.) Coneflower (Echinacea sp.) Petunia (Petunia sp.) Water requirement: Moderate Light requirement: Full sun
. Bee and Butterfly Magnet in Seattle Proving that you really don’t need much space to create a beautiful garden that supports pollinators, this Seattle parking strip bed is loaded with bee-, butterfly- and hummingbird-friendly plants, such as lavender, yellow coreopsis, purple coneflowers and coral-colored hyssop. Plants in this garden bed include: Hyssop (Agastache sp.) ‘Moonbeam’ coreopsis (Coreopsis verticillata ‘Moonbeam’, zones 4 to 9) Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea, zones 3 to 9) Lavender (Lavandula sp.) Water requirement: Moderate Light requirement: Full sun
Lauren Springer Email Save 4. Pocket-Size Meadow in Colorado A parking strip by Lauren Springer at the Gardens on Spring Creek, in Fort Collins, Colorado, looks like a watercolor painting with swaths of lemon-yellow and lavender-purple blooms. Choosing a mix of bloom forms — such as the flat tops of yarrow, the flower spikes from a blooming yucca and the round globe thistles — offers more visual interest than planting a single flower form, and it contributes to a meadow-like look. Plants in this garden bed include: ‘Anthea’ yarrow (Achillea ‘Anthea’, zones 3 to 9) Blue allium (Allium caeruleum, zones 4 to 8) Adam’s needle (Yucca filamentosa, zones 5 to 10) ‘Munstead’ English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia ‘Munstead’, zones 5 to 9) ‘Shades of Mango’ pineleaf penstemon (Penstemon pinifolius ‘Shades of Mango’, zones 4 to 9) Water requirement: Low to moderate Light requirement: Full sun
Banks of Blooms in Boston While technically a bed bordering a Boston driveway rather than the street, this three-tiered combination by landscape architect Sean Papich featuring perennial purple coneflowers, tawny ornamental grasses and low-growing tufts of day lily foliage would also work as a sidewalk combination. The purple coneflowers are particularly long-blooming and, in combination with the tall ornamental grasses, will carry the garden through fall. Plants in this garden bed include: ‘Magnus’ purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea ‘Magnus’, zones 3 to 8) ‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’, zones 4 to 9) ‘Stella de Oro’ day lily (Hemerocallis ‘Stella de Oro’, zones 4 to 9), after blooming Water requirement: Moderate Light requirement: Full sun
the arch for plant for front porch
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