Photo of a traditional garden in New York with a retaining wall.

Inspiration for a large traditional backyard formal garden in New York with a container garden.

Neil Landino. Design Credit: Stephen Stimson Associates
Photo of a mid-sized contemporary backyard partial sun formal garden in New York with a container garden and natural stone pavers.

Frank Lloyd Wright inspired planters on either side of the porch entry.
Photo of a large traditional courtyard shaded garden for summer in Providence with a container garden and natural stone pavers.

Design ideas for a small country backyard full sun formal garden for summer in Bridgeport with a container garden and gravel.

Celebrating Southern California's mild climate, this hill-top residence was enhanced with an a bubbling water feature, outdoor shower, custom fencing and a Mediterranean plant palette. The fence's design, with its slender vertical lines, draws the eye toward the site's lovely borrowed scenery. An outdoor shower, nestled into a corner of the yard, beckons the homeowners to bath in the open air. Photo by Martin Cox.

Secret garden gate and Cymbidium orchid urns. photos by Caitln Atkinson
This is an example of a traditional garden in San Francisco with a container garden and gravel.

Traditional backyard garden in Houston with a container garden and natural stone pavers.

View from mid level terrace, back towards picket vegetable garden.
Design ideas for a mid-sized traditional backyard full sun garden in Boston with natural stone pavers and a retaining wall.

Request Free Quote Large Outdoor Planter Garden Design in Wilmette, Illinois by Schmechtig Landscapes Landscape Maintenance, Design and Build

Designed by Sindhu Peruri of Peruri Design Co. Woodside, CA Photography by Eric Roth
Inspiration for a mid-sized contemporary backyard full sun formal garden in San Francisco with a container garden and natural stone pavers.

Dry Creek, with Bridges, Boulders, Natural Landscape elements as erosion solutions.
Photo of a mid-sized traditional backyard partial sun formal garden in St Louis with a retaining wall and gravel.

Photo of a large modern sloped full sun xeriscape in San Francisco with a retaining wall and gravel.

Design ideas for a large traditional backyard partial sun garden for summer in Boston with a container garden and brick pavers.

This is an example of a mediterranean garden in Santa Barbara with a container garden.

A Memorial-area art collector residing in a chic modern home wanted his house to be more visible from the street. His yard was full of trees, and he asked us to consider removing them and developing a more modern landscape design that would fully complement the exterior of his home. He was a personal friend of ours as well, and he understood that our policy is to preserve as many trees as possible whenever we undertake a project. However, we decided to make an exception in his case for two reasons. For one thing, he was a very close friend to many people in our company. Secondly, large trees simply would not work with a landscape reflective of the modern architecture that his house featured. The house had been built as story structure that was formed around a blend of unique curves and angles very reminiscent of the geometric patterns common in modern sculpture and art. The windows had been built deliberately large, so that visitors driving up to the house could have a lighted glimpse into the interior, where many sculptures and works of modern art were showcased. The entire residence, in fact, was meant to showcase the eclectic diversity of his artistic tastes, and provide a glimpse at the elegant contents within the home. He asked us to create more modern look to the landscape that would complement the residence with patterns in vegetation, ornamentation, and a new lighted water fountain that would act like a mirror-image of the home. He also wanted us to sculpt the features we created in such a way as to center the eye of the viewer and draw it up and over the landscape to focus on the house itself. The challenge was to develop a truly sophisticated modern landscaping design that would compliment, but in no way overpower the façade of the home. In order to do this, we had to focus very carefully on the geometric appearance of the planting areas first. Since the vegetation would be surrounding a very large, circular stone drive, we took advantage of the contours and created a sense of flowing perspective. We were then very careful to plant vegetation that could be maintained at a very low growth height. This was to prevent vegetation from behaving like the previous trees which had blocked the view of the house. Small hedges, ferns, and flowers were planted in winding rows that followed the course of the circular stone driveway that surrounded the fountain. We then centered this new modern landscape plan with a very sophisticated contemporary fountain. We chose a circular shape for the fountain both to center the eye and to work as a compliment to the curved elements in the home’s exterior design. We selected black granite as the building material, partly because granite speaks to the monumental, and partly because it is a very common material for modern architecture and outdoor contemporary sculpture. We placed the fountain in the very center of the driveway as well, which had the effect of making the entire landscape appear to converge toward the middle of the home’s façade. To add a sense of eclectic refinement to the fountain, we then polished the granite so that anyone driving or walking up to the fountain would see a reflection of the home in the base. To maintain consistency of the circular shape, we radius cut all of the coping around the fountain was all radius cut from polished limestone. The lighter color of the limestone created an archetypal contrast of light and darkness, further contributing to the modern theme of the landscape design, and providing a surface for illumination so the fountain would remain an established keynote on the landscape during the night.

Paul Dyer
Photo of a contemporary garden in San Francisco with a retaining wall.

photo:Frank Oudeman
Inspiration for a small contemporary backyard partial sun xeriscape for summer in New York with gravel and a container garden.

A layered hillside extends the garden.
Photo of a mid-sized modern sloped full sun garden for fall in Los Angeles with a retaining wall and concrete pavers.