A stunning English cottage country garden design, with large beds of vibrant summer flowers, including swathes of Salvia through mixed borders of perennial and herbaceous planting to create soft movement and textures. We designed different areas to the gardens, each evoking a different ambiance. The gardens include a new heated pool and a sunken spa, with stunning views over the sun-lit fields beyond.

Outside of Spokane, this formal garden area resides along this large property. Our clients wanted to garden without bending over, so these raised beds were built so the plants and vegetables sit about waist high. The metal fence is threaded tighter on the bottom to keep smaller critters out.

The Stonehouse Meadow in early summer. The valerian, towering above all other plants is almost finished blooming. Also in bloom: bergamot, artemisia, echinacea, and stachys.

cor-ten (weathering) steel vertical louvers for privacy fence at concrete wall
Photo of a large industrial front yard partial sun driveway in Orange County with with a gate, natural stone pavers and a metal fence.

Featuring an elegant wood decking paired with a contemporary stainless steel cable rail system. Natural stone raised garden beds infuse an organic essence, harmoniously contrasting the refined blue stone patio. Anchoring the design is a chic metal roof pavilion, lending both shade and style.

In 2014, visitors on the Santa Monica Conservancy Tour were wowed by the back garden's overflowing vegetable beds. The play-ready IdealMow lawn featured here needs less than 50 percent of the water a traditional lawn needs to thrive. Because it needs no fertilizers or pesticides, it is a smart companion to the edible gardens at its edge - and a great addition to any bee-utiful garden in need of play space. Photo: Orly Olivier

Inspiration for a mid-sized traditional backyard formal garden in New York with a vegetable garden, natural stone pavers and a vinyl fence.

Photo of an asian shaded garden in Detroit with natural stone pavers.

Andrew Renn Design, Beautiful gardens of Melbourne Australia
Inspiration for a traditional backyard formal garden in Melbourne with natural stone pavers and with lawn edging.

A steeply graded front yard is transformed with a beautiful custom meandering staircase down to the front entry that provides a true sense of arrival as it lulls guests through the landscape, allows for enjoyment of the space, and helps ease runoff flowing toward the house. Planted with beautiful natives and dressed with Texas hardwood mulch, large chunk blackstar gravel, and accented with limestone boulders excavated from the site, this blend of hardscape captivates the eye, adding visual interest all year 'round. A custom, contemporary metal hand railing adds a touch of modernity and a ton of safety, while the stairs themselves visually marry to the stone of the front porch. Landscape lighting accents the hardscape and landscape of this project while providing safe lighting for maneuvering the stairway at night, and extended enjoyment of the entire property.

Photo of a small contemporary courtyard partial sun garden in Sydney with with raised garden bed, natural stone pavers and a wood fence.

We remodelled a garden we installed some 5 years earlier as the children had grown older and our client wanted an outdoor room to use as a gym, snug and have a separate area within the pod for garden storage. Podspace were commissioned to design a bespoke pod to fully utilise the width of the garden. We then worked our new planting around to give a generous lounge area in which to enjoy the sun, while still keeping the dining area close to the house. A wide path was used to connect the spaces and many of our original and now mature plants were kept. We added new planting borders which were planted with more structural and varied evergreens to create 'cloud' hedges.

This is an example of a small contemporary garden in Other with with path, natural stone pavers and a wood fence.

series of wildlife friendly gardens in different styles - this is the contemporary garden -safe and attractive to wildlife
This is an example of a small eclectic courtyard garden in Other with a garden path, natural stone pavers and a wood fence.

I was initially contacted by the builder and architect working on this Modern European Cottage to review the property and home design before construction began. Once the clients and I had the opportunity to meet and discuss what their visions were for the property, I started working on their wish list of items, which included a custom concrete pool, concrete spa, patios/walkways, custom fencing, and wood structures. One of the largest challenges was that this property had a 30% (or less) hardcover surface requirement for the city location. With the lot size and square footage of the home I had limits to how much hardcover we could add to property. So, I had to get creative. We presented to the city the usage of the Live Green Roof plantings that would reduce the hardcover calculations for the site. Also, if we kept space between the Laurel Sandstones walkways, using them as steppers and planting groundcover or lawn between the stones that would also reduce the hard surface calculations. We continued that theme with the back patio as well. The client’s esthetic leaned towards the minimal style, so by adding greenery between stones work esthetically. I chose the Laurel Tumbled Sandstone for the charm and character and thought it would lend well to the old world feel of this Modern European Cottage. We installed it on all the stone walkways, steppers, and patios around the home and pool. I had several meetings with the client to discuss/review perennials, shrubs, and tree selections. Plant color and texture of the planting material were equally important to the clients when choosing. We grouped the plantings together and did not over-mix varieties of plants. Ultimately, we chose a variety of styles from natural groups of plantings to a touch of formal style, which all work cohesively together. The custom fence design and installation was designed to create a cottage “country” feel. They gave us inspiration of a country style fence that you may find on a farm to keep the animals inside. We took those photos and ideas and elevated the design. We used a combination of cedar wood and sandwich the galvanized mesh between it. The fence also creates a space for the clients two dogs to roam freely around their property. We installed sod on the inside of the fence to the home and seeded the remaining areas with a Low Gro Fescue grass seed with a straw blanket for protection. The minimal European style custom concrete pool was designed to be lined up in view from the porch and inside the home. The client requested the lawn around the edge of the pool, which helped reduce the hardcover calculations. The concrete spa is open year around. Benches are on all four sides of the spa to create enough seating for the whole family to use at the same time. Mortared field stone on the exterior of the spa mimics the stone on the exterior of the home. The spa equipment is installed in the lower level of the home to protect it from the cold winter weather. Between the garage and the home’s entry is a pea rock sitting area and is viewed from several windows. I wanted it to be a quiet escape from the rest of the house with the minimal design. The Skyline Locust tree planted in the center of the space creates a canopy and softens the side of garage wall from the window views. The client will be installing a small water feature along the garage for serene noise ambience. The client had very thoughtful design ideas styles, and our collaborations all came together and worked well to create the landscape design/installation. The result was everything they had dreamed of and more for their Modern European Cottage home and property.

A permeable walk was installed into the backyard using bluestone slab steppers set in pea stone. Simple plantings add warmth, softness and interest to the space.

Each of the materials was chosen for a balance of richness and simplicity. The Kebony decking continues the rich color tone set by the oiled Cedar shingle and traditional Japanese Shou Sugi Ban siding on the rear facade of the house. The California Gold Slate for the rear yard patio adds additional texture and depth to the ground plane. The powder-coated metal railings enclose the deck and partition the dog run and bike parking area from the main rear yard. The eclectic plant mix blends California natives with other Mediterranean plants for a variety of color, texture and seasonality.

An Acer 'Red Emporer' provides a striking focal point throughout Summer into Autumn
Inspiration for a small traditional backyard partial sun garden for summer in London with with raised garden bed, natural stone pavers and a wood fence.

Custom iron gate, iron fence, stone walls, bluestone, granite cobbles, terra cotta tile, custom water feature, grotto, cafe lights
Inspiration for a mediterranean courtyard partial sun formal garden for summer in Seattle with with raised garden bed, natural stone pavers and a metal fence.