Garden

Inspiration for a large midcentury front yard partial sun garden for summer in Chicago with with flowerbed and natural stone pavers.

K. Dakin Design won the 2018 CARE award from the Custom Builder and Remodeler Council of Denver for the reimagination of the landscape around this classic organic-modernist home designed by Charles Haertling. The landscape design is inspired by the original home and it’s materials, especially the distinct, clean lines of the architecture and the natural, stone veneer found on the house and landscape walls. The outlines of garden beds, a small patio and a water feature reiterate the home’s straight walls juxtaposed against rough, irregular stone facades and details. This sensitivity to the architecture is clearly seen in the triangular shapes balanced with curved forms. The clients, a couple with busy lives, wanted a simple landscape with lawn for their dogs to fetch balls. The amenities they desired were a spa, vegetable beds, fire pit, and a water feature. They wanted to soften the tall, site walls with plant material. All the material, such as the discarded, stone veneer and left-over, flagstone paving was recycled into new edging around garden areas, new flagstone paths, and a water feature. The front entry walk was inspired by a walkway at Gunnar Asplund’s cemetary in Sweden. All plant material, aside from the turf, was low water, native or climate appropriate.

This is an example of a mid-sized midcentury front yard partial sun xeriscape for spring in San Francisco with with flowerbed and concrete pavers.

This is an example of a mid-sized midcentury front yard full sun xeriscape for winter in Melbourne with with flowerbed.

Bluestone steppers create a path from the patio to the fire pit area. A line of boxwoods forms a border around the curved outer edge of the patio, intersecting with the line of ornamental grasses. Renn Kuhnen Photography

This is an example of a midcentury front yard partial sun garden in Houston with with flowerbed.

Design ideas for a large midcentury backyard partial sun xeriscape for spring in Los Angeles with with flowerbed and river rock.

Inspiration for a mid-sized midcentury backyard full sun formal garden in San Diego with with flowerbed and concrete pavers.

かわいい置き物が花壇を演出してくれています。
Small midcentury front yard full sun driveway in Kobe with with flowerbed and brick pavers for winter.

Showing: *The entry planting was used to gain interest to invite guests into the house and the backyard *Custom-built fence and gate to keep their backyard private *Layout of Pavers used for the driveway and paths throughout the hardscape of the backyard

Because this property is a rural, riverside acreage, the plantings were designed to naturalize themselves. Grasses are the "hair of the planet," wrote Oehme & Van Sweden in their iconic "Bold and Romantic Gardens." Grasses will be the first to take over a garden. This property is designed towards this reality. A few intentional ornamental grasses set up design rhythms and repetition just for that eventuality. When - not if - it happens, the grounds won't look weedy and overgrown between maintenance visits. The other plantings are a melange of opportunistic yet complimentary species, with a focus on foliage: Engleman ivy, Corsican violets, golden currant, columbines. Using native shrubs and forbs such as these ascribe to the reality of volunteer plants. Birds will spread them far and wide, so why not start there? What else evokes Colorado as well as the plants that thrive here?

Dry Creek bed with waterfall, Stone bridge, bermed planting zones, mica quartzite stepping stones, mahogany stone seating area, and a useful 1/4 minus pathway

A happy 'Guacamole' hosta sits in the corner off the edge of the patio. Renn Kuhnen Photography
This is an example of a mid-sized midcentury backyard partial sun garden for summer in Milwaukee with with flowerbed.

After! This space has been transformed and is once again alive. Beautiful stonewall adds the perfect touch to all the flowers and plants that have been added into this space.

Showing: *A closer look at the front planting in the planting area near the front door *Drainage is always big on any of our projects, it helps our clients' landscape last for years to come. This shows one of the front drains.

Jefferson Park full Front & Backyard re-design. Parkway planting, pollinator garden with garden beds in front. Large Deck to dine and new low water fescue lawn in back with conc. pavers for lounge area. Custom design fence. Dog friendly & water wise. Leaving space for ADU & storage in back still to come.

Цветники в саду решены в естественном стиле. Удобство таких решений, что одни растения сменяют другие, как в природе. В таких садах, в стиле натургарден, отцветшие растения не обрезают, они "уходят" сами, освобождая место следующей волне цветения.

Gardens surround a blue stone patio at this Mid-Century Modern home.
Large midcentury backyard full sun garden in Boston with with flowerbed and natural stone pavers.

Mid-sized midcentury backyard full sun formal garden in San Diego with with flowerbed and concrete pavers.