Traditional Garden Design Ideas

Russian sage and lady's mantle alternating along a white fence with pink roses
Inspiration for a mid-sized traditional front yard driveway for summer in New York with a wood fence.

Classical entryway

Verdance Landscape Architecture

Columnar evergreens provide a rhythmic structure to the flowing bluestone entry walk that terminates in a fountain courtyard. A soothing palette of green and white plantings keeps the space feeling lush and cool. Photo credit: Verdance Fine Garden Design

Cedar Fence & Gate with copper pipe

Donna Giguere, APLD Landscape Design

An Asian Style entry courtyard draws inspiration from the 1980's home's Asian Style roof-line and the owner's crane sculptures. Donna Giguere Landscape Design

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Raised Bed Vegetable Garden

Earth Mama Landscape Design

Once a forgotten, moldy putting green—now a healthy vegetable garden. Raised beds were built and filled with organic soil and leaf mold. This garden provides the family with spring through late fall vegetables including lettuces, tomatoes, beets, peas, eggplant, zucchini, asparagus, and a ton of basil and other herbs! Please visit the website for more photos of this project.

Woodley Rd. Winnetka, IL

Mike Crews Photography

Mike Crews Photography
This is an example of a traditional backyard formal garden in Chicago with gravel.

Rock garden

Maher & Greenwald Fine Gardens

Mid-sized traditional backyard partial sun formal garden in New York with a vegetable garden.

Traditional Landscape

Inspiration for a traditional side yard partial sun garden for spring in Portland with a garden path and natural stone pavers.

Verdant Landscape Group

Verdant Landscape Group, LLC

Inspiration for a mid-sized traditional front yard full sun driveway for spring in Denver with a garden path and concrete pavers.

Landscape Contracting

Landsburg Landscape Nursery

This is an example of a traditional full sun garden in Minneapolis with a garden path and brick pavers.

Front Yard Landscapes

Atlantic RIDGE LANDSCAPE

Inspiration for a large traditional front yard partial sun formal garden in Philadelphia with a container garden and brick pavers.

English Jewel Box

Mariani Landscape

The transition to several garden rooms, a gravel path leads from the rear terrace to the many spaces. The entry is flanked by the New England fieldstone seat wall, capped in blue stone. The path is lined with cushwa brick outlining the formal garden filled with boxwood, pachysandra ground cover, hydrangea, magnolia, and eastern redbud. Photo Credit: Linda Oyama Bryan

Glencoe French Chateau - Formal Pool and Landscape

Arrow. Land + Structures

Glencoe Residence Landscape. Brick Paver Driveway with Bluestone Motorcourt Border, Radiant Snow Melt Heat System, French Inspired Formal Entrance Landscape, Low Voltage Lighting, and Irrigation. Entire property Constructed by: Arrow. Designed by: Marco Romani, RLA - Landscape Architect.

Planter & Container Garden Design - Fairfield County, CT

Austin Ganim Landscape Design, LLC

A crescent garden container filled with coleus, petunias, new guinea impatiens, mandevilla, and potato vine.
Inspiration for a traditional front yard partial sun garden for summer in New York with a container garden.

Elegant Country Estate

Artemis Landscape Architects, Inc.

Mid-sized traditional front yard full sun formal garden in New York with natural stone pavers and with flowerbed for summer.

Pocket Garden

James R. Salomon Photography

James R. Salomon Photography
Inspiration for a traditional backyard shaded garden in Portland Maine with a garden path.

Storybook Landscape in Minnetonka Minnesota

Stonepocket Unique Landscapes

Landscape by Stonepocket located in Minnetonka, Minnesota Creating a elegant landscape to blend with a home with such character and charm was a challenge in controlled resistant. Did not want the landscape to overwhelm the home, nor did I want a typical landscape for this style that usually involves a box hedge. Utilizing light in the front to create a perennial garden give the home a sense of place. Keep the planting mostly to whites and greens in the back unifies the space. photos by Stonepocket, Inc

Healdsburg Estate Garden

Bella Vita Garden Design

A full size bocce ball court invites to an outdoor game. The shaded bluestone patio allows guests to watch in comfort. The adjacent tennis court is partially hidden by a tall hedge. Photo by: Adam Willis Photography

Romantic Tarrytown Terrace

Westover Landscape Design

Often, less is more. Take this landscape design composed of climbing roses, hydrangeas, and lilies surrounding a bluestone terrace. This small, suburban garden feels both expansive and intimate. Japanese forest grass softens the edge of the terrace and adds just enough of a modern look to make the garden’s owners, urban transplants, happy. “My husband and I were looking for an outdoor space that had a secret-garden feeling,” says homeowner Anne Lillis-Ruth. “We’ve had fun adding furniture, antique planters, and a stone fountain to [landscape designer] Robert Welsch’s beautiful landscape. The white and green plantings provide the perfect backdrop to my collection of colorful table linens, glassware, and china. We love our garden!” Dean Fisher loved it, too. “The setting is so lovely and relaxed. It evokes the south of France, with its intimate scale and the integration of house and patio through the use of the vines and other plantings.”

Southern Charm

Baker Design Studio

This is an example of a mid-sized traditional front yard full sun driveway in Other with with flowerbed, brick pavers and a metal fence.

Traditional Garden Design Ideas

Get Inspired by Traditional Gardens on Houzz

A lot of the time when you get home from a long day at work, all you want to do is wind down. Where better to do this than in your very own traditional garden at home? If you do it right, a great garden design can send you right into holiday mode. But where to start? There’s so many styles to choose from when it comes to garden design. Whether you want to create a tropical, modern, contemporary, beach style or country garden - or something else entirely - the large garden image gallery on Houzz has got you covered. Get inspired and collect your ideas to narrow down your desired garden style and features.

How to Create a Traditional Garden for Your Home

Depending on which style you’re going for, be sure to know what makes a traditional garden and if it’s appropriate for your climate. You may want to consider adding a deck or other landscaping features, but the plants you choose will mostly dictate your style and what kind of ongoing maintenance is required. Don’t worry if your backyard isn’t very spacious - there are many plants that can thrive even in a small space and allow you to turn your space into a little paradise of your own, regardless of size.

Decide which plants to use

The greenery you choose is critical to your look. For example, if you’re trying to create a tropical garden palm trees and bamboo are your go-to options. Other popular options are golden cane palm trees and fern for ground cover. From there you can add some colour with bright flowers like frangipani, hibiscus or bromeliads. All these are actually quite hardy plants, so once established, your tropical garden is actually quite easy to maintain. Use this structure and apply it to your style. Research which plants you need to set your base for a traditional garden and go from there.

Add some decor

If the plants don’t quite do it for you yet, or if you want to add some extra wow-factor, consider adding some extra features. Even if you can’t accommodate a swimming pool, hot tub or pond, you could look at smaller water features. Simple rocks can also have a great effect, while statues and gnomes will add some extra character. Don’t forget to add some furniture so you have a nice place to sit and enjoy your garden!

Need some help?

Once you know what you want your garden to look like, it may be hard to make it a reality on your own. If that is the case for you, consider consulting a professional to help you with your traditional garden design. Every photo you find on Houzz will lead you to the local pro that did the job, so you won’t have a problem picking the perfect person to help! Whether you need a gardener in Brisbane, a landscape architect in Melbourne or a fireplace installer in Sydney, you can be sure to find one on Houzz.

Updating the Existing

Marilyn's Dreamscapes L.L.C.

This is an example of a traditional shaded garden in Chicago with a garden path and natural stone pavers.