Croquet Court Backyard in Encinitas, California

Norm and Lynn Ginsburg’s Encinitas backyard features a 1,200-square-foot ‘Tifgreen’ hybrid Bermuda grass lawn flanking the patio—perfect for croquet, a game anyone can play regardless of age or skill. Norm cuts the lawn at 1 inch with a gas-powered reel mower; his secret: keep it watered and fed with 16-0-0 fertilizer monthly. A perennial border frames the lawn with layered plants in soft purple, pink, yellow: ‘Apple Blossom’ penstemon, ‘Butterfly Blue’ pincushion flowers, bush morning glory, yellow daylilies, kangaroo paws ‘Pink Joey’, pink mallow ‘Barnsley’, and deep blue Salvia ‘Indigo Spires’.