Wildlife-Sensitive Ways to Light a Coastal Landscape

A well-lit beach garden creates a place for relaxing and listening to the ocean waves in the evening. But artificial lighting disrupts coastal animal behavior in perilous ways, and coastal areas often have outdo

Artistic Planting Ideas From a Brazilian Superstar

Association football, or soccer, was invented in England, a nation of sport lovers and passionate gardeners, but it is Brazil that gave us Pelé, arguably the finest player in the sport’s history. Brazil also gav

8 Backyard Ideas to Delight Your Dog

A dog or dogs happily romping in the backyard is a classic dog-owner dream. Achieving this, though, takes more thought than just sending your dog out in the yard and hoping for the best. Take the time to make su

Meet a Front Yard Designed for Gathering

When you live in a Southern California beach town and an ocean view is right outside your door, it makes sense to turn your front yard into a gathering spot. That was the thinking of Sacha McCrae, homeowner and

Find the Right Glass Door for Your Patio

The large glass patio door hasnt been around for very long. It took modern manufacturing techniques to make it affordable. But what was once the province of the wealthy and aristocratic is now available in a wid

Make Your Garden Come Alive With a Sense of Movement

An exceptional garden employs bold and subtle concepts such as rhythm, formal and asymmetrical balance, texture, shape and color to give it a personality. It speaks to its visitors on many levels, both conscious

Create a Garden That Tells a Story

An exceptional garden tells a story. The story can reflect the personality of its creator or tell about the land from which the garden emanates. A bubbling brook, birds chirping or wind rustling through a stand

Dare to Go Gray in the Garden

Gray has become a popular color choice for interior walls, as it combines so well with many colors without overpowering them. It is what is known as a neutral or achromatic color — that is, a color without color

How to Screen a Seaside Garden From the Wind

Coastal landscapes are continuously blasted with wind and salt spray. A nice sea breeze is welcome on a hot summer afternoon, but the wind can give you goosebumps and a real chill at other times of the year. Win

Modern Planting Ideas From a Historic English Garden

In the shadow of one of England’s oldest cathedrals sits Bishopscourt, the home of the Bishop of Rochester. Behind it is a traditional English garden that is being brought into the 21st century. Bishopscourt’s u

Lawn Gives Way to a More Natural Lakeside Garden

With an uncommon sense of possibility, award-winning landscape designer Paul Broadhurst transformed a suburban expanse of lawn into a pebbly beach and a naturalistic meadow, reconnecting the landscape with the s

Finding the Perfect Home for a New House

There are many things to consider when embarking on the construction of a new home. Great featured ideabooks abound on Houzz containing tips and useful information about building a new home. This ideabook presen

Modern Garden Designs for Modern Homes

In 1938 Christopher Tunnard — an English landscape architect, a garden designer and the author of Gardens in the Modern Landscape, who was a strong advocate of functionalism in design — wrote, “The modern house

Bring on the Garden Bling With Artful Stainless Steel

The best gardens are those that intentionally engage visitors by offering an element of surprise. The appropriate use of sculpture is an effective way to achieve this. We have all seen the usual array of concret

Living on the Edge of the Wild

Living at the edge of a wide-open ocean vista or a secluded forest is a dream for many people who want to get away from it all. Whether it’s your lifetime home or just a seasonal getaway, here are some tips for

Narrow Trees for Tight Garden Spaces

Many homes, especially those built in the past 40 years or so, have narrow side gardens. These can be a challenge to design, because once the path is in place, there appears to be little room for anything else.

Follow Nature’s Lead for Artful Stacked Stones

Stacking stones is one of nature’s specialties. She does so beautifully, and sometimes with a finesse that can only be described as naturally tongue-in-cheek. Take the hoodoo, for example. Commonly found in dese

An Award-Winning Landscape Embraces Bay Views

Landscape architect Scott Lewis repeats the sentiments of many architects and designers talking about their projects when he says that his favorite part of this project was witnessing its transformation. “I know

Smart Plantings Grace a Hillside Garden

Most of landscape architect Pete Pedersen’s projects aren’t eight years in the making — but then again, they’re not his own family’s property. This one is. Starting with a blank hillside, Pedersen designed a lus

The Right Stone for Your Garden Design

Stone has always been a cost-effective hardscape material for all garden styles. In gravel form it has been used in landscapes from the raked Zen gardens of Japan to the driveways of English landscape gardens,