Take Back Your Front Yard: 8 Ways to Make It Social

Many of us are used to having backyard gathering spaces for family parties, cookouts and cocktails with friends — but why relegate all of your gathering areas to behind your home? Whether you have sprawling acre

How to Pick a Nice Wall for Your Garden Room

Read almost any landscape design book and you’ll find the term “garden room.” That’s because designers look at the garden as an extension of the house — as a stage for living. And just like in a house, walls are

How to Look Good From Any Angle (the Garden Edition)

Many professional models are photographed from one angle, their best side. A truly beautiful model, however, will look great from any angle. Similarly, many of our gardens are designed, usually unintentionally,

Patio of the Week: Keep a Secret Garden on the Side

“The side yard of a home is often overlooked, abandoned in favor of the heavily used front and back yards, but that is what is so great about them — they have the perfect potential to become quiet getaways with

Discover the Music of the (Garden) Spheres

There are those among us who feel that truly meaningful gardening involves more than the habitual Saturday-morning run to the farmers market to buy one of whatever each plant vendor is touting that weekend. Andr

7 Great Trees for Summer Shade and Fall Color

Its that wondrous time of year when late summer starts knocking at early falls door. Take advantage by planting a tree in your front yard that celebrates the merging of these seasons. Here are some top picks fro

3-Season Rooms: Fire Warms a Pergola-Covered Pennsylvania Patio

“There was an awful acrylic hot tub here and a big retaining wall, and that was about it, says Robert Nonemaker, landscape designer and owner of The Outerspaces Group. To make better use of the space for this fa

7 Finishing Touches for a Thoughtful Front Yard

Details, details, details. You can have the best design and great ideas, but if the project doesnt include some important finishing touches, it may fall flat. That goes for the outside of your house as well as t

7 Great Structures for an Attractive Front Yard

Your front yard is the transition from the rest of your neighborhood to the inside of your home, so its features are important. Its also what your neighbors see when they are out in their own yards, what passers

Explore a Magical Restored English Garden

In England we are blessed to be able to visit a wide range of historic gardens, from the landscapes of stately mansions to the more intimate gardens of renowned gardeners such as Lawrence Johnson, who designed H

Water-Saving Landscaping Ideas for Traditional Homes

When we think of drought-tolerant, or xeriscape, design, typically Mediterranean and Southwestern-style homes and gardens come to mind. Thats because since the dawn of gardening, those climates have always requi

See a Lush Australian Garden That Needs Little Water

This inspired garden in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, has served as a test garden for award-winning landscape designer Arthur Lathouris for 15 years. The cool climate and high altitude arent easy to

Is It Time to Consider Fake Grass?

Fake grass, you say? Dont scoff. Synthetic turf is moving beyond football fields and golf courses to become more common in home landscapes. Ill show you how this material can make sense in many home applications

7 Ways to Design a Garden That Flows and Intrigues

Many of our gardens seem to be compartmentalized, mimicking our lives. We wake up, go to work, go to lunch, drive home from work, pick up the kids, prepare dinner, watch TV and head to bed, only to repeat the pr

10 Materials for an Elegant, Harmonious Landscape

Maybe youve invested a small fortune in garden design books or hired a designer for your garden, or youre a do-it-yourselfer who knows the landscape section of the local big-box store inside and out. Regardless,

How to Design a Calming Minimalist Garden

Minimalist gardens may sound plain and boring to some; others think they are simple and stylish. Practically, minimalist gardens can be perfect as family gardens. Taking their cue from decluttered houses, they o

8 Effective, Beautiful Lighting Types for Front Yards

Many of us have landscape lighting in the backyard, because its where we congregate with family and friends. And landscape lighting in the front yard is the same, right? Yes and no. While the technology is the s

Landscape Design: A Secret Garden

We all could use a special place in a garden where we can relax, read a book, enjoy a cup of coffee or simply listen to the birds. It can be a retreat we share with others or use for private contemplation. Whate

Garden Levels Transform a Steep Slope in Australia

Untouched for decades, this steep site in Northridge, a suburb of Sydney, had an unusable sloping lawn with an unfortunate view of the familys carport. This outdoor area had little usable space, with the excepti

A Front Yard Regrows in Brooklyn

Nature has an interesting way of reminding us who’s in charge. As we saw most recently when Hurricane Sandy carved a devastating path through the East Coast in 2012, we’re often left to clean up the pieces in it