Creating the backyard of your dreams means putting some thought into the hardscape design. But before you make your final decision, check out these 30 gorgeous hardscape ideas that are guaranteed to inspire and get those creative juices flowing.
SCAPE teamed with ENNEAD Architects to reimagine the exterior 25,000 square foot public plaza surrounding the iconic and historic Hall of Science in Queens, New York. The Hall of Science was built for the 1964 New York World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows- Corona Park. In its original design, the terrace consisted of hardscape with a
"Gravel garden" sounds like an oxymoron. Why dump a load of stone in a garden instead of planting grass or installing a more permanent hardscape surface? T
Metal landscape edging is the little black dress of a garden: elegant, strong yet understated, tailored and timeless. A long-time design secret of professional landscapers, metal has edged its way into the amateur home garden to offer a clean-cut and practical solution to keep plants and materials in place.
From flagstaff to pea gravel, discover the top stone walkway ideas. Explore unique path designs alongside hardscape and landscaping inspiration.
Travel and culture for the curious explorer Are you looking for your next travel adventure? Do you need to know the must-see spots in a given city, or maybe you're looking to go off the
"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade" is a proverbial phrase used to encourage optimism and a can-do attitude in the face of adversity or misfortune. The underlying message is to make the best out
Gravel is a superhero in a landscape, a maintenance-free ground cover that allows water to drain back into the soil. Here are ten gardens with gravel to envy (with ideas you can steal for your own garden):
Get inspired by these 50 strikingly stylish garden patio ideas to transform your patio garden into a dreamy outdoor oasis...
In our ideal world, green roofs would be ubiquitous–we're thinking Scandinavia from the time of the Vikings until the late 19th century. And no, it's not b
Julie and Chris Hill’s home in Austin is built around a pair of massive oak trees, one of which shoots through an ipe deck, past a pair of Loll deck chairs, and into a void in the overhanging roof. “The hole also allows light to penetrate deeper into the house,” notes designer Kevin Alter.
The garden experts at HGTV provide solutions for the most common landscaping mistakes.
HGTV.com brings you 10 great ornamental grasses that will bring your garden to cheers.
Locating the right landscaping company to help fix and maintain your yard can be a major undertaking. Here are the 5 tips to help you choose the right landscaping company that will create the beautiful yard you've always wanted.
Image 6 of 33 from gallery of Villa Blåbär / pS Arkitektur. Courtesy of pS Arkitektur
Thoughts about our garden. “We desire,” the Emporer dictated, “that in the garden there should be all kinds of plants.” Charlemagne the Great I do a lot of writing about gardens, but our own personal garden has never been the subject of this blog. Our garden is always a backdrop to my thinking about gardens and gardening—a sort of character in my story whose face is never revealed. There are many reasons for this: first, our garden is just in the process of being established; I’m a terrible photographer and our garden is surrounded on three sides by unattractive roads and on one side by our unattractive house; and mostly because the act of gardening feels profoundly personal to me. It was designed for us, for our own pleasure, so the idea of opening for public consumption is a bit terrifying to me. BEFORE: The garden area when we bought the house. But I love other blogs that openly share their own gardens. James Golden’s View from Federal Twist is a brilliant blog about two wonderful gardens. That James bears his own soul through the garden is a source of endless inspiration to me. I’m just not that brave. And Scott Weber’s Rhone Street Garden is another fantastic blog. Scott transforms his small garden into and endless expanse through the lens of his camera. Through his images, I see and enjoy Scott’s garden much in the way he probably does. Nasella tenuissima and Salvia 'Caradonna' So in homage to other bloggers who bravely open their own gardens to public scrutiny, I am adding a few images of our own “in-process” garden. This spring marks two full years since I began smothering a triangular wedge of lawn in our sunny side yard. This area was too small to be a usable lawn, and too close to the road to be an enjoyable outdoor use area, so it seemed like a practical area for a garden. The sipping terrace which my brother-in-law calls the "duck blind" in late summer The house we bought was a neglected mid-century ranch which we essentially gutted, so my wife and I have poured our resources and time into renovating the house room by room. The only way to afford the renovation was to do everything ourselves, so that has left little time and money for the garden. The assembly of plants—and assembly is a much more accurate term than design—is a result of what we could get cheaply, what we could divide, what was available, and what would survive the mid-summer heat and humidity. This approach is probably entirely familiar to most gardeners, yet entirely problematic from my point of view as a designer. The garden becomes a product of impulse purchases and ad hoc decisions, not careful planning. Kniphofia 'Salley's Comet' with Pleioblastus viridistriatus, Nepeta "Walker's Low' and Eschscholzia californica But I’ve decided to embrace this non-designed approach. Design has its limitations, too. Any designer who has ever installed a garden, walked away, and then visited that garden five years later learns that design is not a singular vision set to paper; design is a thousand of little decisions and actions made through the life of the garden. Iris 'Persian Berry', one of the most exquisite colors I've ever seen With no real design to speak of, the garden has only a sort of guiding philosophy: plant only that which gives us pleasure. To use an admittedly pretentious term, our garden is a sort of “pleasaunce” by default, an archaic term for pleasure-garden. The concept of a pleasure garden is a bit antiquated these days. We are now much more likely to call non-food bearing gardens ornamental gardens. But “ornamental” is such a poor descriptive phrase. Who picks plants like they would pick wallpaper? To match their exterior trim? The worst gardens are those that aim to be merely decorative. No, we pick plants to live with us because they give us pleasure. I was recently re-acquainted with the idea of pleasure gardens when I re-read one of my favorite garden books, Rose Standish Nichols’ English Pleasure Gardens. It is a book I often pick up, read a chapter, and then put it away for a while. This century-old book is a compelling story of the English garden as viewed through three centuries of garden history. Throughout the book, one theme keeps emerging throughout the millennia: gardens exist for our pleasure. Christopher Lloyd’s writings have also been an inspiration of late. Perhaps I’ve spent too many years designing gardens, too many years of balancing client’s desires with safe plant selections. I love the almost garish quality of Dixter’s Long Border. The way it thumbs its nose at “tasteful” gray, pink, and blue color harmonies. The way it mixes tropicals, shrubs, perennials into one boisterous expression. Like Dixter, I would love a garden dedicated to nothing but horticultural craftsmanship. ''Beware of harboring too many plants in your garden of which the adjectives graceful and charming perpetually spring to your besotted lips,'' Lloyd warns as he clutches a black-leafed Canna. I love that. Dixter’s great triumph (and perhaps its downfall) is that it employs every tool in the planter’s toolkit all at once. The result is a hot mess, but one of the purest expressions of horticultural exuberance I’ve ever known. And what a joy that is. Cotinus 'Royal Purple' center (coppiced yearly), Savlia sclarea, Miscanthus 'Morning Light' and Alliums Perhaps all gardening is an attempt to re-create Eden, but our garden has absolutely no paradisiacal qualities. As a result of its placement next to an ugly house and an ugly road, we’ve adopted a more postlapsarian style. In the border, we have an ecumenical selection of wetland plants, desert grasses, South African bulbs, native forbs, and color foliage shrubs. Anything goes as long as it goes. The other side of our yard, we are beginning another more restrained garden evocative of a woodland edge. But in the border, there is no room for restraint, only more and more plants. Nasella tenuissima, Salvia 'Caradonna' and Allium 'Purple Sensation' In this blog, I am often guilty of heaping too much meaning on gardens, burying a simple act under too many metaphors. Perhaps it is an effort to justify my own profession, to add more significance to my calling than actually exists. If a garden exists simply for our own pleasure, what then? Perhaps that is enough. All I know is that gardening is hard work that reveals many agonies and few ecstasies. So despite the garden’s many flaws and failings, when the afternoon sun hits a patch of Feather grass and silhouettes the violet stems of Salvia ‘Caradonna’, it is enough for me. For now, I am pleased. Phlomis tuberosa and Hibiscus 'Fantasia' The ever ubiquitious, but entirely useful Spiraea 'Goldflamme' with Zahara Zinnias Our native-ish garden, planted this srping.
Get expert advice for planting and growing lavender, from prepping soil to pruning. Plus, learn about the different types—like English, French and Spanish lavender—and how to harvest and use lavender flowers.
The UK’s latest country house hotel, Heckfield Place in Hampshire, welcomes guests this September, a full six years behind its scheduled launch date (see o
HGTV.com showcases vines for arches and pergolas, including clematis, trumpet vine, climbing roses, hops, honeysuckle and wisteria.
If you have gotten some land ‘off-the-grid’, then you’ve probably thought about building a pond. Many people simply install electric pumps or figure they’ll depend on natural water catchments in the vicinity, and then stop there.
Hejka wszystkim. Podgladam was już jakiś rok ale ciagle brak mi było odwagi żeby coś napisać i się ujawnić. No ale wykońcu się przemoglam jakoś. Za sprawa ogrodowiska i chęci uplecenia świątecznego wianka wybrałam się na bronisze i tam spotkałam Panią ...
Jim Hoffman and Doron Sabag of SBP Homes bought this Greenwich house with the intention to fix it up and sell it, but three years later, they're in love with their charming home.
All the images in today's post, though totally different in style and feel have one basic thing in common, A strong statement c...
Exquisite craftsmanship creates a breathtaking backyard oasis. When the scope of this project evolved from a new driveway and patio to include a full-size pool and outdoor eating area, D. A. Dunlevy approached the design with an extra eye on the details. […]
Vote for the finalists in each of 17 Considered Design Awards categories, now through August 8, on both Gardenista and Remodelista. In the Best Edible Gard
Hey everyone!! Last week sort of got away from me and I wasn’t able to get a favorite things post up, oops! I am back this week and hopefully you will be inspired by the images that I found! First, I have some exciting news!! Next week I will be away for a couple of...Read More »
HGTV.com showcases vines for arches and pergolas, including clematis, trumpet vine, climbing roses, hops, honeysuckle and wisteria.
