Changing Landscapes

Warming Trend
If creating entire outdoor rooms seems like too huge an undertaking, an outdoor fire pit or fireplace is an easy way to extend your usable living space outdoors while adding ambiance and creating a gathering spot. Designs of outdoor fire pits range from wok-shaped styles made of copper or other metals to ornate potbelly stove chimneys and natural stone surrounds. See slideshow for more photographs.

Creative Use of Space
If you have a large piece of property, landscaping can be expensive. But you needn’t cover your entire property to create the desired effect. By breaking up your yard with varying plantings and different destination areas, you’ll add interest and depth. See slideshow for more photographs.

Focal Points
A focal point leads the eye, adds interest and texture, and, most importantly, brings a bit of your personal touch to your landscape or garden. See slideshow for more photographs.

Pleasing Perennials
Perennial gardens are a key component of a pleasing landscape. Some homeowners love lively cutting gardens filled with a variety of colors and textures. Others opt for a monochromatic scheme of all blues, all pinks, or all greens. A lovely all-white garden also becomes a moon garden that shimmers at night. Before you start, consider the amount of time you are willing to dedicate to maintaining your garden—many are more high maintenance than you think.

The beautiful selection of plants and a design that respects and reflects the palette and style of the home below caught our attention. For this authentic English–style garden, Andrew Kruger of Gray Gardens chose low-maintenance, long-blooming hydrangea and perennials with English flare that provide four seasons of color, including the silvery grays of the lady’s mantel, the purpley reds of the salvia, and the creamy white of the snowball hydrangeas. The yellow liqularia serves as an accent. To extend the lines of the house created by the front columns, tall arborvitaes were planted. They also create a sense of privacy for the backyard terrace, add winter interest, and serve as a backdrop for the composition of perennials.