Front-Yard Garden

Photo by Grey Crawford

When you treat your front yard as though it’s your backyard, the possibilities for aesthetic and horticultural delight are endless. The landscape designer/owner contrasts a broad Japanese maple tree with four columnar pines to enclose the space and lend it intimacy.

April 2006

Project: Front-Yard Garden

From: Outside the Not So Big House, by Julie Moir Messervy and Sarah Susanka, published by The Taunton Press, 2005

When we first started planning Outside the Not So Big House, we wanted to find a few good examples of houses on not-so-big lots that still use the space to create a sequence of outdoor spaces, in much the way we do when designing interior space. Here, the challenge is even greater due to the fact that there are neighbors on three sides of the property. This garden eloquently illustrates how good design can bring into being a magical and secluded universe that’s completely unexpected and quite transporting in its beauty. —Sarah Susanka