Our clients wanted a front landscape that they could easily manage, a style cohesive to the house, and wanted to keep their one much loved windmill palm. The front was all grass on a gentle slope with a skinny walkway from the driveway to the front door. We designed a centrally located entrance walkway that zig-zagged to the front door, retaining paver walls and planter boxes that helped to level the slope, and new planting beds that helped to soften the hardscape. Our clients loved the additional entrance, the clean lines, and were delighted with the three additional windmill palms.

New Belgard Weston retaining walls and planter boxes, and a zig-zag walkway to the front door.

Lower front planting beds just off the gravel parking area—sets up the drama of the beautiful house beyond.

We retained the original asphalt walkway from the driveway, but widened it and changed out the material to match the new zig-zag walkway. Our clients loved the large stepping pavers and black Mexican pebbles.

The original side garden was straight, long and boring. Curving the pathway, gave us pockets to plant in, and allowed one to meander slowly down the pathway to enjoy the garden—and adding an outdoor fireplace made a nice destination and strong focal point. We designed an all white garden—white tulips and white candytuft in the spring; white alliums, white roses, white daisies, and white hydrangeas in the summer.

This utility corner area was originally drab and lifeless, without any plants. To make matters worse it sat right alongside the outdoor dining area. We designed a lush planting bed with an elegant bubbler fountain to anchor the corner. We suggested to the homeowners that they paint the wood that hid their air conditioner the same color as their house, so that it would blend better. The corner is now something lovely to look at while seated at the dining table.

The sidewalk bed was originally a random mix of plants. To make it beautiful and more cohesive, we worked with only three plants, repeating them down the sidewalk—cypresses, lavender, and euonymus.

In the fall we plant hundreds of tulips for spectacular springtime color.

The water feature was existing, but we designed approximately 80% new plant material.

During our initial consultation, the homeowners mentioned to me that they liked to sit under this particular tree. They would drag their chairs and hammock out to relax under the tree in the late afternoon. I thought it would be lovely and more functional, if we built a patio for them to have a defined area to lounge under their tree. We chose decomposed crushed granite, because of its natural old world look and feel. In a few years, the boxwoods will fill in and be trimmed to make a squared off hedge. The homeowners loved the paisley shape.

Water feature to charming garden shed.

We generously opened up both existing planting beds, designed new plant material, and relocated some of the existing plant material. We also designed a decomposed crushed granite pathway with a boxwood hedge to connect the two beds. Connecting them made the garden more cohesive, not two separate beds like islands in a sea of grass. The boxwoods will eventually fill in, and be pruned to make a squared off hedge.

This is the full floor plan design drawing with plant identification labeling.

We designed this side garden with lush plantings and a dry rock creek bed. The dry creek bed was needed to keep the area from flooding, as the property sits on a steep slope.

Going over the new plant material with the homeowners.

There were originally two dogwood trees, which completely blocked the front door. We transplanted the larger one and removed the smaller less healthy dogwood. Now there is a clear view of the front door which makes a strong focal point. Every year The White Pear crew plants hundreds of bulbs in the fall for springtime beauty.

In the spring, the WP maintenance crew prunes shrubs, splits perennials, plants annuals, and adds a thick layer of dark leaf debris compost to all the planting beds, which feeds the plants, keeps weeds down, and conserves water. In the fall, the WP crew does a clean-up, and plants hundreds of tulip bulbs for springtime beauty!

Tulips, Tassel Fern, Heuchera, & Alliums

Tulips, hellebores, and pieris. Spring beauty!

Before: Old rusty shed and diseased apple tree, and old weedy grass.

After: Removed shed and apple tree. Designed and built beautiful pathways and planting beds.

Love designing with alliums, not only for their awesome beauty, but because they bridge the gap between earlier bulbs and emerging perennials.

Vibrant Colors! A colorful parking strip planting bed of ajuga, iberis, euphorbia, and tulip bulbs—a glorious sight after a long winter!

For texture, vibrancy, and color—hardy windmill palms, phormium atropurpureum, and red ground cover roses.

White blooms of the Deutzia gracilis 'Chardonnay Pearls,’ cherry red ‘Kingsblood’ tulips, and the variegated foliage of lavender ‘Platinum Blonde.’

Planting berm of agapanthus, hakonechola grasses, cotinus, and edgeworthia.

Dahlias, roses, agapanthus, & phormium.