This Cranston Valley Residence in Calgary, Alberta shows how contemporary landscaping can extend your living space to the back yard. With a composite oversized deck and a cozy acid stained concrete brick firepit covered by 2 custom cedar pergolas, its the perfect place to host a party. Natural planting beds around the perimeter of the property really help this beautiful home into the existing natural space around.

Project #1

David Wright Landscape Architect LLC

A colorful summer garden surrounds the the patio and pool terrace.

Coastal Bellevue Waterfront Home

Seattle Staged to Sell and Design LLC

MVB

4540

Pure Design

Challenge: sometimes second time’s a charm Solved: Most remodels are baby steps. Upgrades. Not, this one. This was clearly a giant step. The deck, made of architectural concrete and Ipe wood—twice as dense as most woods and five times harder—features a cantilevered fire pit and floating barbeque. While these provide ample touches of wow factor, some of the most game-changing and appreciated enhancements are hidden from view: like the re-engineered, energy-efficient power plant and pipes that keep crystal clear water flowing silently and effortlessly space to space. In this case, it would seem, the second time’s a charm.

Como courtyard landscape

GreenCorner Consulting & Design

Front courtyard, boardwalk, water features, tropical plantings, outdoor lighting, automated irrigation systems, drainage, cubby house, sand pit, chicken coup, BBQ area, entertaining areas, timber deck

Red Renniassance

TLC Gardens

David Winger- Winger Photography

Solar Sollew 9 Star Series

Positive Footprints Pty Ltd

Nick Stepenson

Ideal Space, Lavish Lifestlye

Prime Realty

Madison Park Residence

Richard Hartlage Land Morphology

In this Seattle backyard, stairs lead up to a private zen garden above the garage.

Palm Breeze on Ono

Bob Chatham Custom Home Design

This gorgeous beach house is located on Ono Island . The coastal exterior has a modern flair with stained wood beams and trellises. A mixture of siding and board and batten add interest to the front of the home. The back has a large porch that overlooks the pool and water. There is a wonderful entertaining area underneath the home designed by Bob Chatham Custom Home Design and built by Phillip Vlahos of VDT Construction.

Terrasse pour une vue imprenable

Nathalie JEANNE - Conceptrice de jardin

Terrasse avec 2 matériaux. terrasse en dallage sur chape béton en bois composite SILVADEC. Massifs de persistants avec vivaces et graminées.

Blühende Landschaften

KLAFS - My Sauna and Spa

Fotos: SSF.Pools by KLAFS In enger Zusammenarbeit zwischen der Landschaftsarchitektin Susanne Straub aus Mönchengladbach (www.plan-plus-web.de) und den Sauna-Spezialisten von KLAFS (www.klafs.de) sowie den Pool-Spezialisten des KLAFS Tochterunternehmens SSF.Pools by KLAFS (www.ssf-pools.de) ist hier ein blühender, sehr lebendiger Garten entstanden, der mit Pool und Saunahaus außerdem viele Aufenthaltsqualität und Nutzungsmöglichkeiten bietet.

Naturel

I.D.O jardins

Terrasse ensoleillée en bois, enrochement et végétation luxuriante

Second Home

Lume Architecture

Dunes Crossover

D.R. Contracting, LLC

Home Farm 1

Alix Bragg Interior Design

Private Residence - West Vancouver

Swick's Landscaping

Ema Peter

Trex Decking, Rural View

Leaf Wood Rock Landscapes

Duffy's Forest Project

Joanne Green Landscape & Interior

This new contemporary home required a complementary sub-tropical garden, while maintaining complete practicality due to the horse stables, horse round yards, riding arena, chicken coup and aviary that was required for keeping many well-loved animals. To achieve this, a number of challenges needed to be overcome, starting with the fact the location and exposed nature of the site meant the plantings needed to withstand some very harsh conditions, including extreme heat in summer and bitter frosts in winter, as well as prevailing winds. To counter this, we added to the nature strip surrounding the property, increasing the planting to improve privacy and assisting in creating a wind breaks to the gardens – as well as providing a habitat for birds and native wild life. The garden areas around the main driveway and entry pathways, pool surrounds and spaces around the house were filled with a mixture of hardy plants with a sub-tropical bent, such as Frangipani’s, N.Z. Flax, Yucca’s, Gardenia’s, Murraya and Bird-of-Paradise, with striking selected succulents as accents. An extensive driveway of second hand bricks was installed to provide access to the horse stables, house and visitor parking, bordered on both sides by swathes of lush green Flax Lily, Mat Rush and Cardboard Palms, among random sandstone rocks to provide interest. All the new garden spaces were built with sandstone paving, steel edging and pebble inserts, making use of interesting lighting to highlight key areas and showcase the entire piece. Several new courtyards with entertainment and living areas were created to ensure the space was liveable for the whole family, and a prominent water feature was installed to give the garden a feeling of tranquillity. The end result is a beautiful, lush tropical escape that can be enjoyed by everyone – even the horses.

Blue Garden Design Ideas with Decking

Get Inspired by Gardens on Houzz

A lot of the time when you get home from a long day at work, all you want to do is wind down. Where better to do this than in your very own garden at home? If you do it right, a great garden design can send you right into holiday mode. But where to start? There’s so many styles to choose from when it comes to garden design. Whether you want to create a tropical, modern, contemporary, beach style or country garden - or something else entirely - the large garden image gallery on Houzz has got you covered. Get inspired and collect your ideas to narrow down your desired garden style and features.

How to Create a Garden for Your Home

Depending on which style you’re going for, be sure to know what makes a garden and if it’s appropriate for your climate. You may want to consider adding a deck or other landscaping features, but the plants you choose will mostly dictate your style and what kind of ongoing maintenance is required. Don’t worry if your backyard isn’t very spacious - there are many plants that can thrive even in a small space and allow you to turn your space into a little paradise of your own, regardless of size.

Decide which plants to use

The greenery you choose is critical to your look. For example, if you’re trying to create a tropical garden palm trees and bamboo are your go-to options. Other popular options are golden cane palm trees and fern for ground cover. From there you can add some colour with bright flowers like frangipani, hibiscus or bromeliads. All these are actually quite hardy plants, so once established, your tropical garden is actually quite easy to maintain. Use this structure and apply it to your style. Research which plants you need to set your base for a garden and go from there.

Add some decor

If the plants don’t quite do it for you yet, or if you want to add some extra wow-factor, consider adding some extra features. Even if you can’t accommodate a swimming pool, hot tub or pond, you could look at smaller water features. Simple rocks can also have a great effect, while statues and gnomes will add some extra character. Don’t forget to add some furniture so you have a nice place to sit and enjoy your garden!

Need some help?

Once you know what you want your garden to look like, it may be hard to make it a reality on your own. If that is the case for you, consider consulting a professional to help you with your garden design. Every photo you find on Houzz will lead you to the local pro that did the job, so you won’t have a problem picking the perfect person to help! Whether you need a gardener in Brisbane, a landscape architect in Melbourne or a fireplace installer in Sydney, you can be sure to find one on Houzz.