Gardens & living

Good ideas take root.

Gardens through the seasons, places to gather, and practical ideas for making yourself at home outside.

Two folded towels resting in a woven basket outdoors.

The Considered Detail

The poolside storage plan

Towels, toys, and everyday supplies need a place before they reach the chairs.

From the notebook

An outdoor shower mounted against a timber screen between tropical plants.

Before You Build

Before you add an outdoor shower

Define the purpose, privacy, and daily routine before choosing the fixture.

From the notebook

An open timber gate beneath a leafy garden arch.

The Considered Detail

A welcoming route from the gate to the gathering

Help visitors understand where to go without turning the garden into a corridor.

From the notebook

Purple coneflowers flowering in a planted garden border.

The Garden Notebook

Start a native garden with one well-chosen patch

Make the first planting specific to your region, your site, and the time you can give it.

From the notebook

Clusters of green rosette succulents among soil and dried stems.

The Garden Notebook

Plant the garden in water groups

Let compatible needs shape the beds before choosing the irrigation controls.

From the notebook

Overlapping green hosta leaves with pale variegated edges.

The Garden Notebook

Build the border around leaves

Shape, scale, and repetition can carry a garden between flowering moments.

From the notebook

White hydrangea flowers beside a simple gray concrete garden edge.

The Garden Notebook

A garden in one color, with room for variation

A restrained palette works best when texture and season do some of the work.

From the notebook

Hands holding cut pink cosmos stems and pruning shears.

The Garden Notebook

Make a small place for flowers to bring indoors

A cutting patch can have a practical role alongside the ornamental garden.

From the notebook

Green herbs and purple basil growing in rows in dark soil.

The Garden Notebook

Make edible plants part of the garden composition

A useful planting can also belong in the view from the table.

From the notebook

Lettuce in a timber growing bed with its hinged translucent cover raised.

Before You Build

Raised beds or planting in the ground?

Choose the growing arrangement around access, site conditions, and the work you want to do.

From the notebook

A pale bench beneath the broad trunk and branches of a mature tree.

Before You Build

Let the mature tree lead the design

An established tree is a site condition to understand, not a gap to build around.

From the notebook

Repeated clumps of ornamental grasses beside a narrow garden path.

Small Space Studies

Give a narrow border one clear job

A slim planting strip works better with a focused purpose and a disciplined palette.

From the notebook