Formal and Flirty Garden

_Note: any bulleted, italicized comments you see come from our in-house landscape designer!_

See this landscape design in Simplyscapes.

As you approach the home, the curb appeal instantly draws you in with the well manicured lawn, flower beds and diversity of plants and colors. Like many other gardens on the tour, the owner has spent years creating this garden on his own.

• _While there is a massive variety of plants used in this design, they all work together to build unity. A color scheme pulls them together--in this image, the primary colors of red, blue, and yellow add rich, bright pops of color in every direction._

In the front yard, you can find hand-trimmed and shaped boxwoods and Alberta spruce, two common formal plants. However, this is just the beginning. You can also find inspiration for sun and shade gardens.

• _Some of the featured plants: tulips, Easter lilies, impatiens, geranium, coleus, forget-me-nots_

• _Some of the plants featured here: tricolor beech, Alberta spruce, blue fescue, coleus, spirea, foxglove, geranium, impatiens, barberry_

• _Some featured plants: heuchera, ferns, white spruce, impatiens_

One thing that this garden exhibits well is the fact that adding in plants other than grass to your park strip is always a good idea.

• _Some of the plants featured here: boxwood, irises, China pink carnations, coleus, impatiens_

One of our favorite things about this garden is the use of several trees, shrubs, and grasses with interesting foliage. The trees include several tricolor beeches (pink leaves) and classic Japanese maples of many colors.

• _The show-stopping tricolor beech takes the cake here! The ferns and ground elder complement the beech delightfully_

Moving into the backyard, you pass through an ornate gate into an urban edible garden complete with raised planting beds and lidded compost boxes as well as a large chicken coop in the back corner. This shows that you don't have to sacrifice style for function.

• _The strong, straight lines of the trellis contrast nicely with the row of rounded boxwoods_

• _Arched trellis separates spaces_
• _Espalier tree adds interesting shapes and increases the yield of the fruit tree_

The main space of the backyard is open and uses layers to help it feel private and intentional. The traditional hedges feel more inviting because of the way they wave through the yard.

• _Such a lush, delightful view! The layering of plants creates depth and movement, and the lines and repetition form a harmonious rhythm_

A raised patio coming off of the back of the house is the perfect place to relax and enjoy the scenery, particularly the impressive planting bed full of perennials. The red brick path adds a pop of color that joins everything together.

• _Some featured plants: clematis, peonies, ferns, allium, forget-me-nots, lobelia, barberry, moss rose, spotted deadnettle, geranium_

If you feel like this garden is too perfect to be real, don't worry! With the right plan, you can have this too.

• _Ever-so functional and well planned out, this is the behind-the-scenes area that allows the rest of the yard to shine_

While this garden may seem like it would require a ton of upkeep, the owner let us know that now that it is installed, his gardening maintenance mostly consists of regular mowing, occasional weed pulling, and trimming his topiary about twice a year.

See this landscape design in Simplyscapes.