Garden Tour: A Whimsical Chicago Garden

I love the sculptural quality and how the clipped grass plays off the fluffy foreground plantings of my succulent container and 'Summer Beauty' alliums. I suggest creating tension between soft and rigid textures in your garden for a more interesting outcome. Try mixing manicured sections of clipped boxwood and lawn against more robust plant varieties.

It's all about finding balance. Here the scale and freshness of a giant hosta leaf finds harmony beside an equally energetic stand of daylilies. Sometimes this magic takes time to achieve...I must have moved that hosta several times before I found the right home for it to really sing. My advice: pay attention to the growing conditions and growth habit descriptions on the plant tags. Place plants where you think they look best, but always be ready to switch things around if they don't perform well. Gardens are always a work in progress.

Here's a favorite garden perch right beside our barbeque. While flipping brats and burgers, we can enjoy a river of perennials as they wax and wane throughout the season. 'Caradonna' salvia and 'Golden Queen' trollius recently took their final bows to make room for 'Little Spire' Russian sage and other late summer show-offs. Don't relegate flowers to flower beds: place beautiful arrangements near areas where your family spends a lot of time like the BBQ or swimming pool or bocce court.

Call me lazy, but with an acre of gardens to tend, I've resorted to no-fuss succulents for most of my containers. Many of them over-winter nicely so that I don't need to replace them every season. I particularly enjoy Sempervivum 'Red Heart' and 'Chocolate Ball' stonecrop sedum. Here's to being cost-effective in the garden!