Wild and Wonderfully Unusual Landscaping Ideas

Cabanas are grand, but have you considered equipping your terraced patio with cascading fountains and pools that conclude in an in-ground biofiltration bog? This green feature harnesses the natural filtration properties of native aquatic plants to treat the water that circulates through the yard.

Designers placed reclaimed stone slabs, selected moss-covered boulders and constructed a well-weathered border wall to create the impression that this outdoor space was established ages ago — and that the elements are reclaiming it. Dramatic uplighting emphasizes the marvelously craggy look of this home.

The visual impact of this Los Angeles property is all about the juxtaposition of modern sculpture and architecture with environmentally sensitive native species planted to provide texture. These organic and manmade shapes are handsome in their own right, but they’re even more striking when they interact with the landscaping.

This unique interior sees your fiddle leaf fig in a ceramic container and raises you a live native tree enclosed in glass and growing through the ceiling and roof into open air. Could this be the ultra-luxurious future of terrariums?

Swaths of vivid flowering perennials, like salvia and catmint, intermingle with ornamental grass to create the look of an impressionistic landscape painting in this dramatic front yard. Concrete steps lead visitors past the plantings and through a hedge that opens into an understated lawn.

When we talked about thinking outside the boxwood, this tweak to tradition is what we had in mind. Consider how cleverly the contemporary topiary in this courtyard both echoes the shape of the chairs beyond it and creates an unfussy organic enclosure for the outdoor dining room and its travertine patio. Beyond the clearing, another shapely hedge disguises a grill.

These sweeping brick stairs might have concluded with a fountain at the center of an uninterrupted lawn or an unassuming patio, but where’s the fun in that? Instead, stone pavers and squares of grass create a fantastic, larger-than-life checkerboard (and make the water feature they surround look a bit like a chess piece).

This wild woodland gives way to undulating bands of flowering trees, perennials and textural grasses. The scenery isn’t meant to be taken in all at once, or for just one season. Instead, visitors are encouraged to wander through the property and appreciate the way its character changes throughout the year.

Low-maintenance, high-drama fescue grass creates a textural outdoor carpet at this home, situated on two acres that once housed a horse farm. Landscapers created a more manicured look directly in front of the windows, where precision-tended bushes create contrast with the porch and windows’ right angles.

Long, low strips of succulent beds, stone, understated water features and concrete slabs create a patchwork of color and texture surrounding this midcentury-inspired patio. That artful arrangement extends up the exterior wall, where twin panels of plantings function as a living canvas.

The undisputed stars of this tropical property are its four ancient banyan trees. Landscapers gave them even more gravitas by dividing them vertically and recombining them to create three even larger trees. Those gargantuan growths provide both shade and otherworldly atmosphere.

This Hamptons home sits between the ocean and a freshwater lake, and its owners sought to develop its front yard, pool and patio areas with visual texture that would rival its face on the shoreline. The plantings they chose to add to the space are native to the region, low-maintenance and easy on the eyes.

Breezy pastel grasses add whispers of soft texture along the right side of this geometric cement and gravel walkway. A single agave plant punctuates that field with a new texture, and three rows of vertical plantings function as a contemporary window box along the metal railing below the front window.

The diminutive species chosen to frame the irregular slabs of bluestone, in this Charleston courtyard, are much more than ground cover. Sedum, thyme and dwarf Mondo add pops of deep and dusty green and splashes of citrus to the space. Those smaller plantings function as an introduction to the larger beds beside the gate and to either side of the raised patio.

This Northern California space looks across the Pacific for its style cues. A circular hardwood gate with bronze detailing, pale stone walls, a sculpted pine and Japanese maples were all included to evoke the look of a traditional Asian gardens. Pale gravel and stones seats complete the look of this serene retreat.

Set into a steep Sonoma hillside, this picturesque property was no mean feat for landscapers to adorn. They rose to the challenge by integrating the guest house roof with the landscape itself. A graceful, gravel-bordered living roof echoes the flora that thrives on the land surrounding it.

This dreamy deck in the Wyoming wetlands near the Teton Range reflects its owners’ commitment to leaving the landscape intact. They instructed their architect to build between and, in some cases, around the property’s graceful aspen trees. Swaying meadow grasses lead to a tranquil pond and more aspens at the deck’s edge.

Weathered steel slices into the hillside at the center of this velvety lawn to create bench seating and a fireside patio. This understated architecture has a subtle drama all its own.

This lakeside hammock and its garden is as practical as it is picturesque. The buffer garden planted beneath the hammock prevents runoff and stops fertilizer from flowing into the water below. Hammock connoisseurs agree that there is no better placement for ultimate relaxation than next to the soothing sounds of the water.