Wild and Wonderfully Unusual Landscaping Ideas

Could your yard use a bit of a tweak, or even a drastic makeover? Think outside the boxwood with help from these exuberant, one-of-a-kind outdoor spaces.

By: Lauren Oster

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Life Cycle

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.

See More Photos: Provincial-Style Pool Terrace With Water Features and Dramatic Masonry

From: Hess Landscape Architects, Inc.

Modern History

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.

See More Photos: Provincial-Style Pool Terrace With Water Features and Dramatic Masonry

From: Hess Landscape Architects, Inc.

Nature and Nurture

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.

See More Photos: Modern, Eco-Chic Los Angeles Outdoor Retreat

From: Environmental Design Studio

Exaggerated Terrarium

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?

See More Photos: Modern, Eco-Chic Los Angeles Outdoor Retreat

From: Environmental Design Studio

Deep Purple

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.

See More Photos: Lush Grasses and Purple Blooms Create a Sculptural Garden

From: LaGuardia Design Group

All the Trimmings

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.

See More Photos: Serene Georgetown Courtyard Garden

From: D. A. Dunlevy

Gardener's Gambit

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).

See More Photos: Stunning Formal Garden With Magical Details

From: Southern Walker Landscape Design

Evolving Textures

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.

See More Photos: Traditional, Cultivated Garden With Winding Stepping Stones

From: Donald Pell Gardens

Spheres of Influence

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.

See More Photos: Gorgeous Green Textures and Serene Pool Surround This Farmhouse

From: LaGuardia Design Group

Painting With Succulents

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.

See more photos: Midcentury-Inspired Curb Appeal With Sculptural Stainless Steel + Succulents

From: Exterior Worlds, Inc

Banyan Math

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.

See More Photos: Towering Banyans and Colorful Bougainvillea at Beachside Hideaway

From: Gale Nurseries Inc.

Indigenous Accents

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.

See More Photos: Modern Hamptons Oasis With Stunning Ocean Views

From: LaGuardia Design Group

Light as a Feather

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.

See More Photos: Lush Lowcountry Walkway

From: J.R. Kramer

Multi-Hued Mosaic

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.

See More Photos: Gorgeous Gardens: Charming Courtyard Has Natural Landscaping

From: Carolina Landscape

Eastern Inspiration

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.

See More Photos: Gorgeous Gardens: Japanese-Inspired Zen Retreat

From: Zeterre Landscape Architecture

Going Green

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.

See More Photos: Waterside Retreat: Ocean Views From Hilltop Home

From: Shades of Green Landscape Architecture

Live and Let Live

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.

See More Photos: Wyoming Homestead Nestled in Wetlands, Aspen Trees

From: Ward + Blake Architects

Elegant Earthwork

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.

See More Photos: Waterside Retreat: Lowcountry Home on the Marsh

From: Carolina Landscape

Beauty and Brains

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.

See More Photos: Waterside Retreat: Serene Lake House and Garden

From: Spring Lake Garden Design Incorporated

Contemporary Curation

Why scatter mere mulch around the bases of trees when you can frame them like artwork? These Eagleston holly trees are presented in rectangular white rock beds, just like each piece of their owners’ extensive outdoor sculpture collection.

See More Photos: Gorgeous Gardens: Modern Sculpture Garden