Georgetown, i of the oldest parts of Washington, D.C., where the town houses stand upwards shoulder to shoulder on narrow streets, conceals many a greenish oasis. When garden designer William Morrow began making his enclosed backyard 5 years ago, he was instinctively drawn to the Old-World vocabulary of rock too gravel; lush, romantic planting; antique statuary; too weathered artifacts. But the infinite he had to bargain with, at 1,686 foursquare feet, was less than aristocratic. He adapted his vision accordingly.
“I knew the infinite needed potent lines to comprise the chaos of my perennial beds. I lawsuit a lot of plants earlier using them inward a client’s garden, thence I’m constantly replanting. I too needed a infinite that was flexible too that would wait skilful because I similar to entertain a lot,” he says. Construction was “challenging,” but equally Morrow explains, his approach breaks downward into unproblematic steps:
1. Start amongst the house
One of Morrow’s goals was an surface area for outdoor entertaining side by side to the house—but he did non desire the existing architecture to dictate the design. His 1890s Victorian house, although pretty from the street, is but a “brick box” at the back. Morrow’s reply was to embrace it amongst wisteria, and, similar a theatrical backdrop, the leafy mantle strikes the correct banknote against the wrought-iron piece of furniture too weathered rock on the patio.
2. Design for flexibility
Morrow’s constantly changing lineup of perennials could examine distracting. To counteract this he designed a layout amongst a strongly defined hardscape inward rock too gravel too a backbone of permanent plants that provides all-year interest.
3. Make the walls become away
A favorite play a joke on Morrow came across for disguising a express infinite was the “disappearing boundary.” Wooden board fences seven feet high enclose the garden on 3 sides; to brand them recede from sentiment he painted them high-gloss black. Clients ever decline to believe this is a skilful thought until they see the garden, thence they grasp how effective it is. Not seeing is believing. (RELATED: Creating a Dramatic Backdrop)
4. Be ruthless
The lawn was briskly shown the door. “I don’t observe lawns practical inward a modest urban garden,” says Morrow. “The amount of time, energy, chemicals too mechanism it takes to pop off along a lawn looking overnice would reap far to a greater extent than optic candy invested inward a luscious perennial bed or fifty-fifty inward an Edward Scissorhands topiary garden.”
5. Wrong tree, incorrect place
“I had to take away 3 big Magnolia grandiflora. It nearly killed me,” confesses Morrow. “They should receive got never been planted at that topographic point to get with. Southern magnolias are wonderful trees from a distance, but y'all don’t desire to alive nether one. I left a 4th that was far plenty from the home to locomote into the design.”
6. Be decorative
Having survived the painful but necessary surgical operation to attain a workable layout, Morrow turned to furnishings. “The settees I chose are from Mike Reid Weeks. Iron piece of furniture is a skilful selection for modest gardens because visually it is calorie-free too airy,” he explains.
7. Inject variety
Seasonal pots play an of import utilisation inward this garden. Morrow uses unmarried specimen plants inward smaller pots (less than xviii inches inward diameter) too exuberant mixtures of annuals too summertime exotics (bananas, palms, agaves too coleus) inward larger ones. In the winter, evergreen shrubs accept over the containers.