Italian Garden Design

A client in the Heights contracted Exterior Worlds to create an Italian garden with a number of complimentary, classical elements to the front and rear of their home. Their house had a classic Old World appearance to it. It was a two-story structure with a porch and an upstairs balcony. Steps led up to the porch, and shuttered windows with arched tops lined both the porch and the balcony. A stately, old, and very large oak tree grew just next to the house, reaching up and over the top of the house. The architecture and indigenous landscape were an ideal setting to further develop a European look and feel to the property.

We began by installing lights in the trees next to the home in order to illuminate the roof and balcony, and we placed lights under the eaves of the porch and patio to illuminate the surfaces, walls, and windows. We planted a small Italian garden in the front near the trees. In it, we placed a variety of ground cover plant species, shrubbery, and smaller, ornamental trees. This lent an organic sense to a very symmetrical and elegant structure, and helped develop the Classical theme we were asked to create. We completed the design in the front with urns placed on either side of the stairs that led up to the front door. This worked to create a sense of grand entryway that alluded to a sense of Roman antiquity and classical design.

The home had been built toward the front of the lot, so the majority of the property lay behind the house. This provided a great deal of room to develop an Italian garden with a number of functional and aesthetic elements that fit the lifestyles of the owners. The first thing we designed for them was a planter, shaped like a small wall, which surrounded the rear perimeter of the home. This provided a casual seating area for the home owners that they use as an overlook point to appreciate the scenery beyond. In the morning they could sit outside and watch the sunrise while they drank coffee and talked, or comfortably recline while they read the paper.