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Landscape Design

mid century landscape design

17 years ago

minimalism and clean lines are a must-but drought tolerant planting is my first concern

we have a lawn which i would like to replace and a slight hill to the street which is chock full of ivy right now-it needs to go

what would be appropriate for a post and beam house without being sparse and colorless

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Comments (7)

rebeccaindfw
17 years ago
Have you seen any of the garden inspiration stories in Domino magazine?

You might also find some inspiration in this portfolio from Redenta's, a landscaper near me, or Big Red Sun, another one in Austin.

Another idea is to check out the landscaping of some of the great mid-century modern houses, like the Kaufman house in Palm Springs. You can find lots of architecturally significant houses here, and if you found one similar to yours, you could Google the heck out of it and try to replicate some of the better landscaping ideas.

Of course, the quintessential mid-century modern garden can be found in the Jacques Tati film, Mon Oncle:

{{gwi:17262}}

Clean lines but oh so high maintenance!
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
17 years ago
If your zone information is correct, your plant palatte tends to the tropical but does not necessarily need to be excessively drought tolerant. I'd look to some rather architectural type plantings like palms or dracenas and a few mass plantings of color with dwarf hibiscus or agapanthus. And heavy on the hardscaping, either through paved areas or with inorganic mulches.

Where are you located? Zone 11 is such a limited area.....
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miss_rumphius_rules
17 years ago
Try the book 'Private Landscapes-Modernist Gardens in Southern California'
catkim
17 years ago
Interesting links, rebecca, hope you will continue to contribute here.
wallaceneff
Original Author
17 years ago
thank you to everyone for all the information
this is a great site/sight!
inkognito
17 years ago
What kim said rebecca. A breath of fresh air. "Clean lines but oh so high maintenance!" referring, no doubt to the gals in the picture. More from you please.
rebeccaindfw
17 years ago
Ha, thanks! Part of the joke of the movie Mon Oncle is that the lady of the house spends all her time meticulously manicuring her modern garden, and weren't all those modern innovations supposed to save us time?

Myself, I have a mid-century modern interior but I'm looking for my garden to be a shock to the system. My interior is very colorful and fun, but very structured; I hope to achieve the same for the landscape but am really struggling to achieve a balance between formal and highly colorful. And of course just as you have art indoors you have to have curiosity plants outdoors (at least that's my analogue). And to complicate everything I live in Texas, where every poor plant is hanging on for dear life during our ridiculous summers.

Of course, I'm sure that's nothing compared to trying to garden in zone 11!

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