SUNNY RESIDENTIAL
A Home in North Barrington
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This owner is an avid gardener, a nature lover and a busy businessman. He managed to combine all these three elements of his life in the native gardens around his residence. |
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A comfortable place to have your breakfast, surrounded by the sights, fragnances and sounds of the natural world, all within a few feet of your doorstep. |
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A cozy little hideout for the owner's wife. |
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Notice that the primary color visible is green -- many many shades of green. In traditional landscaping large drifts of the same plant makes a striking sea of sameness -- like thousands of tulips planted in front of a bank. Natural landscaping, however, uses the beautiful sights we see in the natural world, where occasional bright spots of color highlight a mozaic of textures and shapes. This produces an ever changing Kaleidoscope of color and variety. . |
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Art and Linda's Wildflowers does not diagram the plan prior to installation. Rather, we rely on concepts and habitats. We use a wide variety of habitat appropriate flowers, grasses, sedges, ferns, trees and shrubs. Could you imagine trying to diagram out a garden like this? It would be meaningless and not do the garden (or the owner) justice. A few good rules to follow in natural landscaping are: - Put the tall plants in the back and the short ones up front. - Plant for all the seasons including winter. - Don't use plants that get overly aggressive or out of control. - Make sure to use plants that are the favorites of the birds, the butterflies and the owners. |
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Toby enjoys visiting the hideout also. The path and patio are constructed of tumbled New York Bluestone Steppers -- a material I like to use because it is easy to work with and is beautiful. |
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Stonework is a wonderful addition to any landscape. Technically it is cold and hard, but to those who appreciate it, it exudes a warmth and softness. |
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A view like this would be difficult to achieve using conventional landscape techniques and plants. See how the gold of the setting sun is captured in the leaves of the trees in the upper left hand corner of the photo. |
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Toby is hiding behind the Little Bluestem Grass, Schizachyrium scoparium. To the left are the bright yellow flowers of Sand Coreopsis, Coreopsis lanceolata. |
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The back patio is shaded by medium sized Oaks and Hickories and is nestled amongst a wild variety of native woodland shrubs, flowers, grasses and sedges. |
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A wooded border about ten to twenty feet deep surrounds about half of the property. |
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A small Rain Garden at the base of the hill is fed by a water faucet, directed by a pipe under the patio, to a small stream that we created. |
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The small rain garden all filled in - the crimson cardinal flower is a great nectar source for hummingbirds who visit them regularly. |
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Mickey loves his garden. |
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A berm was created at the back of the property. The kids love jumping rock to rock. |
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Brown Fox Sedge, Carex vulpinoidea, gets about two feet wide but almost four feet across. It looks nice drooping over rocks, logs and walls. |
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This hodge-podge garden was made by using "leftover" and plants removed before doing our work. It came out looking pretty good. |
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This spot has become quite cozy, now that the plants have filled in to screen off the council ring. The following spring, the plants have filled in even more and the rock and pine bark path has mellowed. The council ring looks like it's been there forever! |
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Bob is resting comfortably nestling Mickey's live-in girlfriend, Ruby. He is enjoying the shade of his beautiful patio having a is deep intellectual conversation with Toby and Art. |  |
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