1Varying Heights
Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden For Virginia’s 90th annual Historic Garden Week, celebrated last month, visitors explored gardens across the state in styles ranging from formal to woodland. One standout is the Victorian-style Grace Arents Garden at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, where a careful arrangement of flowers in a wide range of heights and colors makes for a varied textural display.
2Rainbow Brights
Hadley Keller In the gardens at Oak Spring, the Upperville, Virginia, country house of acclaimed horticulturalist Bunny Mellon, an explosion of tulips in every hue create a jubilant sea of color against the whitewashed stone of the famous basket house.
3Mini Maximalism
Georgiana Watt You don't need a large lot to create a maximalist garden. In another corner of Oak Spring, an arrangement of antique planters filled with flowers of different heights create textural impact in a small space. The best part? A potted garden like this is completely portable, so you can move it around your patio (or even indoors) depending on the weather or occasion.
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4Overgrown On Purpose
Eric Gilbert//Getty Images In the typically English gardens of Gloucestershire’s Hidcote Manor, overgrown bushes and climbing vines give the feel of an enchanted forest—without the upkeep of individual flower bulbs.
5Advanced Geometry
Getty Images For an alfresco take on pattern play, consider a formal garden with a complex boxwood pattern, like the parterre at Seaton Delaval Hall in Northumberland, England.
6Timeless Trellis
Charles Mayer Indoors and out, trellises are making a comeback—and we couldn’t be happier. The latticed structural element is the perfect way to add a dynamic pattern to your garden and provide space for more climbing growth, like the voluminous English grandiflora roses landscape designer Ed Hollander incorporated here.
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7Visual Feast
Maryline Damour Maximalist gardens can be a feast for more than the eyes. Turn your outdoor space into a kitchen garden for added interest. Cabbages, tomatoes, eggplants, squash, berries, and peas add color, while leafy lettuces and herbs bring texture. Raised beds offer opportunities for a creative layout and patterns, as do tall structures for climbing veggies, like the arbor in Maryline Damour’s garden.
8Tented Terrace
Nickolas Sargent A terrace or balcony can go big too: For maximum effect, consider an awning or tent. In this Palm Beach home, Amanda Reynal created an intimate, exuberant retreat off a second-floor bedroom.
9Poolside Stripes
Nickolas Sargent If a lack of a green thumb (or rental rules) make replanting unrealistic, look to patterned outdoor furniture, umbrellas, and accessories, as Janie Molster did in the pool area of the 2022 Kips Bay Palm Beach showhouse.
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10Circle Games
Roger Davies If you prefer a more playful pattern, create the effect of polka dots using individual boxwoods pruned into spheres, as Dave DeMattei and Patrick Wade did at their Hollywood Hills home.
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