All-Time Favorite Outdoor Spaces

Editor Rebecca Reed shares her top 10 backyard retreats.

Beauty Takes Flight

Photography Ralph Anderson / Styling Leigh Anne Montgomery, Steve Bender

Beauty Takes Flight

I love birds―their song adds dimension to a space. Once a private residence, Wing Haven in Charlotte, North Carolina, is now open for your enjoyment.

Make the Most of a Tight Spot in the sideyard

Ralph Anderson

Make the Most of a Tight Spot

The oft-forgotten sideyard is the redheaded stepchild of the garden. When you give it a little attention, you might begin to play favorites. Love, love, love the texture the pebbled border adds here. I respect the fact that this was a pain to install, but then again, when the space is small, details count.

Create a Garden Getaway

Celia Deaton

Create a Garden Getaway

Destinations bring out the child in all of us. My heart leaps when I walk into a garden that sports a shelter of some sort. Plain or fancy, rustic or refined, covered spaces aren’t just pretty―they offer a retreat from the Southern sun.

Colorful Cottage Courtyard

Jean Allsopp

Colorful Cottage Courtyard

Sometimes, the only place to get that backyard feel is up front. It’s okay to break the rules. Just remember: Keep it cozy by adding walls. No one ever feels comfortable being on display.

Hidden Garden

Ralph Anderson

Hidden Garden

Another wonderful idea is brought forward here. Best garden detail: A peek-through window mounted in a hedge.

Dreamy Hydrangeas

Joseph De Sciose

Dreamy Hydrangeas

Southerners can’t get enough of this plant―and that includes me. One plant alone can make a show. Plant a hillside and you’ll make a statement.

blue tones in your garden

Van Chaplin

Good To Be Blue in Your Garden

Speaking of this soothing color, it was a joy to visit Verla Ledlow in her Loxley, Alabama, garden. “Pick your favorite color and stick with it,” she advises. You can’t go wrong.

garden with moss

Maria's Retreat

How decadent: a room of moss. Proof again that as adults we still want to create our own magical world.

simple backyard

Ralph Anderson

Just Relax

I have great respect for those who exhibit restraint. It would have been too easy for landscape architect Jeffrey Carbo and his team to talk this family into piling it on. The quote “what we did, we decided to do nicely” just may be the understatement of the year, but nice is what makes the backyard just right.

daylily garden

Ralph Anderson

Family of Flowers

There are some gardeners that you bond with the minute you step out of the car. Sam and Linda Christine in Aiken, South Carolina, are those folks. Every plant has a story, every curving bed line a purpose. Every time I left, I left with something in hand. This garden is memorable not just for the plants, but for the people who love to share.

Printed from:
http://www.southernliving.com/home-garden/gardens/all-time-favorite-outdoor-spaces-00400000043820/

Copyright © 2013 Time Inc. Lifestyle Group. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy ( Your California Privacy Rights). Ad Choices