First order of business: screening the house and yard from the busy street where neighbors parked. “I didn‘t want to be sitting in the yard looking at cars,” she explains. “Putting in the boxwood hedge created an extended living room.” Started from 1-gallon plants, the boxwoods reached 5 feet tall in four years.

photo: Painted to match the house trim, window frames set into the corner of the hedge give a tantalizing glimpse into the garden while also allowing air to pass through. This painted obelisk adds a vertical dimension.