The South's Best Gardens

The cottage garden courtyard ties the orginal home to the addition and has an intimate scale. Partially hidden from the street below, it creates intrigue—only the stone wall, gate, and a few plants can be seen. As you approach the front door, the 22 1/2- by 27-foot space comes into view as a garden within the larger landscape.

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Geometric planting beds (parterres) in the front yard showcase annuals, perennials, and evergreen shrubs. A gorgeous purple-flowering bougainvillea vine is trained against the home's front wall. The formality out front contrasts strikingly with the flowing beds in back. This is a garden with two distinct faces.

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This Atlanta garden combines lip-smacking produce with eye-popping color for the perfect escape to relax and entertain. Clipped 'Nellie R. Stevens' hollies and boxwoods form the walls, while a trio of large rolled-rim pots containing boxwood topiaries, peppers, and herbs anchors the edible garden.

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This rooftop dining area is situated under a beautiful white pergola, right in the middle of fresh seasonal flowers, permanent trees and shrubs, and of course, edibles—which thrive on rooftops.

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Galvanized tubs form the backbone of this organic container garden behind a North Carolina restaurant.

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A sloping side lawn offered the ideal place for a garden between a new porch and an arbor, creating intimate and shaded beauty without burdensome maintenance.

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Loose borders such as these appear more dramatic when sandwiched between hedged and tree-form evergreens such as yaupon hollies and tall, coarse-textured bay laurels.

This small, secluded garden, tucked into trees and shrubs two steps up from the terrace, is a garden within a garden. Splashing water from a fountain and a color scheme centered on white, chartreuse, and green make it feel cool and private.

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This central Alabama garden is a labyrinth of intersecting trails, meandering streams, hideaways, and surprises. Each waterfall, wildflower, and moss-shawled boulder looks like it's been nestled here since God made Earth.

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A small tree with showy blue flowers that grows practically everywhere, chaste trees make a great backdrop to any Southern garden.

One of the largest boxwoods, an American boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) can grow to more than 15 feet tall and wide, and it's long-lived.

A double row of Korean boxwoods rings the center fountain. A corridor of clipped ironwood trees (Carpinus caroliniana) and American boxwoods creates the outer wall of this semicircular garden. 'Ryan's Yellow' mums tumble over the stone retaining wall along the pergola.

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An ornate urn fountain serves as this garden's focus while pavers bordered by dwarf mondo grass lend a riveting pattern to the space.

Removing the lower limbs of these tall crepe myrtles reveals the beauty of the trunks. A fountain adds the peaceful sound of splashing water. Bright green grass stands out when edged with dark green boxwoods.

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A lath house defines the shade garden and leads to a lushly planted urn in the color garden in this historic North Carolina garden.

Without organization, a hundred different perennials can look like yard salad. That's where structures—pathways, evergreens, walls, hedges, edging, small trees, and ponds—come in. They define spaces, direct views, and lend interest even when the garden is dormant.

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For a backyard that will generate buzz long after the party's ended, add a final touch that's unique to your home. Ideas include climbing vines in an eye-catching pattern, a one-of-a-kind water feature, or a pretty painted floor. Guests may never put their finger on quite what it is that sets your yard apart.

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Today's kitchen garden is a far cry from the rows of beans and corn that your grandparents knew so well. Designed as integral parts of the landscape, these attainable luxuries are sophisticated and space savvy. Raised beds and containers make the process easier, ensuring a higher rate of success for beginners. Vegetables, herbs, flowers, and fruit mingle beautifully to form this top-notch kitchen garden.

This arched garden entry, inspired by the bell carillon from First English Lutheran Church in Austin, was constructed from an eclectic mix of materials—and trinkets—including old brick, cut limestone, glass, shells, fossils, statues, marbles, and even Mr. Potato Head.

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These up-front flowers are woven into a tapestry of shrubs, roses, natives, herbs, and vines transforming the front yard of this Tudor cottage from boring to charming.

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This elegant rose garden is located on one of two terraces carved into a South-facing bank of the Tenessee River. Its location provides fertile ground for growing roses, perennials, vines, vegetables, and fruits.

An elegant potager (kitchen garden) with an intricate knot of clipped boxwoods in its center acts as a focal point for the garden. At the end of this terrace rests a paved sitting area surrounding a fire pit. What better place to sip a glass of wine as the amber light from the setting sun ignites the riverside trees?

A proper upbringing is one way to describe garden design tradition in Virginia. Its symmetrically planned allées and vista views have a pedigree back to the ancients. Who can argue with several millennia of success or Jefferson's own lasting local touch?

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Massive boxwoods more than 100 years old act as the backbone to this breathtaking garden, while a geometric boxwood parterre lines the lower terrace.

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An Atlanta couple and their son team up to build a multifaceted garden that's rooted to the house. Each outdoor area links to a room in the house, bringing the outside in.

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This farmhouse swimming pool sits above a circular lawn surrounded by perennial beds. A bluestone terrace off the pool is shaded by a pergola.