Patio of the Week
Landscape Design
Urban Gardens
Patio of the Week: Fallen Leaves Inspire a Standout Water Feature
A designer blends traditional and contemporary elements to create an urban backyard that’s restful and inviting
It’s easy to talk about the challenges of designing a small urban garden, with everything from noisy surroundings to compacted soil and close neighbors posing design obstacles. Add to that creating a space that feels fresh and contemporary but still relates to the traditional architecture often found in old cities. What can be more fun, though, is seeing what creativity results from those difficulties, as was the case with this backyard makeover in Toronto.
Before: The backyard hadn’t been updated in more than 30 years. “The old garden was probably quite nice when it was originally done,” Fox-Whyte says. “It was just tired and overgrown.” A mature honey locust tree, a central element to the yard, had outgrown its planting bed and had caused the brick paving to heave.
After: A path of locally quarried Algonquin limestone pavers cuts through the yard to a dining area and detached garage at the back of the yard. “It is a nice neutral buff color,” Fox-Whyte says of the material. “We use it frequently because it has a warm undertone,” which she says can help warm up contemporary designs. The pavers are sandblasted for added traction.
Pea gravel (one-quarter-inch crushed limestone) is used throughout the yard, softening the space and making it feel more expansive by creating continuity. It also limits what’s going on in the ground plane, keeping the space uncluttered and quiet.
Cochran Chaise Lounge: Andrea Cochran for Landscape Forms
Pea gravel (one-quarter-inch crushed limestone) is used throughout the yard, softening the space and making it feel more expansive by creating continuity. It also limits what’s going on in the ground plane, keeping the space uncluttered and quiet.
Cochran Chaise Lounge: Andrea Cochran for Landscape Forms
The path ends at a new freestanding water feature, which visually anchors the backyard and helps block ambient noise from the surrounding urban neighborhood. Water runs along three sandblasted limestone slabs held in place with a clip system. The water hits a limestone splash pad at the bottom, creating a soothing splattering sound. The fountain sits on the backyard’s central axis, adding a classic and formal feel to the garden. In contrast, the fountain’s shape, color and pattern are more contemporary.
Looking closer, you see that the pattern on the panels is actually impressions shaped like honey locust leaves. The design team added this as a nod to the mature honey locust in the yard and to give the water an attractive texture when it runs down the panels.
To create the effect, the designers drafted a 1:1 scale CAD drawing of the leaves in the arrangement that they wanted on the stone. From there, a contractor hand-sandblasted the pattern into the stone on-site. He sandblasted the leaves at two depths, as indicated in the drawing. “A lot of thought and detail went into it,” Fox-Whyte says.
To create the effect, the designers drafted a 1:1 scale CAD drawing of the leaves in the arrangement that they wanted on the stone. From there, a contractor hand-sandblasted the pattern into the stone on-site. He sandblasted the leaves at two depths, as indicated in the drawing. “A lot of thought and detail went into it,” Fox-Whyte says.
The dining area at the back of the yard sits on the same limestone used for the path and water feature, here as smaller bricks laid in a herringbone pattern. The designers chose this pattern as a formal garden nod but used a longer, narrower brick to update it.
Most of the paving sits on a concrete base. Closer to the honey locust tree the bricks are dry laid (seen in the foreground in front of the planting bed) and don’t have a framed edge. This protects the tree’s roots, which were much more extensive than the designers had anticipated, and also prevents any cracking or breakdown of the paving. It’s also another move that makes the design feel less rigid and more contemporary.
Nodi dining chair: Yabu Pushelberg for Tribu
Most of the paving sits on a concrete base. Closer to the honey locust tree the bricks are dry laid (seen in the foreground in front of the planting bed) and don’t have a framed edge. This protects the tree’s roots, which were much more extensive than the designers had anticipated, and also prevents any cracking or breakdown of the paving. It’s also another move that makes the design feel less rigid and more contemporary.
Nodi dining chair: Yabu Pushelberg for Tribu
A new perimeter fence surrounds the yard, with a European beech (Fagus sylvatica) hedge growing in front. The hedge softens the yard’s edges and creates the effect of a living wall — and it also creates more privacy between neighbors, as it’s allowed to grow above fence height restrictions.
Fox-Whyte says they like to use dark-colored fences in smaller gardens (in this case Iron Mountain by Benjamin Moore) as they visually recede, blurring the perimeter and making the space appear larger. The dark color is also more contemporary and helps make the clipped beech hedge pop. The designers maintained the fence’s traditional style, per the request of the homeowners, as it’s shared with the neighbors.
The design team also preserved a 30-year-old wisteria growing along the back of the house, shown here on the left. A new eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) grows opposite the wisteria.
Fox-Whyte says they like to use dark-colored fences in smaller gardens (in this case Iron Mountain by Benjamin Moore) as they visually recede, blurring the perimeter and making the space appear larger. The dark color is also more contemporary and helps make the clipped beech hedge pop. The designers maintained the fence’s traditional style, per the request of the homeowners, as it’s shared with the neighbors.
The design team also preserved a 30-year-old wisteria growing along the back of the house, shown here on the left. A new eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) grows opposite the wisteria.
Two freestanding planters sit atop solid Algonquin limestone plinths. These two low-fired terra-cotta planters are 100-year-old family heirlooms that came with the garden. “The layout of the garden was designed to highlight the planters,” Fox-Whyte says. “The planters also act as anchors to the two main functional spaces in the garden.” They’re offset from each other to draw guests out into the garden and to keep the space from feeling too formal.
The planters were restored before being placed back in the garden, with the restorers replacing broken cherubs and filling cracks. They also lined and reinforced the pots. In colder months the pots are replaced with ones that won’t crack in Toronto’s freezing temperatures. Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum var. pictum) grows in the planters.
An outdoor kitchen next to the house features a built-in grill and warming drawers. Powder-coated stainless steel cabinets blend in with the fence, with openings in the cabinets breaking up the mass of the island and allowing views of foliage to show through. The countertops are a porcelain product called Laminam in a finish (Calce-Avorio) meant to resemble concrete and wet plaster.
Planting beds feature a mixture of plants that tolerate the shade cast by the honey locust tree and give the clients color during the year — especially in the “shoulder” seasons before and after summer.
Here we see lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina), Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum var. pictum), Canadian wild ginger (Asarum canadense), pink false spirea (Astilbe x arendsii ‘Cattleya’), sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum), Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra) and coral bells (Heuchera ‘Silver Gumdrop’).
How to Design a Beautiful Shade Garden
Here we see lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina), Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum var. pictum), Canadian wild ginger (Asarum canadense), pink false spirea (Astilbe x arendsii ‘Cattleya’), sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum), Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra) and coral bells (Heuchera ‘Silver Gumdrop’).
How to Design a Beautiful Shade Garden
In another view of the planting beds we see more lady fern, Japanese painted fern, wild ginger and sweet woodruff.
These beds demonstrate matrix planting, a planting method meant to emulate how plants would naturally grow in the wild — layered, mixed and tightly spaced — resulting in a lovely wild look that’s often less maintenance. “We’re not having to mulch our gardens anymore because the ground covers act as a natural mulch layer,” Fox-Whyte says.
They planted in a loose wave pattern, with bands of plants extending between the beds to create continuity and tie the space together.
These beds demonstrate matrix planting, a planting method meant to emulate how plants would naturally grow in the wild — layered, mixed and tightly spaced — resulting in a lovely wild look that’s often less maintenance. “We’re not having to mulch our gardens anymore because the ground covers act as a natural mulch layer,” Fox-Whyte says.
They planted in a loose wave pattern, with bands of plants extending between the beds to create continuity and tie the space together.
Landscape lighting: Moonstruck Lighting
Custom grill: Garden Living
Water feature: Bonna Vista Pools
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Custom grill: Garden Living
Water feature: Bonna Vista Pools
More on Houzz
Browse thousands of patio photos
Hire a landscape contractor
Shop for your outdoor spaces
Patio at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple who has owned the property for 30 years
Location: The Annex neighborhood of Toronto
Size: 988 square feet (92 square meters); 38 feet long and 26 feet wide, not including the garage
Designer: Fox Whyte Landscape Architecture & Design
Landscape contractor: Arbordale Landscaping
The homeowners wanted a backyard where they could read, entertain and work outside. With their window-filled house overlooking the yard, it was important that they would also be able to enjoy the design from inside. “It’s a visual focal point for the house,” landscape architect Kate Fox-Whyte says.
To make the space appear larger (and allow the homeowners to admire the house when they sit in the garden), the design team broke the space into multiple seating areas and pulled them into the middle of the yard. “There is a tendency to keep functional spaces tight to the house. Whenever possible, we like to bring the functional spaces out into the garden so that the client is using the entire garden,” Fox-Whyte says.
The designers aimed to balance the home’s traditional architecture with a more contemporary backyard design. By placing some of the design elements along a central axis and using materials and patterns often seen in formal gardens, the designers were also able to incorporate contemporary elements — furniture, water feature and paint colors — without making the garden feel out of place.
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