52 Landscaping Ideas for a Stunning Backyard

Paul Costello

Garden Shed

A living archway frames the pathway to Rebecca Vizard's vegetable garden. A post office in Seaside, Florida, inspired the design of the petite shed.

Ngoc Minh Ngo

Dining Area

Landscape designer Lisa Bynon turned her vegetable garden in Southampton, New York, into a dreamy outdoor dining area complete with a 10-foot-long table and a cedar deer fence.

Charles Mayer/Courtesy of Edmund Hollander

Lavender Border

A garden with a plan provides both beauty and elegance, says landscape architect Edmund Hollander. Here, straight run of bluestone pavers reinforces property lines, and lavender borders focus the eye.

Laura Resen

Modern Courtyard

Thin trees shade a 1960s home's walled retreat. Elizabeth Kennedy and Ray Booth brought the interior's sleek style outdoors by adding all-weather chairs and row of lanterns.

Thomas Loof

Cozy Porch

This Nashville house designed by Markham Roberts comes with a stunning patio ceiling painted in Benjamin Moore Aura in Black Knight and is surrounded by thick, tall bushes to create backyard privacy.

Trevor Tondro

Heated Furniture

Chloe Warner kept a California home's landscaping simple: "We did nothing more than set up areas for dining and entertaining." A Galanter & Jones heated love seat by the door entices party guests "to spill out onto the patio on cool evenings."

Natipernavigare

Flower-Covered Pergola

At a French-inspired cottage, wisteria shades a poolside grouping of bistro chairs. Très chic!

Victoria Pearson

Potted Citrus

Add ambiance to an outdoor dining area with a group of topiaries. Monica Bhargava frequently uses her greenery-lined terrace for al fresco dinners.

Charles Mayer/Courtesy of Edmund Hollander

Hydrangea Wall

Privacy creates a sense of place, says Hollander. Here, rows of hydrangeas and white-flowered salvias buffer noise and highlight an enchanting fountain.

James Merrell

Fire Pit

Between the fire pit and floating dock, it tough to choose where to relax at Thom Filicia's sophisticated lake house.

Charles Mayer/Courtesy of Edmund Hollander

Rose Garden

Limiting yourself to one type of flower saves on yard work in the long run. For a client who really loves roses, Edmund Hollander planted some 250 English grandifloras.

Charles Mayer/ Courtesy of Edmund Hollander

Shaded Patio

Hollander built an outdoor "dining room" by planting six plane trees. They create shade during the day, and at night, they're strung with lights.

Björn Wallander

Garden Fountain

A weeping willow hovers over the water feature outside of Jill Sharp Weeks' Charleston rental. She replanted the beds and brought in furniture to create the private paradise.

J. Savage Gibson

Ivy-Covered Walls

A brand-new South Carolina house looks older than its years thanks to a mature palmetto tree. Fig ivy softens the surrounding brick wall, cozying up Michelle' Prentice's hang-out spot.

Charles Mayer/Courtesy of Edmund Hollander

Offset Pavers

Think of your garden as an organized procession, advises Hollander. Stone steps and offset pavers provide structure and allow the garden to reveal itself in an interesting way.

Victoria Pearson

Orange Grove

A vacation home blends right into its Ojai Valley location with a backyard orange grove. The sweet-smelling orchard even inspired the interior's color palette.

Victoria Pearson

Cypress Trees

Towering cypresses at a Corona del Mar house are reminiscent of a Tuscan landscape.

<p>"It's not just the inside of your house that deserves stylish touches. Celebrate your arrival by rolling out the red carpet for yourself — or at least a pair of oversize planters." —Bunny Williams</p>

Max Kim-Bee

Driveway Planters

"It's not just the inside of your house that deserves stylish touches," says Bunny Williams. "Celebrate your arrival by rolling out the red carpet for yourself — or at least a pair of oversize planters."

Victoria Pearson

Sculpted Hedges

At this Corona del Mar house, landscape designer Margaret Carole McElwee created a garden lush with boxwood hedges, lavender, ficus and cypress.

Eric Piasecki

Square Walkway

Orderly stepping stones lead across a Florida home's lawn to the dining pavilion.

Chuck Baker

Romantic Vines

Vietnamese urns from East Hampton Gardens frame the view at designer Jill Morris's New Jersey house. The pergola at the far end is covered in two quick-growing vines, Dutchman's Pipe, on the left, planted by Morris's companion, Chuck Baker, and Fiveleaf Akebia (also known as a chocolate vine), planted by Morris.

Christopher Baker

Victorian Gazebo

Voluptuous 50-year-old wisteria vines drape a Victorian wire gazebo outside of a New York house designed by Robin Bell, with the assistance of landscape designer Deborah Nevins and architect Stephen Potters.

Jonny Valiant

East Coast Landscape

Clipped boxwood and a tall privet hedge give structure to designer Gregory Shano's Hamptons garden.

Eric Piasecki

Manicured Garden Levels

Ellin Goetz designed the graduated landscape for this Naples, Florida, home.

Francesco Lagnese

English Garden

For a garden outside of her Hamptons cottage, designer Podge Bune chose traditional roses and hedges.

Anne Schlechter

Garden Wall

A stucco garden wall fringed with climbing roses opens onto a Virginia home's pool.

Melanie Acevedo

Climbing Vines

Large leafy plants make an eye-catching garden by the front door of an upstate New York house.

Simon Watson

Rural French Style

In the Cloister Garden of William Christie's 16th-century French countryside estate, the classic rose Katharina Zeimet stands out among the formal hedges.

Amy Neunsinger

Hedge Wall

A wall of greenery makes a lush backdrop for this conversation space in a stately Los Angeles home.

Jeremy Samuelson

Indigenous Landscaping

Designer Jay Griffith's signature landscaping style — indigenous plants, few flowers and sculptural planting design—is in full effect in the backyard of a Pacific Palisades, California, home. The one-acre property has only nine kinds of plants.