Patricia Michael, MFA
Landscape Designer and Permaculture Consultant


Formal Backyard Garden

The owner's back yard was uninspiring. Patricia installed a formal garden containing numerous varieties of plant species in a series of beds, a pond and a custom-built outdoor barbecue. The requirements included low maintenance. These shots were taken two months after installation; the garden had received only one hour of pruning and weeding. It is watered by drip irrigation which is adjusted individually for each bed of food, native plants, orchard, dryland and blooming plants. The landscape abuts wildland in the back.
 
Before
Spotty lawn.
 		 Old greenhouse.
 
After – New installation after two months of growth.
View across the formal garden to outdoor cooking, eating and visiting area.
 
Path between orchard and formal garden beds. Raised beds for kitchen garden in the back. Bird feeder in Courtyard of the Birds.
 
One of the dryland garden beds.
 
Native plant garden bed. Walkways are designed wide enough to encourage plants to grow over. This reduces maintenance, and the edges look soft and graceful.
 
Another dryland garden bed with some featured rocks from the owner's rock collection.
 
Formal dining area. In the background is a 15 x 20-foot trellis that screens the garden from the next-door neighbor. Morning glories are the first-year vine cover. Evergreen vines will take one or two years to cover the trellis.
 
View across herb and rose beds in the formal garden to new greenhouse in background.
 
View across pond to barbecue smoker.
 
Custom-designed barbecue smoker made from Hill Country rock. It has a stainless-steel counter top and hand-wrought iron doors and hardware.
 

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