Suburban Transitional 
Private Garden – Hinsdale, Illinois

The clients for this traditional home wanted to take the landscape in a more modern direction.  The existing front yard posed a challenge with a significant slope from one side to the next.  To create the feeling of a more uniform lawn panel, the surrounding beds were given an abrupt slope down to the public sidewalk.  New ornamental grasses are planted along the slope, creating an interior lawn space with a garden bench.  The front entry walk was highlighted with bluestone slab steps and complementary bluestone plinths.   A stone path is carried down through the parkway to create access for guests that park on the street.  The granite driveway entrance now feels softer and more integrated with the garden.  Globe boxwood and Annabelle hydrangea provide structure, and mixed grass and perennial borders offer soft seasonality.

The rear yard also had some grading obstacles with the pitch sloping towards the house.  A retaining wall was added to maintain the higher grade for the new lawn, and lawn steps transition down to a bluestone terrace for entertaining.  The old pergola was taken down, and the concrete pavers were replaced with bluestone paving, a dining area, and lounge seating.  Bluestone steppers along the lawn panel lead to an antique granite slab firepit.  A new gravel path with stone slabs creates access along the north yard; new fencing and European hornbeams were incorporated to provide privacy from the neighbor’s driveway.

Before

Before