Remember when gardens were outdoors instead of on Instagram?
I spent a couple of hours on the sofa flipping through photos (#itsajob), the modern way to travel around the world to look at beautiful gardens and houseplant collections, and came up with a bunch of ideas we should be stealing for own gardens.
From the always inspiring @haarkon, (199,000 followers is not an accident) comes this advice: Pick houseplants with foliage that complements the colors in nearby fabrics.
Glossy Greenery
Flowering Saxifraga and coral bells, potted by @mettekrull. For some reason, tropical plants are most likely to be treated as houseplant.
Perennials in Pots
Black Facades
The Soot House in Maine, which sculptor turned builder Anthony Esteves built from scratch, is painted with a Japanese-style fermented paint that Esteves makes out of soot as well as water and persimmon.
Photograph by Greta Rybus (@gretarybus).
Garden designer Miranda Brooks’s winter-flowering branches evoke spring on her Brooklyn mantel. Feathery witch hazel branches flower in late winter, when you need them most.
Winter Flowers
Foraged branches from nettle tree are transformed into a voluptuous floral arrangement by LA-based florist Sophia Moreno-Bunge of Isa Isa Floral.
Foraged Florals
Photograph via @wafflesoph.
Oversize foliage, ferns, and fronds are a dramatic foil for a tailored, controlled landscape. If you live in a warm climate, see our design guides for Tropical Plants 101, including Palms, Tree Ferns, or Proteas.
A magical tropical landscape for Palihouse in Los Angeles, created by landscape architects Terremoto.LA (photograph via @Terremoto_LA).
Tropical Backdrops
A UK-based garden designer visits Dallas and discovers a soft-textured Carex grass that “doesn’t need much water and doesn’t need to be cut.” See more at @lucianogiubbileigardens.
No-Mow Lawns
For alternatives to turf grass, see Fields of Green: 5 Favorite Lawn Substitutes and Hardscaping 101: Ground Covers to Plant Between Pavers.
Smudged Outlines
Branches of smoke bush create a hazy, cloudy atmosphere in a floral arrangement by Tokyo-based florist Iki Yukari at the Little Shop of Flowers.
Layered Color
Foliage can create colorful layers in a landscape, as evidenced by the Japanese maples in this Tokyo garden, captured by designers @roman_and_williams_.
Secret Spots
We’ve long been admirers of Maria Dremo Sundström’s own garden in Sweden and her discoveries on @mariapaalmbacken. Here is a greenhouse in Tvååker, Sweden, where owner Viktora Johansson and her partner, Marie Emilsson, offer workshops and tours via their Trip2Garden site.