anyone else ready to bust out the patio chairs? It’s finally starting to feel a bit like spring, and to celebrate we are featuring inspiring garden shots from the new book: Architectural Gardens: inside the Landscapes of Lucas & Lucas, a portfolio of 10 lushly illustrated residential landscape projects in California’s wine country.
Designed by husband-and-wife duo Mike and Jennifer Lucas, each of the projects addresses the connections between home and land and include a site plan. readers will learn how to implement features such as landscape windows, breeze-catching grasses, cascading concrete waterfalls, and trees with thoughtfully cast shadows.
Scroll down and get inspired with these stunning outdoor spaces!
Architectural gardens includes a roundup of Mike Lucas’s favorite plants — those best suited to different types of properties and for different purposes (like drought tolerance or fast growth). The featured projects will appeal to garden designers, landscape architects, landscape contractors, architects, and home builders, as well as home gardeners looking for inspiration.
Put on your sunscreen and get ready for a tour of some sublime outdoor spaces, plus get tips for your own outdoor oasis!
Make the Walkways Wide
When Mike first encountered this hilltop estate just outside Santa Rosa, California, tall hedges blocked views of the surrounding hills. now the pathway from the driveway to the front door is fully paved with enough room for two people to walk on comfortably, side by side. The native basalt variety he chose has a variegated finish that coordinates with the mottled bark of the oak trees. He also chose basalt paving for a majority of the walkways and patios throughout the landscape. “I was careful to keep the material palette simple and understated,” says Mike.
Photographer: Caitlin Atkinson
Plot Focal Points
An old pear orchard had once stood in this Sonoma, California property, but it was overgrown and dilapidated and ringed with barbed-wire fences throughout the site. Mike’s design team found inspiration in the local mission San Francisco Solano, where courtyard walls provide refuge from the elements. The homeowners and designers also incorporated aspects of the mission’s spare aesthetic into the home’s design. Architectural elements such as the tower, courtyard walls, and shade structure, punctuate the otherwise flat site. “These features create focal points for outdoor entryways and spaces to entertain,” says Mike. “Trees were the only vertical visual elements on the otherwise flat site.”
Photographer: Marion Brenner Photography
Frame A View
Due to regular afternoon winds and the noise of a nearby road, the client desired an enclosed space for dining, mingling, and cooking outdoors. To maintain a visual connection between the courtyard space and the landscape, windows and doors were punched through the walls to frame views; old-fashioned rolling shutters are deployed when the winds get too intense. To allow for large windows, the wall height was set at eight feet, which provided enough space around the window for structural support.
Photographer: Marion Brenner Photography
Carve Out seating Areas
Most of the seating and dining areas are tucked under the covered breezeway, and a few smaller seating areas are placed around the pool to capture some of the most stunning views.
Photographer: Marion Brenner Photography
Protect Veggies From Critters
For this 10-acre residence near downtown Sonoma, California, Mike developed a garden that would serve as a home base for a couple from Texas (although originally from Canada), who wanted to retire in an area known for its food and wine culture. “The owners fell in love with this big flat property because of the open sky and prairie-liKe føler som minnet dem om hvor de vokste opp i Canada, sier Mike. Et tre-og-wire gjerde holder kaniner og andre critters ut av hagen, som er fylt med grønnsaker og blomster og er koblet til en liten frukthage av frukttrær som strekker seg inn i vingården av produktive vinranker.
Fotograf: Caitlin Atkinson
Velg en Punchy Accent Plant
Et tradisjonelt to-etasjes hus med masse sjarm ble plassert på denne eiendommen i Healdsburg, California, men hagen forlot mye å være ønsket. Heldigvis så villaeiere utover forfallende trebeholdende vegger, et aldrende basseng, rotting epletrær og en døende eik. Mikes største utfordring var å skape en hageplan basert på eiers ambisiøse ønskeliste: en garasje, et kunststudio, en kjøkkenhage, et bassenghus, en bocce-domstol, et utendørs kjøkken og spisestue med peis, et oppdatert basseng , så vel som en overflod av planter. The Wraparound veranda går ned til landskapet i flere retninger for enkel tilgang til utendørs underholdende rom. Sorbet-farget roser legger til livsstil til en ellers monokromatisk palett.
Fotograf: Marion Brenner Photography
Legg til varme med en brannfunksjon
En sti rundt huset åpner opp til et utendørs kjøkken og spisestue utstyrt med en bred peis. Oppreist sycamore trær ble valgt for sin raske vekst; Et eksisterende Apple Tree har utsikt over rosa roser som legger til en fargefarge.
Fotograf: Marion Brenner Photography
Skape dybde med hardcaping
Denne banen kobler bakgården og bakgården, så vel som grønnsakshagen og huset. Det var ingen naturlig utsikt fra hagen, så naturen langs denne banen var helt konstruert gjennom bruk av landskapsstrukturer, planter og belegg.
Fotograf: Marion Brenner Photography
Bruk resterende materialer
Kjøkkenhagen senger ble bygget med ubrukt stein fra belegg og vegger. En uformell tre-og-wire trellis støtter espalier frukttrær og skiller kjøkkenhagen fra resten av hagen. Eiernes kunststudio, som er koblet til garasjen, er synlig utover de hevede sengene.
Fotograf: Cesar Rubio
Bruk vinranker for å myke strukturer
Under en tårnende baldakin av oliventrær, som er mer enn hundre år, er et frodig landskap med en gammeldags middelhavsfølelse som omgir et fransk landlig hjem. En pergola dekket i frodige vinranker rammer inngangsdøren for å fullføre eventyreffekten.
Fotograf: Caitlin Atkinson
Legg til tekstur gjennom plantinger
Mike unngikk å introdusere for mye farge i nærliggende plantinger for å opprettholde en følelse av ro, men i dette tilfellet injiserer bladene av plantene og busken.
Fotograf: Caitlin Atkinson