There’s plenty of space for pets and people. If you think a pet-friendly landscape means a backyard with a patchy brown lawn and few interesting plants, you’re wrong. This cleverly designed property is an eye-catcher for human occupants and offers practical elements to keep your four-legged occupants happy, too. Have you ever dreamed of growing a garden full of climatically out-of-reach plants? We bet you have. Although I live in humid, subtropical North Carolina, I often find myself wishing I could fill my beds with shade plants native to the cool marine conditions of the Pacific Northwest. But gardeners are dreamers, and we do all we can to create the landscapes we want, despite the challenges of reality. When I met Rod and Melissa, I learned they were garden dreamers, too. The couple had recently moved from Los Angeles to Charlotte with their two Australian shepherds and a herding dog, and they wanted to create a lush, Seattle-like garden filled with Japanese maples, conifers, and ferns. Their home was a sunken structure, common in big cities across the country. The lot is just a half-acre in size. It sits lower than the house behind it, so there’s little privacy. The resulting fishbowl feel was uncomfortable for the homeowners and their dogs, whose previous West Coast home abutted a nature preserve. A local landscaper was initially hired to level the slope with retaining walls, build bluestone terraces, and plant evergreens that would finally bring much-needed privacy and softness to the harsh landscape. A lawn was also planted, but the three energetic dogs quickly turned it into a muddy desert. At this point, the homeowners contacted me: they had seen photos of my design work and felt that my Pacific Northwest-meets-Southeastern aesthetic was a perfect fit for their property dreams, and so began a multi-phase, decade-long collaboration to transform an overexposed urban lot into a magical oasis with plenty of pet-friendly details.
Making a small space seem bigger for the entire family:
This multi-purpose garden is just half an acre in size, but despite its small footprint, it offers a lot: exaggerated sight lines help to lengthen the space, and specific design details ensure that this garden is brimming with recreational opportunities (for both humans and dogs).
- Terrace
- Outdoor kitchen
- Horizontal privacy fence
- Pool
- Deep garden bed
- Service gate (with dog window)
- Gravel path
- Evergreen privacy screen
- Ornamental ball
- Japanese maple
