In the heart of Falls Church City, the clients wanted to borrow inspiration from their favorite gardens across Japan to bring a sense of calm and relaxation into their small backyard patio. We opted for native plants as much as possible and leaned into a minimal color palette to bring contrast and light into the shade garden. Rain water tends to collect in the garden beds surrounding the patio so it was important to consider plants that will thrive in those unique conditions.
Before
The clients had installed a bike port in the previous year but wanted a climbing plant to provide screening on that area. Since we were leaning into a Japanese style garden, we chose native wisteria which is a beautiful climber and less damaging to exteriors than the invasive Asian wisteria.
The native varietal of wisteria grows slower than its cousins from Asia therefore posing less risk to damaging structures as it climbs higher. The foliage and blooms will provide seasonal interest during the late spring, early summer that pairs well with the japanese inspiration throughout the garden. As the wisteria continues to mature throughout the years, the bike shed will become more obscured, lending to the calm, enclosed nature of the patio.
We chose the perennial phlox ‘may breeze’ for groundcover to surround the seating area. The white blooms come out in late April and last through the end of May. Their green foliage will continue to sprawl in the beds and provide a lush carpet to suppress weeds.
Shade gardens can be difficult as many popular garden plants are harder to grow in full shade but I love ferns whenever possible since they thrive in lower light conditions. We chose christmas and maidenhair ferns to add texture and a variety of green color. Planted as bareroots, these will continue to grow and spread throughout the space in the coming years.
After
Considering the limited space, it was important to utilize asymmetry to give the impression of a larger space given the 200 sq ft site size. Positioning the hydrangeas and wisteria across the diagonal sightline of the space, draws the eye back into the space rather than extending outward to the surrounding houses and busy suburban life.
The clients love to cook and spend time in the kitchen so I wanted to create a lush frame around their kitchen bay window that overlooks the patio garden. To achieve this look, I chose a varietal of hydrangea from Japan, the zebra. Known for its dark foliage and contrasting white blossoms, these hydrangeas serve as the keystone plants in the backyard space. Carefully set around the bay window overlooking the patio from the kitchen, the deep green leaves envelope the viewer, beckoning them to the garden.
During the garden design proposal process, we discussed how to minimize cost for this plant installation. I recommended choosing bareroot and smaller sized options from the nursery to save money since the clients were comfortable waiting a year or two for the garden to fill in. If you’re not looking for an instant gratification installation and have patience, smaller plantings and bareroots have the ability to fully establish in the garden as they grow in. You can expect minimal impact at the beginning but get wow factor after only one year!
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