Frame & Flora

A garden that weaves together the beauty of "frames" and "flora" — like an outdoor artwork where modern lines and structures (Frame) highlight and celebrate the elegance of plants (Flora).

The brief

The owners had just retired and wanted a garden to look at as much as to use. The house had a large glass living room facing the courtyard, so whatever sat outside that glass would be seen all day.

Design approach

We designed the courtyard as a series of views from inside the house. Slim black steel frames and planters mark out each composition — a multi-stem tree here, a drift of flowering perennials there — so the planting reads like a set of framed pictures.

A gravel terrace with a dining table sits right outside the glass, so the step from indoors to outdoors is almost invisible.

The result

The courtyard changes through the seasons without losing its structure: when the flowers fade, the frames and trees still hold the composition together. It is a garden meant to be watched slowly.