Balancing Act
A plain-Jane front yard is transformed with a central parking court and paired with trees and shrubs
Many people fear that a symmetrical arrangement – whether of plants or furniture – will automatically make a garden or room feel formal or stodgy. Landscape architect Mary Palmer Dargan proves how irrational these fears are in the front yard of [a] house in Derham Springs, Louisiana. Although her plan calls for perfectly balanced parking court (“Symmetrical houses usually need symmetrical designs,†she says), and three pairs of matching trees, there is nothing stiff about the trees she chose. ‘Cathedral’ live oaks shade the front of the house, and in the spring, the pink-tinged white blossoms of yoshino cherries brighten the parking court. “Aesthetically and environmentally, it’s always important to break up a parking court with trees,†says Dargan about the expanse of paving that measure 26 feet long by 55-feet wide. “But practically, they also shade the cars.†A low hedge of box acts as a curb. Around the sides, to shield cars from neighbors, Dargan specifies a mix of shrubs: tea olive, wax myrtle, and indica azaleas. She would plant gardenias near the street because “their fragrance is a nice neighborly gesture.â€
Source:
(House Beautiful Magazine, November 2005 Issue)