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Mid-Century Backyard Landscape - Fox Point, WI

2022 Silver Award Residential Design - Association of Professional Landscape Designers

Our clients had recently purchased a mid-century Leenhouts designed home in Fox Point, Wisconsin and the existing landscape was in need of a complete makeover. As is the case with most homes of this period, the existing landscape consisted of mostly yews and junipers. To update the design we included a simple palette of long blooming perennials and ornamental grasses as well as boxwood and flowering hydrangea among others. The concrete front walk is more welcoming now with inlaid bluestone runnels. 

The backyard conceptual landscape design was more complex than the front due to the exposed lower level. The upper main patio is triple the size of the existing patio and replicates the pattern of the window framing on the back of the home with inlaid bluestone runnels. Dry-stacked lannon stone retaining walls allow for the patio to cut into the hillside slightly. A separate fire pit deck is one step above the patio. The lower level patio is more intimate and great for a morning coffee or chilling in the hammock. Modern low voltage landscape lighting completes the design. 

Designed by James Drzewiecki, APLD and Hannah Paulson, landscape designer

Mid-Century Modern Leenhouts Landscape

Farmhouse Backyard Landscape - Hawthorn Woods, IL

Out client's home is in Hawthorn Woods, Illinois but he felt that there weren't any local landscape designers that were creative enough to design what he was looking for. Thanks to Houzz he found our portfolio and asked us if we'd be willing to work in Illinois. Their farmhouse style home was conducive to the cottage style gardens they were looking for and their goal was lots of color. The curving front walk was in great shape so we kept it intact and designed new plant beds around it. The biggest changes being the removal of some declining trees on the corner as well as the many evergreens that surrounded the foundation of the home. Even though the home was over 20 years old, we had a blank slate in the backyard as our clients had never installed a patio in all the years they had lived there. We chose patterned bluestone and brick for the paving to give the new patio an elegant touch. Our client already had a pergola kit waiting to be installed so we designed the space for it as well as a conversation set and fountain. Plant beds with long blooming perennials, ornamental grasses and flowering shrubs surround the patio space along with boxwood for evergreen color.

Designed by James Drzewiecki, CPLD

Farmhouse Landscape + Patio

Transitional Fire Ring Patio - Mequon, WI

After our clients built their new home in Mequon, Wisconsin they reached out to us for a full landscape design for their entire property. We did a comprehensive design which included hardscaping, plantings and low voltage landscape lighting. To fit with the somewhat French country architecture of the home, we suggested full range bluestone in combination with Lannon stone cobbles for all of the paved areas.

With the home being in Wisconsin, we made sure that the landscape design included plantings that would have interest in all four seasons. Long blooming perennials were included with ornamental grasses, flowering shrubs and easy to maintain evergreens. We repeat the plant varieties throughout the planting beds for continuous bloom and color. 

The backyard design includes a patio that wraps across the back of the home with separate spaces for grilling, dining and lounging. Like the front hardscapes it is paved in full range patterned bluestone with a tumbled Lannon stone border. The overall patio is centered on the screened room on the home with a square stepper path to a separate fire pit patio. For contrast the paving of the space is done in irregular patterned bluestone. Lannon outcropping stone forms a retaining wall as the circular patio is cut into the hillside. The fire pit itself is custom cut Lannon stone. Privacy plantings on the perimeter of the property along with low voltage landscape lighting completes the design.

Designed by James Drzewiecki, CPLD

Transitional New Home Landscape

Modern Backyard Patio - Mesa, AZ

This newly constructed home in Mesa, Arizona offered us a blank slate and also the opportunity for us to design with an entirely new palette of plants. After researching plants approved by the HOA and discussions with our client, we narrowed down the mix of native woody plants and succulents and set to work on the plans. For the front yard we kept the design more minimalistic, as the space was limited. The backyard is where we had some fun, splitting the area into three zones. The foreground zone is similar to the front landscape with more open space and less plants. The second zone wraps around most of the back of the property and the east side. The idea was a lusher, denser planting that helps to hide the ubiquitous concrete block privacy wall. The third zone required some buy-in from our client, as we proposed an enclosed area where a rescued desert tortoise could live. Our clients loved the idea and they are looking forward to the day that they can provide a home for this native, endangered reptile.

Designed by James Drzewiecki, CPLD and Kristin Klimaszewski, landscape designer

Modern New Home Landscape + Fire Feature

Mid-Century Front Landscape - Racine

Masterful McDonald
2019 Gold Award for Excellence in Residential Landscape Design and Construction - Wisconsin Landscape Contractors Association

2020 Silver Award Residential Design - Association of Professional Landscape Designers

Historically significant, this home was designed by architect John Randal McDonald as the second home for his family. After many years of neglect, it was in need of a major restoration which was undertaken by our clients. After completing the interior they realized they needed to turn their attention to the rest of the property.

We designed a new linear concrete walk with shifting wedge shaped panels (separated by beach pebble runnels) that mimic the roofline of the home. Some of the existing stone steps were re-used and a low, retaining wall defines the edge of the new driveway in Tennessee sandstone to match the stone on the home. The long lines of the house are mimicked by a group of autumn moor grass while mixed perennials and shrubs occupy the remaining wedge-shaped plant beds. 

To connect front yard to back, a walk-through garden of grasses and long blooming perennials was created in what was an overgrown, under-utilized space. An existing grade change allowed for this garden to be elevated above the new patio below but also required a new masonry retaining wall and steps. This wall replaced a rubble “wall” and was constructed with matching Tennessee stone and ties into an existing wing wall.

The existing patio was not pitched properly, and also had roof runoff collecting in one spot. To get proper pitch on the new concrete patio, yards of soil had to be removed from the backyard and the entire lawn re-graded. The overall shape of the patio continues the wedge shapes of the front walk. A semi-circle cut out in the new patio to pays homage to a shallow pond formed into the original patio surface. 

Wedge-shaped beds surround the patio with a focal point magnolia, and a linear group of moor flame molinia extends beyond the stone retaining wall. Beach pebbles were also used to highlight the ornamental grass groups while slate chip not only provided a contrast in some plant beds but was also used functionally under the large roof over hangs all around the house and under the cantilevered lower level. New border plantings surround the perimeter of the backyard and subtle landscape lighting completes the makeover. Happily we came in just under our client’s targeted budget of $50,000. The landscape now feels like it was designed when the home was built and reflects sensitivity to the historical importance of the home.

Designed by James Drzewiecki, CPLD


John Randal McDonald, Mid-Century - 2020

Mid-Century Backyard - Bayside, WI

Midwest Mid-Century

2022 Silver Award Residential Design - Association of Professional Landscape Designers

Our clients had already decorated the inside of their cute midcentury ranch in Bayside, WI with period correct furnishings when they contacted us. They had made an attempt at making their landscape midcentury, but in the end they knew they needed to call in for professional help. Since midcentury landscapes are our specialty, it was a perfect fit for us to work with them on renovating the entire property. The existing half circle concrete patio was in great shape, but it was surrounded by looming arborvitae that were original to the house. They were so large that the patio was essentially cut off from the rest of the backyard.

We designed all new plantings for the backyard, based on a circular theme to play off the patio geometry. We replicated the granite stone mulch our client had already used in the front yard. For the front part of the property we simply refined and adjusted what our client had already started, to create a cohesive whole between front and back. One of our favorite medium-sized projects!

Designed by James Drzewiecki, CPLD. 

Mid-Century Landscape - Bayside, WI

Mid-Century Modern Front Landscape - Fox Point, WI

Hand drawn and ink-rendered conceptual landscape design for the front yard of this mid-century modern home in Fox Point, Wisconsin. The home was designed by Abe Tannenbaum, one of Milwaukee's most prolific mid-century architects. Our client wanted to do something different than lawn around the existing front walk which consisted of concrete circles original to the home. We moved about 25% of the circles and had new ones poured to match to better connect with the half-circle driveway in front of the home. We also added a small sitting area to the right of the front door in bluestone. 

The existing masonry address wall was retained but we designed new plantings around it to carry through on the circle theme inspired by the front walk. All new plantings were designed across the front of the home, including linear groups of 'Karl Foerster' grass to emphasize the vertical elements on the home. The plantings become more natural in placement and layout on the edge of the property. New low voltage landscape lighting was also part of our design.

Designed by James Drzewiecki, CPLD and hand rendered by Hannah Paulson, landscape designer

Mid-Century Tannenbaum Landscape - Fox Point, WI

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<div class="rt-pg" style="text-align:center">At Ginkgo Leaf Studio, we believe exceptional landscape design is creating art through nature’s inspiration. This is our passion.</div><div class="rt-pg"></div>

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