Southwestern Landscape - Cedarburg, WI

2015 Silver Award for Excellence in Residential Landscape Design and Construction - Wisconsin Landscape Contractors Association

As collectors of southwestern art and gallery owners, our clients desired a similar yet contemporary flavor for their Wisconsin ranch home landscape. An unused swimming pool was eating up a lot of the backyard space and its removal was the impetus for the project. With room to entertain as another of our client’s criteria, our design offers a large dining area off of the main back door with cedar pergola overhead, a separate conversation space with seat walls, and a sunken fire pit patio. Our clients are not into lawn, so we were allowed to design the space with minimal turf area - just enough for their small dog to play on within the backyard proper. An overtly southwestern design was not our goal; yet the landscape is influenced by this style by means of the acid-stained concrete patio and the adobe art wall at the garden gate. Both the plant and hardscape color palette were chosen to reflect a southwestern sensibility, and the over-sized pergola timbers reinforce this ideal. Surrounding the patio are Wisconsin-hardy perennials and ornamental grasses chosen to mimic the forms, textures, and colors of southwestern plants. A fence was required for the dog; we specified a black-finish chain link around the perimeter of the backyard. The color of the fence disappears into the surrounding landscape and is hardly noticed. Now our client has a beautiful space that is prized for its artistic form and visual detail.