Mid-Century Landscape Makeover - Ludington, MI

This client in Ludington, Michigan saw some of our recent mid-century projects online and reached out to us for a design for their 1960 ranch home. As with most of our designs outside of Wisconsin, the client provided us with the measurements and photos that we needed in order to produce the base plan for their home and property. This task was made easier by the guide that we send to all of our virtual clients.

For the front and sides of the home, we were only designing new plantings as the existing front walk and steps were in good condition. With our design we wanted to highlight the unique stone wall that jutted out from the home's facade. This was accomplished with Karl Foerster ornamental grasses in a bed of beach pebbles. On the side of the home facing the street, we made sure to keep the plantings low to not block the floor to ceiling windows. Since there was a blank wall in between the large windows, we design a zen garden of slate chip and specimen boulders to make that space more interesting. Spots of color were placed throughout via long blooming perennials and flowering shrubs.

With the backyard, we had a blank slate as there was no existing patio. Our client did not need a large patio and the shallow backyard limited our design of the space. To break with the linear/angled theme for the balance of the landscape, we designed a half circle, concrete patio with an offset circle bed for an ornamental tree along the edge. This bed was filled with the same beach pebbles that were used in the front yard. Since our client's backyard faced a neighbor's side yard, we used Karl Foerster grasses and pyramidal boxwoods as privacy plantings around the edge of the patio. The rest of the plant palette coordinated with the front plantings of flowering shrubs and long-blooming perennials.

This project was installed in the summer of 2024 so check back for photos.