Steve and wife Connie are an important part of the Garden Walk Buffalo committee, having served for many years. They also volunteer the days of Garden Walk to answer questions for visitors. They're also Parkside residents and participate in the Parkside Garden Tour each year. Parkside is an area of Buffalo, by Olmsted's Delaware Park, filled with gracious homes and neighborly, very walkable streets. I enjoy visiting their yard each year because Steve's always adding "ideas" to his garden. He's got a great selection of plants, all healthy as all get out, but I like his simple and dramatic ideas he adds to the garden.
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| From the back. |
Here, he started with the need for defining an area to spend some time in the yard. They don't have a large family, they don't throw parties (always a consideration for myself) and just needed to carve out a small area to sit and enjoy the weather, a book, or a drink (and no doubt a cigarette break for Connie).
In their yard, where it's not planted garden, it's all driveway. Not having the space (or budget) to add a patio, he defined the area with an exterior carpet. For a bit of privacy from neighbors (you can see how the neighbor's back porch looks over Steve & Connie's yard) Steve built this very simple structure and hung outdoor fabric curtains. Nominal costs, and an afternoon of labor. And the entire patio can be folded up and stored for the winter, so the cars can easily get to the garage. That's a thing in urban settings in the northeast - driveways become patios in the summertime.
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| Some of Steve's immaculately curated gardens. |
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| Wider view. Lucky neighbors get to overlook such a pretty garden without having to do any of the work. |
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| Steve's answer to the awkward space between his and his neighbor's garages. |
Well manicured indeed. Lovely garden spaces. The little patio is nice. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteCharming garden, and lots of good ideas here on carving out a small sitting space and getting some privacy.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful garden. I really like how the curtains give it an outdoor room look.
ReplyDeleteWould you look at the edging on their grass. They put mine to shame. LOL!
A really pretty Parkside garden with loads of great ideas.
ReplyDeleteWow! This is so cute, I'm going to save these in my "idea" file.
ReplyDeleteI like the serpentine curves of the little strip of lawn. I don't often see the green stuff have that much character. My driveway with its 30-degree slope would never be mistaken for a patio. Fortunately there's a real patio out back...
ReplyDeleteJames,
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's a silly little strip of grass, so well manicured. It almost seems to not be worth the effort -- a stone path would be less work. But I think it does add something unique to this tiny garden.