GARDEN TOUR: The Bungalow Garden with the Appletini Green Door | Linda Vater

[Music] hey guys Lin Devolder here and do I have a special garden tour for you today this is the charming bungalow of my friend Marquette clay I've known Marquette for years I actually think we met kind of because of Southern Living his business partner they his business partner is a landscape architect and they were the ones that first put me in touch with Southern Living I'm 10 years ago I won't even tell you how long ago and actually this home has also been in Southern Living if I can find the link I'll try to put it up here so you could read the article and it's just it is just one of my favorite landscapes in Oklahoma City it is very close to my house so I can drive by and visit it whenever I like it started out just so bleak the entire property needed to be renovated so these guys bought this tiny little house and they recreated it from inside out and then they put this wonderful magical landscape in front of it so let me kind of show you and bring you into this property and point out some things that are just so special and so effective about it so you might want to make sure you've got a notepad and paper because I think you're going to want to copy down some of these ideas so as you approach you'll notice that the front landscape is on two different levels so from the street there's a brilliant stone walkway that leads your eye up to the front door so it creates a wonderful axis and a wonderful Vista to the brilliant focal point that is the front door now on this level you'll notice that it is very simple it's very serene but it's very good-looking with a minimum of fuss there are some of my beloved boxwood globes that that serve to kind of anchor the corner of the walkway and then as you approach the steps you'll see that there is a wall here a stone wall and by the way this same stone is what is used in the chimney of the house which I will show you a little bit later but this gives dimensionality to this entire landscape creates layering and also I think lends an importance to this tiny little house that it may not have otherwise it's just a brilliant way this layering to really emphasize the structure of the house itself so on the corner near the drive they created what I think of is just a large stone planter with the same rounded profile that echoes the boxwood it's filled with something as simple as purple heart right now and then it sits right next to and kind of clings to the driveway the gravel driveway on the east you guys know I adore gravel I love the sensuality of it the way it crunches the way it has just a wonderfully attractive humility to it I love everything about it and it perfectly speaks the same language as the bungalow and the house itself so as an appointment he has some brass lettering on the front or brass numbering I should say on the front so it can easily be identified from the street and then you'll also see up against this stone wall lots of clipped boxwood now these started to be individual boxwood as were the ones that are closer to the house and then over time they grew together and for easier maintenance they now have this kind of soft cloudlike undulating quality which is just beautiful I think very very effective here and then on the west corner you can see another raised stone planter that is just filled with various kinds of ground cover couldn't be simpler couldn't be more effective and also lends a softness and a nice gentle counterpoint to the more structured boxwood and you can see there's some wonderful Ivy climbing up the tree now one thing about this landscape is it is perfectly maintained it's a small landscape so that gives the homeowner I guess the ability to keep it really Croft and stay on top of things so that it looks good all the time and things don't get out of bounds so come on up now what I love about this front yard is it just as a perfect example of how you don't have to have a traditional lawn to make a wonderful low-maintenance for the most part landscaping statement I just love the the layering to it how effective it is and believe me when you drive by this cute little house stops you in your tracks so as you come up the stone steps you see that it's got that aged patina I so so adore it's got kind of a green Oh overlay to it which echoes all of the greens in this landscape this is in some ways even though it's got kind of a fairytale quality about it it nevertheless also has a masculine vibe because it's not real frilly it's mostly just green on green on green and that enables it to look good pretty much year-round so if you come up the steps with me let's look at some of the really interesting plant specimens that this homeowner has used to really oh just make it his own put his own personal stamp on it and I love that he's used some plants that we typically don't see in landscapes and he's used them very effectively so in this East corner over here by the fence and by the way this charming fence is not wood it's made out of a PVC like material so it doesn't require any kind of maintenance repainting year to year it just looks good and structural and frames the entire front yard just beautifully so in this corner we have what is kind of a relatively common plant but it's one of the few times that I've seen this used in Oklahoma in its perfect environment so that it's healthy it's not burnt up and it's allowed to achieve its mature size and this is just a dwarf Alberta spruce and look at how beautifully the new growth on this echoes the other colors of green in the landscape and then behind it is one of three varieties of elderberry and you wouldn't even think they were in the same family because they're each one of them is so distinctive this one has variegated foliage that is very delicate it's got kind of a roughly edge to the leaves and I'm sorry I don't know the variety but it also has an arching pendulous quality that is just beautiful and looks great against this Alberta spruce and then the three of them together this spruce the elderberry and the boxwood just provide a wonderful textural contrast in miniature just a great example of how you use textures to give you interest the garden without a lot of color so as you move towards the front door let's talk about the front door for a minute if you look you'll see that it is just this wonderful happy cheery appletini green and yes that is the actual name it's appletini green the color was suggested by my friend Rebecca who at the time was the associate garden editor at Southern Living when they came to produce the article itself and she said it just might be fun to paint it that color and sure enough it was fun it's been that color ever since and entik dudley there was a rash of appletini green front doors and garage doors and other kinds of entryways gates and such in Oklahoma City after the article came out because it's just such a happy fun color and it looks great against against the house and it just has oh I don't know that just the perfect kind of fairytale vibe okay so back to the beds I again it's all about textures here and about different colors of green so on the east side we see lots of kind of vertical projectile flow --mess that is a very bright green and it's glossy against the more matte quality of the foliage of the Green Mountain box woods but you'll also notice that that same reflective quality is picked up in these green orbs these green glass orbs now what I like about I guess the effect of the hole is that there's so much to look at but there's not too much to look at each thing can be appreciated without a lot of distraction if you look back in the corner you can see that that same spherical globular shape it's repeated in a concrete ball that is also aged and it's just tufted amongst some ground cover that is I believe a kind of speed well a blooming speed well and then there's some variegated variety back in there a combination of vertical elements and also elements that just grow laterally there is a golden succulent in there some kind of I don't know the actual name but a nuria succulent there's Venetia salvia in there there are some plum use that handle the kind of shady environment that this is and I think it's just really really beautiful and this is under planted under a beautifully brilliantly pruned yup on Holly so the entire effect is just absolutely gorgeous now Stuart if you would point the camera over to the fence again you'll see and I'll show you this from the other side you'll see the skeletal outline of a huge vine that is growing along the fence now that was a Dutchman's pipe that was there that he planted he said eight to ten years ago it died but it left this beautiful archeological remnant of this wonderful branching form that is just very organic looking it's very natural looking and he's left that in place even though he replanted another one in the other corner so on the west side let's come over here you'll see another beautiful elderberry I love the quality of the way it grows and that's been taken into account in how all of these plants have been positioned so you might want to just pause here you might want to screenshot some of this so that you can capture how all of these different textures and colors play together lots of negative space unlike my garden this has lots of negative space which really helps to frame each individual plant now in the corner he has a bottle brush shrub that's been pruned up into a small tree again an effect that I absolutely adore I don't even remember when I started doing this at my house maybe I was influenced by my friend Marquette I'm not sure but it allows for lots of light and air circulation and then imagine what it would look like if this was a shrub and growing in total foliage all the way to the ground you wouldn't be able to have this wonderful tapestry of all of these different kinds of plants growing underneath there's some spiderwort in there there's some oxalis I see some more plum use some fern some Purple Heart again just the same things that are on the other side in a very tight color palette I think most of the time I don't remember that I've ever seen anything in here that wasn't blue white kind of a chartreuse a yellow I don't ever require recall seeing any Reds any Pink's maybe I missed those years but I don't recall that again the elements on one side are repeated on this side just in a different configuration once again we see the concrete sphere we see the glass orbs and they just look beautiful and then across as a backdrop and kind of some privacy from the drive next door there's just a very common I think it's just a privet hedge that again they've kept perfectly manicured now that's the thing you guys you can you have the luxury of being able to keep your things pruned and well-maintained why because you're not keeping a lawn perfect and a lawn maintained so that liberation to take care of some of these other things that she may not have time for otherwise the other thing is most of the maintenance on these shrubs and such is done kind of seasonally and sporadically you're not a slave to a lawnmower you're not a slave to two things that just grow very quickly that you have to contend with every day and maybe ruin your weekend so you'll come up and at this point it forms a tea Stewart can you capture that how it forms a tea and then we have two different sight lines one that leads up to the front door and the other that runs perpendicular to it one side to the drive and one side to this really charming retro slider of a garden bench with a massive you next to it that grounds the corner everything feels very tucked in it feels very cozy but yet it doesn't in any way feel suffocating there's room here for everything to grow to breathe good air circulation it doesn't in any way feel claustrophobic I love the way when you walk up and down this passage here you feel very much like you're framed so this entire walkway you are framed in boxwood and it just gives a very a very secure feeling to those guests that come to visit your landscape and then I love this and this is a feature in my own house I kind of replicated this there are rounded steps rather than just square steps they're rounded steps that echo the form of the entryway and again all of the other kind of rounded forms in the plant material it's just a beautiful way to integrate the house itself to the landscape and then we have this wonderful appletini green door that is just it just I defy you to try to keep from smiling when you see this color green it's almost impossible then again on the sides there's just a replication of some of the other plants that are in the landscape there are more plum use which is a great evergreen for shade you guys and then he's got wonderful green on green in these containers this is a brilliant way if the appletini green doesn't draw your eye to the door this wonderful planter with foxtail fern and these beautiful bold leaves I don't know if this is a castor plant or what and this trailing Ivy this will definitely draw your eye to the door the other thing that these plantings do the variegation of this strappy leaf and the white fan flower the whites caviola in these wonderful pots can you get that look at the texture of those pots these are really magnificent this is a perfect example of having a few large but really statement-making containers that are worth spending money on because they look good whether they're planted or not but this kind of small white tableau here also eliminates what could be a dark space and is a brilliant contrast against all of this boxwood now the fun element to this that is just wonderful and it's just brilliant are these towering agapanthus that just I think they just look fabulous they're very very tall I don't know what variety they are and actually you guys these are just in pots you guys know how I love my container plantings and you always ask me why do I have so many well this is a perfect example of that because you can take seasonal color that may not be frost Hardy in this case and you can just plop them into place and they look as if they're growing out of the bed but there's no way you can see these are in plastic pots you can't see the pots are completely obscured by the foliage and look at the wonderful gradations of green in there the fresh new vibrant green of new foliage that picks up on the appletini green door and this Foxtel fern so you can see that this long view and how this walkway draws your eye draws your eye in both directions from the street to the appletini green door and then from the appletini green door all the way to the street and the beautiful softness of the landscaping across the street those absolutely gorgeous Hollies so that is a wonderful way to draw your eye it's a wonderful access access it's a with wonderful focal points on either end so now stuart make your way down carefully and let's head this way again these beautiful agapanthus are repeated on this side wonderful projectile verticality great layering the blossoms are up here and all of this dense foliage is below believe me there is no weeding no weeding to be done in here and in case you're interested this exposure is north so the facade of the house faces north so this area gets fairly bright light but not a not a lot of direct sunlight now this is another one of those interesting plants I was telling you about this too is an elderberry and Marquette was pointing out to me just how beautiful it looks how this deep purple foliage looks against that lavender foliage of the agapanthus and look at all those wonderful buds just getting ready to pop so follow me this way down to the drive and now let's look in this direction so this walkway that runs perpendicular to the axis that runs up to the front door leads your eye beyond the boxwood with their globular rounded shape and to the wonderful glider in the distance this is a small property but just brilliantly effective in terms of all of the plant material the way it's been laid out the brilliant use of both common things from the nursery but also uncommon things from the nursery so Stuart if you would pan over to see how that looks in the front now and how from this Vista you really get the accentuation and the punctuation of those agapanthus now this is a really really fun thing I absolutely adore this effect they're becoming a little bit more popular but you hardly ever see them but you're gonna love them so look at these grass ribbons in the drive they are nestled in the gravel they run the length of the driveway all the way to the back they're edged in a really great bronze metal edging and this basically has historical precedent back to the 20s when there used to when cars were making ruts in the side of the road and then there would just be grass that would grow in between and this is kind of an homage to that a very special effect that is just just wonderful especially when so beautifully maintained he has no lawn to mow but he has to know his driveway oh well that's that's just how it goes sometimes now this is just an interesting bed he said this is very much just love it and leave it plant it and plop it and just be on your way all of these things in here again lots of greenery some things that flowered in the past now have stopped flowering and other things have kind of filled in to take its place it looks like there's some what is this and I love this about Marquette because he is really good about keeping the plant tags on all of his things unlike me this this stuff comes from a wonderful nursery up near Stillwater Oklahoma called Bustani and they have wonderful wonderful native plants things that are really tough and can handle Oklahoma so I'll stick that back in there I don't want to get into trouble I'll do a little weeding for him though while I'm down here and that's a datura a lime datura and then you can see there's some of that wonderful variegated larai opee that's kind of softening the edges with some white New Guinea and patience this is fennel look at that texture just wonderful texture this is an example of mixing in your herbs and edibles in with your other things these are just bamboo stakes you guys very secure they're supporting this peony and and again nothing is in bloom and yet that's very interesting there's some foxglove that has already bloomed he said he does replant this every year phlegm is hard to to come back from seed in Oklahoma and then he's got some again a very restricted color palate more plum use he's got some I believe this is David a tall phlox a cardoon I don't know if it's bloomed yet or is going to bloom more Purple Heart and then the repetition of some of these same colors and these some plants all up and down the space so if you look at equal intervals he's planted that lime datura one two three and then the other same elements are in between that structure there's white pentas tucked in there there's more tall flocks in the back here is another cartoon equally distant from the edges and then a repetition of the same features and punctuated on the end by another boxwood ball so it all speaks the same language it all looks very harmonious Stuart if you can point out the brilliant structure of this Dutchman's pipe I mean who could bear to cut that off I couldn't it's wonderful and then on the end we kind of come full circle and at the end of the drive there's that wonderful planter stone planter filled with Purple Heart and then you can see that on the opposite side of the driveway it's trash day you guys so that's what all of this this noise is but you can see that the same materials just a combination of yo Pond Hollies variegated larai opee now this is one of those things that you're probably going to want to take note of maybe screenshot that because isn't that a brilliant way to have a lantern hanging on the side of the house that wonderful support it just reflects the personality of the house and the shingles just so well okay so follow me you guys to this oasis of a backyard

Channel: Linda Vater

Views: 256,652

Keywords: potagerblog, Linda Vader, garden tour, garden life, linda vater, garden tour videos, garden tour linda vater, garden tour usa, garden designer, boxwood hedge, boxwood, topiary, boxwood topiary, boxwood topiary balls, landscape design, front yard landscaping, front yard ideas, front yard garden, cottage garden design, cottage garden, cottage garden tour, cottage garden ideas, appletini, green appletini, oklahoma garden tour, oklahoma gardening, low maintenance garden ideas

Id: XrsivONhgac

Length: 29min 21sec (1761 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 06 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Mafmi]

I thought this home was so charming and cozy; I didn't even realize it didn't have a lawn until the host mentioned it. The only grass is the strips in the driveway, which look like they'd be hard to maintain, but are pretty cute!

[u/sharrows]

I love the green door too!

[u/rushmc1]

So curious about what the inside of the house looks like now...!