Modern Ranch

This is an investment property whose gardens are meant to be low maintenance, robust, modern and expandable. 50 ornamental grasses become 150 in 3 years when you know how to split them. Proper design and plant selection can produce ROI's so that to add more gardens on the same or different sites in the future requires only labor expense and not plant material purchasing. 

I picked low cost, high production ornamental grasses to offer a soft but consistent green framing. To the far left I am rehabilitating a native favorite of mine, the Kousa Dogwood. Benchmark requested a lovely Japanese Maple to highlight the center which has worked very well. The far right is in maturation with 3 large climbing hydrangea's now making their way up the trunks that were left of the former spruce so that they will become strong, full, sculptural elemtents. Wisteria has also been planted among them. There is wooly thyme, sea holly, aster, dahlia, delphinium and more inside the space created by the grass framing. The entire garden is on a high efficiency drip irrigation.

Here we are using 3 varieties of grass to create a sense of embrace, depth and privacy around the pool. The lovely weeping cherry was pre-existing and has been pruned and fed. Salvia and Dahlia have recently been added in and amongst the grasses for light splashes of color. BenchmarkDetroit.com complete renovated the pool and patio as well as selected the furnishings. We have Palms and Birds of Paradise growing in the pots.