In the evening, lights illuminate the pool and cast a glow on the bordering meadow planting of North American native ‘Shenandoah’ switchgrass (Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’, zones 4 to 9) to the right and a softer glow on the ‘Hameln’ dwarf fountain grass to the left. On the whole, landscape lighting was kept minimal, with stair and pathway lights but few others.Schafer shared two design tips for creating a similar landscape.1. Limit the plant and material palettes. Reducing the number of plants and materials used for a project simplifies the design and gives it a more modern look. For example, massing a single variety of plants yields a more minimalist (and often more calming) result than planting a bed with many varieties and colors.2. Think out of the box when it comes to using plants. “Use plants to contrast nature, rather than try to mimic it,” Schafer says. For example, he uses grasses in distinct planting blocks — hornbeam trained into a wall or blocks of grasses as landscape carpets — to become architectural elements of the design.
In the evening, lights illuminate the pool and cast a glow on the bordering meadow planting of North American native ‘Shenandoah’ switchgrass (Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’, zones 4 to 9) to the right and a softer glow on the ‘Hameln’ dwarf fountain grass to the left. On the whole, landscape lighting was kept minimal, with stair and pathway lights but few others.Schafer shared two design tips for creating a similar landscape.1. Limit the plant and material palettes. Reducing the number of plants and materials used for a project simplifies the design and gives it a more modern look. For example, massing a single variety of plants yields a more minimalist (and often more calming) result than planting a bed with many varieties and colors.2. Think out of the box when it comes to using plants. “Use plants to contrast nature, rather than try to mimic it,” Schafer says. For example, he uses grasses in distinct planting blocks — hornbeam trained into a wall or blocks of grasses as landscape carpets — to become architectural elements of the design.
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