Substantial Planted Spaces and Vibrant Contrasts Bring Maximalist Style
You enjoy substantial textures and love bold color and personalities. Regardless of your own home’s architecture, you may be relishing the return of Art Deco and Hollywood Regency to interior design trends. Similarly, there are no shrinking violets in your ideal garden – it is full of vitality. Maybe a little “everything everywhere all at once” – just like LA itself!
Be Gone Lawn!
You are unlikely to be drawn by the simple water savings of an IdealMow lawn that looks like turf grass. If you aren’t quite ready to go full-foliage, you may find yourself transfixed by the deep green high-surf style waves of IdealMow meadows or the thought of letting Silver Carpet carpet a lawn-similar space.
Step-Up Walkways
When your foliage beds burst with vitality, a straightforward concrete walk will look out of place. Adding foliage joints, as shown here will help a walk hold its own.
Complement and Contrast
If you seek maximalist curb appeal for Mediterranean or Spanish architecture, terra cotta tile is a natural material choice for patios and walks, as it complements a tiled roof. Decomposed granite joints provide a neutral backdrop and also allow the walk to absorb water that can feed nearby foliage.
Bright or peacock blues in accents like the handblown jug pendants shown below create high contrast and visual intrigue. Yellow-greens would have much the same effect.
Foliage can also complement and contrast. In the Garden of the Setting Sun, the creams and rusts of buckwheats mirror those of the architecture. The California Lilac behind the stairs mirrors the blue in the stairway tile while contrasting delightfully with the terra cotta patio and roof.
Fill the Senses
Of course, sight isn’t the only sense and a truly maximalist landscape will have deep fragrance, delightful sounds and textures to explore as well. We are big fans of the percussive crunch of gravel beneath our feet, the heady fragrance of California Lilac and Hummingbird Sage, and the luxurious, velvety leaves of Pitchers Sage.
