This client's favorite color was gray--even when it came to plants. She also liked blue, but hated pink--so the existing cherry tree went to a neighbor who has a totally found plant/repurposed garden. It's funky, but I liked it. He had fastened a stage out of old railroad ties, and performed at his parties every once in a while. But back to the gray garden.

Outside the subterranean master bedroom, the clients had a Asian influenced installation. The bluestone cut and set in sleek symmetry, the raised planter held bamboo, ferns, liriope and ginger. The client wanted to echo this somehow, and we also wanted to find a way to use the back part of the yard. So often in brownstones, with the rectangular shaped yards, the back part is often unused. So we decided to do two small bluestone patios, and repeat the bamboo and gray stone as a sort of privacy wall.

A bluestone path leads between the two seating areas--one with a table, the other more lounge-like. The borders we repeated patterns of sea holly, lavender, catmint, and blue fescue. The one of the right was larger, so this has the same planting, but also yucca, a fig tree, hydrangea, and zebra grass.

She also wanted a silver shed and had an old teak door laying around, so we made a storage shed, covered it with aluminum and repurposed the old teak door.

She also had some white pots, so we planted them with annuals for a little drama.