North Texan transforms backyard to South African escape with help from faux ivy, grass

South Africa is a botanical wonderland. It is incredibly lush and home to more plant species than anywhere else on Earth.

From the giant protea blossoms that adorn exotic flower arrangements around the world (yet will grow naturally almost no place else) to beautiful osteospermums that bloom in a gorgeous array of blues and purples, South Africa is a plant-lovers paradise.

Norma Glass has been a Dallas resident for almost 30 years, but she missed the vibrant, rich landscape of her homeland. This spring, Glass and her landscape architect completed a backyard makeover to create a bright, welcoming, relaxing retreat at her Preston Hollow house.

Not all is as it seems. Mixed with the lush foliage and flowers are features that would raise the eyebrows of traditional gardeners. Her shrub beds are filled with azaleas, rose of Sharon, Knock Out roses, nandina, needle palm, pittosporum, Japanese aralia and holly fern. These standard choices surround a grassy area planted not with St. Augustine, but with artificial turf.

In summer, decorative ceramic pots spill over with lush variegated ivy, Asian jasmine, Persian shield and bromeliads. Draping the wooden walls surrounding the backyard are fake ivy trellises attached by Glass with a staple gun.

Theres so much real with a little bit of faux, and I think it blends beautifully. If you dont like it, dont do it. But we love it, Glass says.

Glass, 57, is a neurologist who works in the same office as her husband Jeffrey, 60, a psychologist. They moved to Dallas in 1983, and she became a somewhat frustrated Texas gardener. Having color in the landscape all year long eluded her, so she called on landscape architect Harold Leidner of Carrollton to address the issue with hardscape features.

You can create colors with other things like pots or throw pillows or statuary pieces, and you can embrace things that may not be mainstream, Glass says. You open yourself up to so much more when youre not so rigid and set in your ways.

The kidney-shaped pool is trimmed with blue tile and surrounded by red ceramic pots. A long, serpentine concrete bench is topped with custom cushions. Under a magnificent red oak is a wrought-iron gazebo planted with wisteria.

This spot, which Glass calls her reflection place, is bound on one side by more red pots planted in summer with white caladiums. On the other side is a waterfall and pond constructed of natural stone.

See the original post:
North Texan transforms backyard to South African escape with help from faux ivy, grass