Florida Landscape Design Ideas: Courtyard Features

Florida landscapes are known for their vast coasts, sprawling tropicals, and ramped water features. But in our Vero Beach landscapes and Melbourne landscapes, some of us don’t have the pleasure of working with so much space. Does this mean we miss out on creative landscape designs? Definitely not. Just the opposite. This means we have to be extra creative and detail-oriented. In order to be truly pleased with your Florida landscape when working with a smaller area, the landscape design has to accomplish bringing out the true beauty and utilizing the area of your small space to its’ fullest potential. Due to space limitations, it just makes perfect sense to make the most of each and every inch of your project area. The challenge becomes fitting multiple landscaping elements into such a small space and actually making it functional, too.

One landscape design that can make the most of your landscape in a small space, if done right, is courtyard design and planting. In order to guarantee success with courtyard design, it is very important to pay attention to details.

 With a courtyard landscape design, it is all about quality, rather than quantity. The JOBSON Project represented this dilemma and solution perfectly. Our homeowner started with a small backyard, consisting of grass and an overbearing oak tree. The best way to capitalize on this patch of grass, we decided, was to turn the entire back yard into a courtyard.

 

One great feature of a courtyard can be a walkway, so this is where we started. This encourages guests and visitors to explore the greatest assets of your garden. This is sometimes called “a strolling garden” if the paths intertwine into different areas of the courtyard. Our designer chose a vibrant, blended pattern of Castlestone Windy City-stye pavers. This also seemed like a great place to start when looking for key areas to splurge on, bringing in the rich tones of bold color. The color and charm of the color palette added warmth and vibrancy to the outdoor living space. A focal point of a fountain as another added feature to your courtyard gives an outer accent of serenity, as the water feature adds depth if placed properly into your design.

A nice balance of hardscape and landscape is very important in any courtyard although more so in a small space when your planning out every inch. Color, shape, width, and height are vital keys, but can also be great fun throughout each stage of your design. The temperament and character of your landscape are highly influenced by these choices. Our designer added in some vertical accents of Orange Bird of Paradise & Alcantarea Bromeliad, so the fountain seemed well balanced in the space and there was a shot of height along the walkway. They are sitting nicely in a bed of pink Camellia & purple Lantana.

When working with limited space, layering in three to five tiers is KEY.  By arranging the plants in a “cascading waterfall” fashion, it adds depth to any planting, while allowing for privacy, as well. Condo homeowners and homeowners in the city find this to be a great advantage to their backyard landscape designs. If there is a peaked interest in planting many varieties of plants, this can work well as long as similar plantings punctuate each bed of the walkways intertwining the courtyard to keep a continuity.

We started with an 8ft tall Purple Royal Robe Tree, surrounded by three pink Alphinia Ginger, as our rear tier. The Alphinia Ginger will reach 6ft tall, becoming an almost solid, leafy buffer for the rear of the garden. For our second tier, we added pink Anthurium. These can be maintained at 3-4ft and bloom a beautiful pink seashell-like bloom. It’s important to create a shot of color in the third tier. This defines each tier and adds depth to the rear tiers. In this planting, our designer also used Stromanthe Triostar, and due to the levels of the tiers dropping significantly, there was also a pop of bright burgundy placed on each side of them. As a soft buffer, Florica and Yellow Mussaenda was used to soften the fence.

So our completed project starts with a curved path,  leading to the new paver patio so you are able to sit and enjoy the bubbling fountain with a beautiful back drop of tropical flowers. The flora and fauna is highlighted with petal finial landscaped lighting and enclosed with a black picket aluminum fence to give the illusion of privacy without feeling closed in. It perfectly defines this backyard landscape design of a peaceful courtyard retreat. This project is complete.