No. 12 Gardens · Mid-Century Modern
Perennial Border Framing Mid-Century Brick Home
In front of a brick house, timber edging defines flower beds planted with purple perennials and ornamental grasses, establishing a dense border beside a green lawn under morning sunlight.
Design notes
Mid-century modern design lines everything up with the house. Look for flat roofs and post-and-beam overhangs, walls of glass, breeze-block screens, terrazzo or large concrete pads with gravel joints, and a rectangular pool set square to the architecture. Planting is sculptural and sparse — agave, yucca, olive, citrus, a Mediterranean fan palm — and colour comes from a single accent: an orange door, turquoise water, a yellow umbrella.
What to look for
- Path width and bed width — can you reach and can a wheelbarrow pass
- Where the water is and how far the kitchen door is
- Edges and structure that still look good in winter

