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No. 27 Gardens · Mid-Century Modern

Sloping Rock Garden with Dry Stream

A sloping rock garden features a winding dry stream of river rocks, large boulders, pink gravel, and low-growing alpines set along a flagstone pathway leading toward a brick mid-century house.

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
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