Yard of the Week: Pool, Pergola and Gardens in Wisconsin
A landscape designer finds the perfect proportions, layout and blooms for a family of four
Becky Harris
20 March 2021
Houzz Contributor. Hi there! I live in a 1940s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe as "collected."
I got into design via Landscape Architecture, which I studied at the University of Virginia.
Houzz Contributor. Hi there! I live in a 1940s cottage in Atlanta that I'll describe... More
This Cedarburg, Wisconsin, family of four was ready to cool off at home during the summers and expand their potential for entertaining outdoors. They also wanted to entice their two preteen daughters to hang out at their house as they got older. The design process began by sharing Houzz photos of pergolas they admired with their landscape designer, Jim Drzewiecki. “This was a great starting point,” Drzewiecki says. From there, he arranged the landscape around a new rectangular pool, with a variety of shrubs, trees, perennials and grasses to provide seasonal interest.
“After” photos by Westhauser Photography
Landscape at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple with two teenage daughters
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin
Designer: Jim Drzewiecki of Ginkgo Leaf Studio
Before: The backyard was a fenced-in lawn with a small patio. “It was truly a blank slate,” Drzewiecki says.
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Landscape at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple with two teenage daughters
Location: Cedarburg, Wisconsin
Designer: Jim Drzewiecki of Ginkgo Leaf Studio
Before: The backyard was a fenced-in lawn with a small patio. “It was truly a blank slate,” Drzewiecki says.
Find a local a landscape designer
After: Drzewiecki looked at the photos of pergolas his clients liked while simultaneously determining the right proportions for their pergola. There were several factors that helped him determine its size. One, the family wanted to be able to extend their outdoor dining table to double its size when entertaining. Two, they were going to be using their existing patio doors and wanted good access to the patio and pergola from this entry point. Third, they wanted to keep the area in front of the living room windows (on the left side of the house) open to views of the pool.
Finally, the designer knew he wanted the pergola’s proportions and placement to be pleasing in relation to the house and pool. He worked on the placement of the pergola and the pool in tandem in order to get the relationship between the two just right.
A connected second patio is flush with the ground and contains a high-top table and grilling area.
What to Know About Adding a Pergola
Finally, the designer knew he wanted the pergola’s proportions and placement to be pleasing in relation to the house and pool. He worked on the placement of the pergola and the pool in tandem in order to get the relationship between the two just right.
A connected second patio is flush with the ground and contains a high-top table and grilling area.
What to Know About Adding a Pergola
He organized the new pergola with three large bays between the columns. The first bay offers easy access from the patio doors to the pool. The second bay contains the family dining area. They left the third bay open to accommodate the table extension they use when entertaining. “This is probably the largest pergola we’ve ever built so far,” Drzewiecki says. (The pergola is 27 feet 6 inches long.)
The family wanted the new patio to be flush with the patio doors for an easier transition from indoors to out. Drzewiecki made this attractive by transforming the edges around the raised patio into planting beds filled with ‘Walker’s Low’ catmint (Nepeta racemosa ‘Walkers Low’). “This plant can thrive in these dry, contained conditions,” he says.
The walls of the planting beds, steps, patio pavers and stepping pavers are limestone from a local quarry. The walls around the patio and the steps that lead down to the lawn area are chiseled for a natural rock-face look.
Limestone: Eden-Valders Stone
The family wanted the new patio to be flush with the patio doors for an easier transition from indoors to out. Drzewiecki made this attractive by transforming the edges around the raised patio into planting beds filled with ‘Walker’s Low’ catmint (Nepeta racemosa ‘Walkers Low’). “This plant can thrive in these dry, contained conditions,” he says.
The walls of the planting beds, steps, patio pavers and stepping pavers are limestone from a local quarry. The walls around the patio and the steps that lead down to the lawn area are chiseled for a natural rock-face look.
Limestone: Eden-Valders Stone
Drzewiecki used a mix of rustic cream, gray and white limestone pavers on the patio. The variety of shapes in the pattern breaks up the extensive paved area.
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Shop for outdoor dining furniture
This overhead drone shot is a great way to look at the composition of the yard and how the different elements connect and relate to one another. “My architecture degree kicked in when considering the geometry of the entire site,” Drzewiecki says. “I had to consider how the pergola, patio, house and pool would relate to one another with their placement. I also had to think about the flow of activities and how the family would move from space to space. Here it almost works like the work triangle of a kitchen — come outside, barbecue something and eat or go straight to the pool, get out and lounge, maybe warm up by the fire pit after a swim or dinner.”
With Drzewiecki’s description of the activities he considered, it’s easy to imagine dashed lines tracking how everyone moved through the yard, like those in an old “Family Circle” comic strip.
The designer centered the square pavers on the left in front of the patio doors, creating a direct path from the house to the pool. This visual line helped him set everything up in an aesthetically pleasing way, including the pool’s location. This path also helped him determine the location for the fire pit.
With Drzewiecki’s description of the activities he considered, it’s easy to imagine dashed lines tracking how everyone moved through the yard, like those in an old “Family Circle” comic strip.
The designer centered the square pavers on the left in front of the patio doors, creating a direct path from the house to the pool. This visual line helped him set everything up in an aesthetically pleasing way, including the pool’s location. This path also helped him determine the location for the fire pit.
Before: This was the existing view from the patio doors.
After: This is the view from the patio doors to the stepping pavers. Here we can see three squares of limestone within the pool surround that line up with the center of the stepping stone path. They mark the location of the fire pit to the right.
Here’s a look at the new backyard in its midsummer glory. All the “after” photos in this story were taken in July. “This is a sweet spot when the early bloomers are still in bloom and when we’re on the cusp of peak high summer blooms,” Drzewiecki says. He lined the area behind the fence in Quick Fire panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata). Their showy summer blooms add a colorful backdrop behind the pool.
He was able to reuse all of the existing fencing and only needed to add six fence sections to surround the expanded area the fence contains.
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He was able to reuse all of the existing fencing and only needed to add six fence sections to surround the expanded area the fence contains.
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Before: The existing exposed aggregate patio was too small for the type of entertaining the family liked to do.
After: Drzewiecki determined that elongating the patio past the pergola to create this lower patio provided pleasing proportions that stand up to the large pool surround. Two more chiseled limestone steps lead down to this area, which includes a high-top table, umbrella and barbecue area.
The patios have beautiful views of the colorful summer blooms in the new gardens that surround the pool.
Additional square stone pavers lead from this side of the yard to the pool surround. They land right in between the edge of the pool and the edge of the pool surround.
The grasses on the right are ‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’). Other grasses Drzewiecki weaved in around the landscape include reed grass (Calamagrostis brachytricha), ‘Northwind’ switchgrass (Panicum virgatum ‘Northwind’) and ‘Skyracer’ moor grass (Molinia caerulea ssp. arundinacea ‘Skyracer’). The latter is a favorite of Drzewiecki’s, as its seed heads grow to 7 feet high.
The grasses on the right are ‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’). Other grasses Drzewiecki weaved in around the landscape include reed grass (Calamagrostis brachytricha), ‘Northwind’ switchgrass (Panicum virgatum ‘Northwind’) and ‘Skyracer’ moor grass (Molinia caerulea ssp. arundinacea ‘Skyracer’). The latter is a favorite of Drzewiecki’s, as its seed heads grow to 7 feet high.
Another social area is this fire pit surrounded by Adirondack chairs. Drzewiecki used radial-cut limestone on the fire pit surround. He used concrete on the pool surround and fire pit area because it requires little maintenance and freed up the budget for other areas.
The scoring on the concrete is set up on an axis that runs through the middle of the pool and fire pit. An axis is an implied visual line used to organize a plan.
Browse Adirondack chairs in the Houzz Shop
The scoring on the concrete is set up on an axis that runs through the middle of the pool and fire pit. An axis is an implied visual line used to organize a plan.
Browse Adirondack chairs in the Houzz Shop
Serviceberry trees (Amelanchier canadensis) seen here to the left, anchor both ends of the backyard plantings. Taller shrubs and ‘Mountbatten’ junipers (Juniperus chinensis ‘Mountbatten’) provide privacy from a neighborhood walking path.
Plants surrounding the fire pit include ‘Goldsturm’ black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’), blue wild indigo (Baptisia australis), ‘Ruby Star’ purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea ‘Ruby Star’), ‘Pardon Me’ daylily (Hemerocallis ‘Pardon Me’), ‘Summer Beauty’ allium (Allium tanguticum ‘Summer Beauty’), Fireland yarrow (Achillea `Feuerland’), ‘Skyracer’ moor grass (Molinia caerulea ssp. arundinacea ‘Skyracer’), ‘June’ hosta (Hosta ‘June’), ‘Blue Fortune’ giant hyssop (Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’) and ‘Glow’ astilbe (Astilbe x arendsii ‘Glow’).
Plants surrounding the fire pit include ‘Goldsturm’ black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’), blue wild indigo (Baptisia australis), ‘Ruby Star’ purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea ‘Ruby Star’), ‘Pardon Me’ daylily (Hemerocallis ‘Pardon Me’), ‘Summer Beauty’ allium (Allium tanguticum ‘Summer Beauty’), Fireland yarrow (Achillea `Feuerland’), ‘Skyracer’ moor grass (Molinia caerulea ssp. arundinacea ‘Skyracer’), ‘June’ hosta (Hosta ‘June’), ‘Blue Fortune’ giant hyssop (Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’) and ‘Glow’ astilbe (Astilbe x arendsii ‘Glow’).
Here’s a closer look at the beautiful blooms around the fire pit area.
The family’s Boston terriers are enjoying the new landscape.
This photo shows some of Drzewiecki’s favorite go-to showy blooms. In the front are ‘Pardon Me’ daylily (Hemerocallis ‘Pardon Me’). “These are not technically rebloomers, but they produce lots of flowers,” he says. Behind them are ‘Blue Fortune’ giant hyssop (Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’). “This plant has spiky blooms for about eight weeks,” he says. And toward the back are ‘Summer Beauty’ allium (Allium tanguticum ‘Summer Beauty’), which add fun globe-shaped blooms to the mix.
This photo also shows the pool coping. It is composed of colored-concrete pieces. “The pool contractor recommended this as a good option,” Drzewiecki says.
This photo shows some of Drzewiecki’s favorite go-to showy blooms. In the front are ‘Pardon Me’ daylily (Hemerocallis ‘Pardon Me’). “These are not technically rebloomers, but they produce lots of flowers,” he says. Behind them are ‘Blue Fortune’ giant hyssop (Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’). “This plant has spiky blooms for about eight weeks,” he says. And toward the back are ‘Summer Beauty’ allium (Allium tanguticum ‘Summer Beauty’), which add fun globe-shaped blooms to the mix.
This photo also shows the pool coping. It is composed of colored-concrete pieces. “The pool contractor recommended this as a good option,” Drzewiecki says.
“We love it when clients come to us before something like a pool is installed so that we can place it right,” Drzewiecki says. “A lot of times people don’t realize that landscape designers design hardscapes. The best result is when we can help with pool placement so that we can create other spaces that revolve around it in a pleasing way.”
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Woohoo!!!! Another stunning example of how to use a professional (who is right down MY alley of design), I could swim, garden and prune away all summer long there! The open pasture behind the fenced in part is wonderful. That aerial shot is superb, I studied it, yes, the whole design is shown and shows how important it is to locate all the elements in cohesion at each of their location. Loooooove it! If I ever win the lottery, I would completely redo our house and garden, our location is fantastic, but oh boy, do I wish I could modernize and revamp it, sigh! Thanks for another visual treat while sipping the first coffee in the morning.... our lot is the bottom right, the big triangular corner lot....
Impressive without a bunch of trendy, gimmicky, expensive features. A big pool with some depth; beautiful, perennial, drought tolerant, hassle-free garden; casual entertaining; and roomy. Seems like this family wisely used their budget in a plan for many years of enjoyment!
Absolutely beautiful, so inviting.