Patio of the Week: 3 Microclimates and Countless Blooms

“All I really wanted out of the whole deal was a great porch swing. That's it!" swears landscape architect Sean Papich about the redesign he did for his own backyard. After an extensive renovation that transformed the house from a '50s ranch to a classic New England Cape, his yard was a blank slate. He flattened out a large slope, then designed covered, open and semicovered living spaces along the back of the house in the form of a screened-in porch, open patio and pergola-covered patio.

Patio at a Glance
Who lives here: Sean and Tami Papich and their 3 kids.
Location: Hingham, Massachusetts
Size: About 26 feet by 27 feet

The backyard faces south and has major exposure to the sun, so Papich created separate microclimates, providing varying degrees of shade from full sun to partial shade to shade. A serviceberry tree on the left side of the porch provides year-round interest, while hydrangeas, sedum and grasses provide an undulating border off the back of the porch.


He stuck with hardy low-maintenance plants that can stand up pretty well to full sunlight and water bans during droughts, and that require only a little monthly deadheading and trimming.

If you look past the left side of the umbrella, you'll see a 4- by 10-inch beam between the trees that holds two swings. The family can enjoy a full view of the backyard from the bluestone patio.

Pergola: custom, New England Woodworkers


The plan includes three distinct rooms: A porch that will be screened in when Papich finds the time is on the left; an open bluestone patio (14 feet by 27 feet) is in the center; and a brick patio covered by a large pergola (12 feet by 16 feet) is on the right.


The bluestone patio has a colorful, sunny mix of plants, including Endless Summer hydrangeas, moonlight coreopsis, pink Knock Out roses, Russian sage, sweet bay magnolia trees and Blushing Bride hydrangeas (right). A fan of the work of Oehme van Sweden, Papich also likes to use a lot of ornamental grasses in his work and has mixed in Hameln dwarf fountain grass and heather.

Look closely at the porch and you can see Papich's prized oak porch swing. He ordered it from Doug Mrock at Mrock's Creative Woodworking, a skilled craftsman carrying on the business his father started; he makes everything by hand. Papich cannot recommend his work enough.


While the family has plans to someday outfit the patio with their dream outdoor furniture pieces, sturdy chairs and tables from Ikea and Target suit the sunny spot just fine right now.


At the far end of the pergola-covered patio, Papich screened the view of busy Main Street and neighboring houses with a vine-covered trellis. He saved the five-leaf akebia vine from another project when he found out it was going to be thrown away, overwintered it, then transplanted it to the trellis.

"It's a really nice hardy vine that's aggressive but not too crazy," he says. This photo shows just one season's worth of growth.

The pots are composite but made to look like lead. The Papiches overwinter the standing tree carpet roses, then bring them back out to the patio each spring.


"I think the classic style of the pergola works well with a lot of traditional house styles, whether the house is a colonial, Victorian or Cape," Papich says. "Had we kept the '50s ranch style, I would have done something a bit edgier and funky to go with it." The columns are composite with 6- by 6-inch posts inside; the rest of the structure is cedar.

Annabelle hydrangeas and 'Blue Muffin' arrowwood viburnum create a living wall on the left, while Knock Out roses and Endless Summer hydrangeas close in the right side. This gives the pergola-covered patio a more intimate and private feel, even screening out the lacrosse games that go on in the backyard.


Tumbled brick in a herringbone pattern "makes the patio feel a little older," Papich says. A ribbon course and linear-edge course of brick around the border make the pattern richer and provide a nice transition between the rectilinear pattern of the adjacent bluestone patio.

Papich's wife, Tami, an interior decorator, scored the candle chandelier at an antiques fair, which they light up for evening gatherings. The table is a galvanized paint bucket with a painted terra-cotta top — a stopgap piece while they search for another one. The family loves to change up the pergola patio for different events. Sometimes they drape canvas over it for more shade, and on Halloween they make it spooky for their annual party.

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