Patio Details: Dog Won’t Trample the Plants With This Design

Landscape architect Jennifer Horn kept her design simple and streamlined when a homeowner in Washington, D.C., requested a backyard inspired by his travels to Asia. “We tried to accommodate that with a more modern language, rather than imitate a Zen garden,” she says. Additionally, the homeowner had a very large, beloved black lab that spent a lot of time in the backyard and had prevented any plants from surviving. With new paving, lush plantings and a reimagined water feature, the urban backyard now appears larger and cleaner, and accommodates both dog and owner.

Designer: Jennifer Horn of JHLA
Location: Kalorama neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
Size: 860 square feet (79.9 square meters)

Purpose: To create an attractive, modern garden space for entertaining that also accommodates the homeowner’s dog.


BEFORE: The existing patio featured bluestone paving and a single basin fountain, pictured at rear left, which splashed water everywhere. “He was a little frustrated with the water feature he previously had,” Horn says. The bluestone paving had a natural cleft finish and was laid in a more random pattern, making the patio appear smaller and less ordered. Additionally, anything planted at ground level ended up getting trampled by the dog.


The Nitty-Gritty

Threshold: French doors in the dining room open to a small ipe deck with a cable railing. ”We didn’t want to lose too much real estate in that transition,” Horn says. The ipe matches portions of the perimeter fence.

Patio floor: Thermal-finish 12-inch-by-24-inch bluestone pavers are installed in a running bond pattern. The bluestone’s smooth finish creates a uniform surface that organizes the space and contributes to the desired contemporary aesthetic — and also feels good on dog paws.

Other Features

Water feature: Horn refaced and expanded the original water feature to include a 6-inch-wide rill that runs the patio’s length, with a new catch basin at the end. The system slowly recirculates water back to the fountain at the top. Horn refinished the fountain with a stone veneer over concrete block and added a bluestone cap.

New aquatic plants like water lilies and lotuses grow in the fountain, and the rill protects the plants growing in the planter behind it from the dog’s tromping.


Plantings: The plantings emphasize spring- and summer-blooming plants that can survive in partial shade and are safe for dogs. Vines, including passionflower and trailing forsythia, and ferns scramble into the yard from wood planters above the patio fence. Some of the vine species are considered more aggressive plants, so it was helpful to keep them contained in planters. A row of Siberian and Japanese irises grows behind the rill, where the dog can’t reach them. A raised bed behind the fountain features summer-blooming perennials, including hydrangea, astilbe and turtlehead.

Fence: The new ipe fence along one side of the patio replaced a rotting bamboo fence; it conceals the yard from street traffic. Horn simply painted the stucco of the existing fence along the other wall a light gray to match the bluestone patio. “Even paint can change the look of a landscape significantly,” she says.

Drainage: Instead of installing a metal trench drain, Horn installed a custom trench drain that runs the length of the patio adjacent to the rill. She left a joint open between the pavers and installed a slotted PVC pipe with a screen over it. Individual stone pieces were cut to fit in the slot. All water drains toward this trench and then runs into the PVC pipe and out through underground pipes. “It’s a lot more attractive, and it’s less expensive,” the designer says.


Lighting: The pond, rill and basin are all lit with waterproof lights. The wood fence posts have downlights, and there are landscape lights in one of the trees and in the upper planters.

Considerations

The Mid-Atlantic region’s heat and humidity don’t affect this shady garden too much, but its torrential summer rains sure do. Everything from the patio to the raised beds needs to drain well. Horn wouldn’t recommend this plant list to people looking for year-round garden interest. “It’s very quiet in wintertime,” she says; this is much more a spring and summer garden. But all the plants are tough and look great with little work.

The yard’s size also affected the design. Horn says that although this was an ambitious design for the space’s size, she still imposed strict limits on how much she included. “Every move you make can visually enlarge the space or visually make the space feel smaller,” she says. It’s important to remember that a space this size can’t do everything at once.

More
8 Backyard Ideas to Delight Your Dog
Pocket Gardens, Pint-Size Patios and Urban Backyards

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