Is there a way to vacation in the South of France without being inspired? Not for this Portland area family – along with souvenirs, they came home with the desire to reinvent their landscape into a formal Mediterranean garden. Luckily, with our hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters, our great City of Roses has much in common with that lavish and traditional environment.

With the feel of a courtyard, we chose clean, straight lines that began with formal Boxwood hedges and continued with bursts of free-growing blooms. The color selection for this garden was varying shades of red, orange and purple, incorporated in a mix of formal and informal loose plantings.

We designed a repeating border featuring Sunrise Heirloom Roses, Crocosmia and Geums, with an inner border of Camas gray stones that frames the gravel courtyard mingled with a steppable ground cover called Cotula. Complementing the architecture of the house, we found an aged iron trellis to stand as an entrance to this formal garden and blanketed it with climbing roses, Honeysuckle and Geranium ‘Rozanne.’

For the landscape’s parking strip, we maintained the theme of straight lines and informal plantings including a lavender border to mimic the Boxwood hedges. The center of this strip is home to such beauties as Agastache, Echinacea and Crepe Myrtles.

While the trees in this garden have not yet fully matured, as the seasons pass, this colorful garden continues to provide ongoing visual interest and a drought-tolerant option for bringing the Mediterranean to the Pacific Northwest.

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Formal Mediterranean Garden

Mediterranean plants and flowers formally arranged bring a bright old world ambiance to this formal Mediterranean Garden. With an impressive amount of color and full foliage, this garden adds a wealth of curb appeal to this Portland home.

Blending an English feel with vibrant orange, purple and reds, this landscape design proves that you don’t need a Mediterranean house to have a Mediterranean garden. We used many contrasts in this landscape design, balancing the formal with the informal to create an eye catching display with plenty of interest.

As just one of our many favorites, you can learn more about this project by checking out its Case Study page.