BY

SUSAN APPLEGET HURST

PHOTOS

KRITSADA

PRODUCED BY

SHIRLEY REMES

Jody and Mike Tate wanted it all: a gorgeous

garden that matched their home’s design, play

space for their kids, and plantings that didn’t

consume too much of their busy schedule. When

they built their Hinsdale, Illinois, home from

scratch in 2003, the Tates took their wish list to a

landscape designer, and they now have a yard that

seamlessly—and beautifully—blends their lifestyle

with their home style.

The Tates terraced the steep front yard with

stone walls to create a level area where their kids

could play, and built an arbor gate that mimics the columns of the

porch. Easy-care plantings of shrubs and perennials soften the

structures and provide months of low-maintenance color. The

Tates’ house and yard now look perfectly coordinated from the curb.

The garden helps Mike unwind. “After a long day of work, he’ll

pour a glass of wine and deadhead plants so long that I have to drag

him indoors,” Jody says. “We absolutely love our house, but every

spring we are dying to get outdoors and enjoy the extra living space

our yard gives us.”

With a color palette of

white, pink, and purple,

plants such as clematis,

opposite,

daisies and

petunias, top, and

Campanula, inset,

frame and soften the

white and gray exterior

of the Tates’ home.

BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS JULY 2008

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