Southwest Backyard Ideas

Jennifer Cheung

Southwest getaway

Bold furnishings and dense plantings can help you create a getaway in your own backyard, even where gardening can be a challenge.

Click ahead to see how this Arizona garden does it.

Jennifer Cheung

Destination patio

The chairs' square shapes and large scale contrast with the garden's fine foliage. So do the tile-covered firepit and its oversize lava rocks, which serve as log equivalents.

Jennifer Cheung

Bold furnishings

Placing the conversation area as far from the house as possible makes it feel worlds away from everyday concerns.

The vegetation on either side of the path furthers the effect and partially hides the patio from view.

Jennifer Cheung

Dense plantings

The garden's plants reflect the shapes and colors of the wild desert, but they're planted more densely for drama.

They include mountain yucca, twin-flowered agave, organ-pipe cactus, and candelaria.

Jennifer Cheung

Floating pavers

Individual concrete pads create the illusion that they're hovering lightly above the desert floor. Their exposed aggregate finish blends in with the native soil's stony texture.

Jennifer Cheung

Fence screens

Desert live oak, Baja rock figs (Ficus petiolaris), and an imposing Agave scabra hide most of the neighbors’ fence.

Design Brian Kissinger, Thomas and Todd, Paradise Valley, AZ (480/951-0858)

Wild desert backyard

Southwest getaway

Destination patio

Bold furnishings

Dense plantings

Floating pavers

Fence screens