The wild look

Winner: Regionality

“This garden has created a new nostalgia, not for Tuscany or Provence or some other Mediterranean place, but for true California,” said the judges about this backyard in Paso Robles, California. The large native boulders—that form curved walls and are used as accents—blend the terrace with the landscape beyond. Planting native and Mediterranean grasses helps too.

Design: Jeffrey Gordon Smith Landscape Architecture, Los Osos, CA (www.jgsdesigns.com or 805/528-2118)