7 Garden Design Ideas for Different Home Styles

Whether you’re starting from scratch on a newly built home or working with the scraps of an existing landscape, garden design can be a challenge for new homeowners, but it doesn’t have to be. Since a garden serves as an extension of the home itself, that’s often the best place to start looking for garden inspiration.

The garden designs that look most natural and inviting take cues from the home’s lines, scale, texture, and color palette. Each has a supportive and harmonious relationship with the building it surrounds, reflecting its form and embodying its philosophy. Certain garden designs pair up naturally with certain home styles. 

Although we’re not suggesting each kind of home has a cookie-cutter landscape design that suits it best (gardening is much more personal and flexible than that!), we are proposing some general guidelines for creating a design that will look and feel right with your home’s particular style. Read on for a look at seven different garden design ideas, as well as the homes and plants that work well with them. 

Coastal 

Coastal landscape design is loose and unbridled. Take your cues from the water’s edge and the land on which the home was built. Use rocks and flagstones to edge beds and define zones. Pave walkways with sand, gravel, or weathered wood and let them meander as if they were a well-traveled path to the shore. 

Choose plants that tolerate salt spray and can weather volatile coastal climates. Include low-maintenance perennials and grasses that welcome and nourish local creatures. Designate a few boxes or containers for seasonal annuals like geranium, zinnia, and impatiens. 

Home Styles: 

Cottage, saltbox, contemporary coastal, Mediterranean, California craftsman, and modern ranch homes.

Design Principles: 

Loose, free-flowing, resistant to extreme weather, natural edging and hardscapes, seasonal interest, sun-loving, salt and drought-tolerant, low-maintenance. 

Featured Plants:

Look for grasses and perennials that tolerate salt, drought, and high winds. On sloped or dune locations, opt for species that have dense root networks that will slow erosion. 

Lavender

	botanical name Lavandula spp.
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 1-3 feet
	hardiness zones 5-9

Lavender’s purple spikes sway gracefully in the ocean breeze and give off a nice light scent. Ideal for coastal locations in cooler hardiness zones, lavender flowers are tubular and whorled. They come in shades of purple and white, standing tall above green-gray foliage with slender, pinnate leaves. 

Sea Oats

	botanical name Uniola paniculata
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 4-6 feet
	hardiness zones 7-11

Sea oats are a coastal must-have for gardens with dunes or steep slopes. Plants have both a deep tap root and a lateral network of rhizomes that sprawl to hold the terrain in place during high winds. Their strappy, narrow leaves are attractive and resilient. Small white flower panicles droop from central stems in early summer. Sea oats are protected and proliferated along the Atlantic seaboard. 

Moss Rose 

	botanical name Portulaca grandiflora
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 4-8 inches
	hardiness zones 2-12

This semi-succulent plant stores water in its fleshy leaves and stems, making it a winner in hot, dry coastal locations. As an annual plant, it flowers continuously all season in bold shades of red, orange, yellow, white, and pink.

The blooms have a classic buttercup shape with a central disk, and they close up at night. Moss rose is resilient and holds up well in extreme weather conditions. 

English

If your home is small in scale with a gabled roof, a stone or frame exterior, and a quaint front porch, it will probably pair well with a traditional English garden. This type of design begins with good bones and ends with a riot of flowers. Use hedges and anchor plants to define garden ‘zones’ or create focal points. Limit traditional turf grass or replace it with flowers. Choose a color palette that’s bold and bright or soft and pastel. Pay attention to your grow zone and choose plants that will thrive in your region. 

Fill the garden with classic English garden staples like rose, boxwood, clematis, peony, and lilac. Work a picket fence or a trellis into the landscape. Let everything mingle and grow together to delight the senses and fill your yard with beauty. Pathways may be paved and linear or natural and curved, depending on your preferred level of formality. Visit the garden often to deadhead, prune, weed, divide, and thin plants out to keep things orderly. 

Home Styles: 

Tudor, cottage, Cape Cod, Victorian, and Queen Anne homes

Design Principles: 

Large beds, natural paths, minimal grass, multi-color palette, emphasis on flowering shrubs, vines, sensory stimulation, a mix of container and ground plantings, moderate maintenance.

Featured Plants: 

English garden plants are typically the classics you remember from grandma’s garden when you were young. Incorporate flowering shrubs with perennials and annuals that have big, bold blooms. Time your materials for season-long color and visual interest. 

Hybrid Tea Rose

	botanical name Rosa x hybrida
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 3-8 feet
	hardiness zones 5-9

Few flowers are more distinctly English in profile than the hybrid tea rose. With tall, sturdy stems that yield large, fragrant flowers all summer long, the hybrid tea rose is always a showpiece in the garden. Blooms can be single, semi-double, or double and come in shades of red, white, pink, yellow, purple, and orange. 

Common Lilac

	botanical name Syringa vulgaris
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 8-16 feet
	hardiness zones 3-7

With an intoxicating scent and large, joyful blooms in hues of pink, purple, white, and cream, common lilac delights the senses and peppers the landscape in spring. In an English garden design, common lilac may serve as a privacy hedge or screen. It may also provide vertical structure and ‘anchor’ the boundaries of a property. Blooms look particularly lovely flopping out over a white picket fence.  

Peony

	botanical name Paeonia hybrids
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 1-3 feet
	hardiness zones 3-8

Not quite a shrub, but more substantial than an herbaceous perennial, peony is one of those plants that makes you want to sit out on the porch and drink cold lemonade. The flowers are very large and showy, with a cup shape and semi-double to double petal arrangements.

The leaves are bright green and remain attractive through fall, with some turning shades of red and purple late in the season. Support peony with a shepherd’s hook or tomato cage for stability and it will deliver English garden joy in spades. 

Woodland

Create a woodland garden design for a home in the forest or one that’s severely shaded by mature trees. Define bed lines with timbers and concrete if you’d like to keep things tidy or flagstones and berms for a natural aesthetic. Since grass does not grow well without an abundance of sunshine, plant ground covers instead of traditional turf. 

Include azalea, astilbe, columbine, and coral bells, which will all flower in dappled sunlight. Feature hostas, ferns, and Hakone grass for vibrant shades of green. Embrace existing trees and shrubs, and design in layers to create dimension. For season-long color, plant shade-loving annuals like begonia and coleus. 

Home Styles: 

Cabin, Mountain, bungalow, cottage, and mid-century modern homes

Design Principles: 

Shade-tolerant materials, plants reflect surroundings, emphasis on foliage plants, natives, annuals for seasonal color, low-maintenance. 

Featured Plants:

When designing a woodland garden, look for understory plants that enjoy dappled sunlight. Your gardens will be foliage-heavy with an emphasis on large or interesting leaf patterns. Include some that are variegated with white margins or accents to break up the monotony and some that will offer flowers.

Hosta

	botanical name Hosta spp.
	sun requirements Partial to deep shade
	height 3-36 inches
	hardiness zones 3-9

By far the biggest go-to for woodland garden design, hostas come in so many shapes, sizes, and color schemes that you might not need to include any other plants in the mix. The leaves are oblong to ovate and grow from a basal rosette.

The flowers appear on central sprays in mid-summer. They can be white or purple and last a good while. Hostas are durable, shade-loving, and easy to care for. 

Astilbe

	botanical name Astilbe japonica
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 1-5 feet
	hardiness zones 4-9

A forest floor favorite that flowers in the shade, astilbe is heavily featured in woodland garden design. Blooms appear as feathery plumes in late spring to early summer, rising from mounds of pin-shaped foliage to provide bursts of pink, red, and white. Leaves come in vivid shades of green and have a fern-like presence when astilbe is not actively flowering.

Azalea 

	botanical name Rhododendron spp.
	sun requirements Partial to full shade
	height 6-10 feet
	hardiness zones 4-8

This woody, semi-evergreen shrub grows best beneath the loose canopy of a mature shade tree. The flowers have five lobes and appear at terminal branch ends, covering the surface of each plant almost completely in early spring. They bloom in hues of pink, white, red, purple, orange, and yellow. The foliage is leathery and thick, with many species turning brilliant colors in fall. 

Desert

For homes in locations where water is scarce and the sun is hot, embrace the principles of desert garden design. Your yard should mimic the surrounding landscape, incorporating boulders, sand, succulents, and grasses into the plant mix. 

Design with water conservation in mind. Install a dry creek to carry drainage from your home along a path that will reach your plants. Work with grasses, cacti, and drought-tolerant perennials, creating a color scheme heavy on the tans, yellows, browns, and greens found in an arid climate.  

Home Styles: 

Spanish, Mediterranean, contemporary, adobe, and ranch-style homes

Design Principles: 

Water conservation, boulders, rock gardens, drought-tolerant plants, natural borders, emphasis on succulents and cacti, restrained color palette, low maintenance.  

Featured Plants:

Heat and drought tolerance are top priorities for desert garden plant selection. Choose succulents and cacti that are easy to care for. Include some perennials or annuals that will thrive in full sun and offer a splash of color. 

Prickly pear cactus

	botanical name Opuntia spp.
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 1-20 feet
	hardiness zones 3-11

This upright, spreading cactus has fleshy, paddle-shaped leaves that are covered with spines. In regions with cool winter temperatures, prickly pear will send up brilliant yellow flowers in mid-summer. It also offers showy, edible fruit in shades of red and pink, making this one a reliable, interesting choice for any desert landscape design. 

Agave

	botanical name Agave spp.
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 6-10 feet
	hardiness zones 6-11

Known for enduring harsh, desert conditions with very little water, agave is a natural feature in the arid garden. With a basal leaf arrangement that grows into a firm orb shape, agave offers great structure and textural interest. It sends up towering flower stalks with showy yellow blooms once every 30 to 80 years, earning it the nickname ‘century plant.’

Lantana

	botanical name Lantana camara
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 1-6 feet
	hardiness zones 7-11

If you’re willing to give it a drink of water now and then, lantana looks natural in the desert landscape and provides a much-needed pop of color. Its habit is more rounded and shrub-like than its relatives in the verbena family, but its flowers are very similar. Blooms are orb-shaped and compound in shades of gold, orange, pink, purple, and white. Leaves and stems are rough and sturdy enough to withstand heavy desert winds. 

Prairie

If your home is low-slung, located in an open setting, and constructed with materials in rich, dark color tones, look to prairie garden design for inspiration. Depending on your location, install evergreens and pines to delineate a property’s boundaries, but keep things loose and natural within its borders. There’s no need for firm lines or borders. A prairie garden lets plants do their thing without trying too hard to control them.

Choose breezy grasses and perennials that would have peppered the prairie long ago, as these are the plants that will require the least amount of human intervention. Plant perennials in ‘stands’ or clusters, where they are separate from other plants but can grow together naturally and expand outward by rhizome. Include flowers that will attract pollinators and provide winter seeds for the local critters. 

Home Styles:

Prairie style, mid-century modern, bungalow, and craftsman homes

Design Principles:

Loose boundaries, natural groupings, native species, pollinator-friendly, self-seeding, always changing, loose boundaries, emphasis on grasses and movement, minimal maintenance. 

Featured Plants:

Prairie garden design features self-spreading perennials and grasses as well as native trees and shrubs. Look to your region’s original landscape for plant inspiration and check with your local invasives list before making final decisions. 

Common Milkweed

	botanical name Asclepias syriaca
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 3-5 feet
	hardiness zones 3-9

Known for being the primary host to monarch butterfly larvae, common milkweed is a naturalizing plant that will form colonies through underground rhizomes and self-seed at the end of the season. This makes it ideal for large prairie garden designs but potentially overwhelming in small applications. Milkweed has thick stems, hairy leaves, and umbel-shaped flowers that are green, pink, purple, and white.

Little Bluestem

	botanical name Schizachyrium scoparium
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 2-4 feet
	hardiness zones 3-9

This ornamental, warm-season grass is native to North America and tolerates a wide range of soil conditions. It grows in narrow, upright clumps that spread into an orb shape. In the prairie-style garden, it provides structure and texture while also serving as a food source to regional wildlife. Its feathery, green foliage hosts many larval butterfly and moth species.

Blazing star

	botanical name Liatris spp.
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 1-5 feet
	hardiness zones 3-9

Tall spikes bottle-brush blooms open from the top down on this prairie garden favorite. Flowers can be pink, purple, or white, depending on the species, and they sway beautifully in the breeze atop mounds of grass-like foliage. Plant blazing star in a large group for a full prairie effect, or work some into a seasonal container display.

Rural/Farmhouse

Farmhouse style is having a moment, that’s for sure. For the past twenty years, a renewed interest in rural-style home building and pastoral living has taken root around the globe. Begin by divvying space into zones for herbs/veggies, leisure activities, livestock, and maybe a cutting garden. Employ weathered wood, stone, metal, and reclaimed materials for hardscapes and ornamentation.

Choose plants that attract pollinators to the garden and support local wildlife. Coneflowers, daisies, sunflowers, and marigolds will surely bring farmhouse vibes to the scene. Plant shade trees strategically to cool the southwest corner of your home and offer some respite from the late-day sun.

Home Styles: 

Farmhouse, ranch, contemporary, and mountain homes

Design Principles: 

Zoned for multi-purpose use, homesteading, cutting garden, shade, leisure, and livestock, substantial maintenance.

Featured Plants:

Farmhouse garden design features big, bold blooms that love the sun and large shade trees to give the property height and definition. Annuals, perennials, and herbs are typically sectioned into zones without intermingling much. 

Black-eyed Susan

	botanical name Rudbeckia hirta
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 2-4 feet
	hardiness zones 3-8

A quintessential farmhouse plant, black-eyed Susan has a cheerful, sunny disposition and keeps the bees buzzing all summer long. Its blooms are ray-shaped, with several layers of yellow, orange, or red petals fanning out around a prominent central disk.

The leaves are large, serrated, and slightly hairy. The stems are strong and do not require staking. Except for optional deadheading to keep things tidy, Black-eyed Susan can be left pretty much alone and will come back with vigor year after year. 

Zinnia

	botanical name Zinnia spp.
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 1-4 feet
	hardiness zones 9-11

This low-maintenance farmhouse darling can be grown inexpensively from seed in a riot of sizes and colors. Although zinnia returns perennially in zones 9 to 11, it is most often grown as an annual plant that lives for just one season.

Zinnia’s flowers are big, round, and bold in hues of red, pink, purple, white, yellow, and multi-color. Cut them often to encourage repeat blooms and enjoy their beauty in your farmhouse kitchen. 

White oak

	botanical name Quercus alba
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 50-135 feet
	hardiness zones 3-9

This massive shade tree will take some time to establish, but when it does, you’ll be glad you included it in your rural landscape design. Soaring to heights of up to 135 feet, white oak has a broad, spreading habit that shades play areas and al fresco farm tables.

Its horizontal branches offer the perfect limb for a tire swing, and its acorns please the local critters. The shade it provides will also keep your utility bills in check. 

Sustainable

If you’re interested in reducing water consumption, controlling soil erosion, and reducing waste, consider implementing a sustainable landscape design. It doesn’t matter what kind of home style you have. The principles are the same and can be applied to a home in any part of the world. Focus on efficiency and usefulness rather than aesthetics. 

Choose plants that are native to your region and will not need a lot of supplemental water, once established. Reduce or eliminate turf grass and chemical applications. Look for ways to capture rainwater, harness the sun, and recycle existing materials. In areas with high wind, choose plants with dense root systems to hold soil in place. Set aside an area for growing food or raising chickens to reduce your carbon footprint.

Goes with: 

Any home style.

Design principles: 

Efficiency, water conservation, native plant use, solar power, recycling, turf reduction, food production, moderate maintenance. 

Featured Plants:

In sustainable landscape design, plants that reduce a home’s strain on natural resources are always a top priority. Look for trees that have filtering properties, native flowers that nourish the local ecosystem, ground cover to replace turf grass, and plants that reduce dependency on outside food sources.

Blue spruce

	botanical name Picea pungens
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 30-60 feet
	hardiness zones 2-7

This Rocky Mountain native performs best in cooler regions with true winters. It has a conical shape, a horizontal branching pattern, and a beautiful blue-gray needle color. Sustainable garden plans often include blue spruce for its ability to capture carbon with its leaves and hold the soil with its roots. It is also more drought-tolerant than most spruce species. 

Pennsylvania Sedge

	botanical name Carex pensylvanica
	sun requirements Full sun to full shade
	height 2-10 inches
	hardiness zones 3-8

Often selected to replace traditional turf grass, Pennsylvania sedge is a major player in sustainable landscape design. Its fine, narrow leaves resemble blades of grass and grow in tufts or mounds that have a vivid, bright green color.

Its roots creep and spread, forming colonies that hold the soil in place and suppress weed growth. Pennsylvania sedge’s only maintenance requirement is an annual cutback with the mower. 

Pea

	botanical name Pisum sativum
	sun requirements Full sun to partial shade
	height 2-3 feet
	hardiness zones 2-11

Plants in the pea family are included in sustainable design plans partly because they provide an on-site food source but also because they add nitrogen to the soil. This can reduce the need for artificial fertilization, which has negative implications for local water systems and neighboring plants. Peas are easy to grow from seed, and they come in both bush and vining varieties.