Screened from the street by a high rock wall
and hedges, plants here have a soft palette
that stuns through sundown.
TOP LEFT A bluestone
patio near the house
offers the perfect spot to
sip a cocktail on summer
evenings and take in the
pale colors and fragrances
of the 25-foot-long double
border. Between the chairs,
tangerine blossoms amid
the veined, nearly black
leaves of a potted ‘Sparks
Will Fly’ begonia glow like
banked coals.MIDDLE LEFT Sun-loving
great burnet (Sanguisorba
o f fi c i n a l i s ) holds oblong,
wine red fl owers atop
wandlike stems from
midsummer through
autumn. Michael tucks it
3–4 feet deep in a border,
where it grows up through
surrounding plants to
wave its buttonlike fl owers
without obscuring plants
growing behind it.BOTTOM LEFT A passion
for purple plays out in a
moody combo of fl owering
sedum and allium paired
with the purple-black foliage
of perilla. While harmonious
color unites the plants,
their textures and forms—
sprawling fl eshy foliage, airy
puff balls, and spade-shape
matte leaves—provide eye-
catching contrast.LOWER
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“The plants, the way they’re
put together—it’s orderly
and chaotic at the same
time,” Michael says. “I’m
toying with color and texture
harmonies and contrasts.”