• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • The Magazine
    • The Peachy Team
    • 2025
      • Spring 2025 (Båstad, Sweden)
      • Summer 2025 (North Carolina)
    • 2024
      • Spring 2024 (Jacksonville)
      • Summer 2024 (Boston)
      • Fall 2024 (Aspen)
      • Holiday 2024
    • 2023
      • Spring 2023 (Anniversary Issue)
      • Summer 2023 (Turks & Caicos)
      • Fall 2023 (Charlotte)
      • Holiday 2023
    • 2022
      • Spring 2022 (Nantucket)
      • Summer 2022 (Austin)
      • Fall 2022 (Asheville)
      • Holiday 2022
    • 2021
      • Spring 2021 (Charlotte interiors)
      • Summer 2021 (St. Louis)
      • Fall 2021 (Palm Beach)
      • Holiday 2021
    • 2020
      • Spring 2020 (Richmond)
      • Summer 2020 (Greenville, SC)
      • Fall 2020 (The Hamptons)
      • Holiday 2020
    • 2019
      • Spring 2019 (Santa Fe)
      • Summer 2019 (Charlotte Garden Issue)
      • Fall 2019 (Cape Cod)
      • Holiday 2019
    • 2018
      • Spring 2018 (Boston)
      • Summer 2018 (Ponte Vedra)
      • Fall 2018 (Anniversary Issue)
      • Holiday 2018
    • 2017
      • Spring 2017 (Birmingham)
      • Summer 2017 (San Francisco)
      • Fall 2017 (Jackson Hole)
      • Holiday 2017
    • 2016
      • Spring 2016 (Savannah)
      • Summer 2016 (Los Angeles)
      • Fall 2016 (NC Mountains)
      • Holiday 2016
    • 2015
      • February March 2015 (Nashville)
      • May June 2015 (Washington, D.C.)
      • July August 2015 (New Orleans)
      • September October 2015 (Austin)
      • Holiday 2015
    • 2014
      • January February 2014 (Park City)
      • March 2014 (Chicago)
      • April May 2014 (Charlotte)
      • June July 2014 (Charleston)
      • August September 2014 (Santa Barbara)
      • October November 2014 (Atlanta)
      • Holiday 2014
    • 2013
      • September 2013 (Charlotte)
      • October November 2013 (Dallas)
      • Holiday 2013 (New York)
  • Style
  • Beauty
  • Entertaining
  • Interiors
  • Gardens
  • Wellness
  • Insiders’ Guides

Peachy the Magazine

You are here: Home / Gardens / An Urban Retreat

August 30, 2013

An Urban Retreat

Written by Blair Farris
Photography by Raymond Grubb

When the new owners purchased their Charleston-style house, they were not daunted by the small lot with far reaching vines, overgrown trees and shrubs, lack of privacy and seemingly little space to accommodate their long, programmatic wish list. After living in New York and London, the couple was ready to call Charlotte, N.C. home again and move back to the neighborhood where the husband grew up. They called on their old friend, Charlotte-based garden designer, Laurie Durden. Laurie collaborated with her clients to create an urban retreat for their family of six, with four growing boys and a dog.

Urban Retreat Charlotte - Garden Design
Creeping fig vines kept within the arches accentuate the architecture of the new wall, while holly, ferns, and annuals provide textural and seasonal interest.

“There were many practical requirements to tackle, including additional parking, privacy in the front and back yards, a swimming pool, play space for their lacrosse-playing boys, entertaining space, and a garden for the owner to grow the flowers she loves so much. We used every inch of the property to accommodate nearly everything on their wish list. I think we were all little surprised by how much we could include in the plan and by how spacious the property felt,” commented Laurie.

An Urban Retreat - Landscape Design Rendering
Urban Retreat Charlotte - Garden Design
Classic urns with double-boxwood topiaries at the entry gate welcome visitors. The gate piers will be covered with climbing ‘Sally Holmes’ roses in the spring.

The front of the property was divided into two separate spaces, each enclosed by hedges. The motor court is constructed of hand-molded brick from The Old Carolina Brick Company in savannah grey and colored concrete creating an immediate classic feeling. The paving pattern minimizes the scale of the parking and defines the entrance to the house. The distinctive hand-wrought iron arch and gas lantern signify that the visitor has arrived.

An enclosed garden was created in the front of the house that simultaneously welcomes the neighbors, creates views from the interior and yet provides screening for the owners’ privacy. A traditional southern palette of boxwoods, camellias, cherries and Little Gem magnolias were used to enclose the property from the sidewalk and street creating a more urban than suburban space. Strategic screening in the front with a retaining wall that also acts as a bench is the perfect place for the boys to hang out and wait for their neighborhood friends. There is a small entrance into the front garden that is centered directly on a striking urn planted for year-round interest. The front beds are overflowing with Autumn ferns, foxglove and lenten rose to provide seasonal interest and beauty to the structure.

Urban Retreat Charlotte - Garden Design
The low retaining wall in the front garden is a wonderful place to sit and catch up with neighbors. The camellias just beyond provide privacy and will be covered with flowers each fall.

In the rear garden, the 8′ perimeter wall continues the Charleston theme. To diminish the scale of the wall, Laurie designed arched, inset panels with open brickwork that allow for airflow for healthy plants and people while providing the desired privacy. Climbing fig fills the arches at the pool to give texture, accentuate the arches and minimize the wall. The imperfect mortar application makes the wall appear authentic and aged. With the permission of the neighbors, Laurie cleverly added a back gate as a shortcut to the boys’ school bus stop. The terrace off the house is made of brick in a ninety-degree herringbone pattern with random limestone pavers. The limestone breaks up the space and gives the feel of different rooms.

Urban Retreat Charlotte - Garden Design
The garden as seen from the pool terrace and dining area. The standard holly trees at the rear wall will eventually grow together to form an aerial hedge, providing dense screening above the wall.
Urban Retreat Charlotte - Garden Design
The raised terrace and loggia is a perfect spot to view the garden with coffee on a quiet morning or in the afternoons when the garden is filled with friends who have come over to play.

The elegant pool is edged with a 3″ thick limestone coping and contains swim jets and a spa tucked behind the sitting area on the pool terrace. The focal point of the pool area is a fountain wall that also serves to hide the pool equipment from sight and sound. The lion’s head fountain is a nod to the three boys with Leo as their astrological sign. The family spends many hours lounging and playing in the pool. With the dining area adjoining the pool, the
design is efficient and functional for daily life and special occasions.

Urban Retreat Charlotte - Garden Design

The rear lawn serves as a mini lacrosse field for the boys. The lawn is edged with an ogee brick curb and the lawn panel is a perfect place for the boys to play and the family to entertain. The planting beds around the lawn are planted with boxwoods and other evergreens to give the garden structure, but a profusion of perennials gives the garden a romantic touch. Some of the classic perennials include peonies, roses, dahlias, hydrangeas, anenomes, verbena, salvia, and cleome. Jasmine vines and climbing roses soften the crisp edges and provide a beautiful fragrance for the backyard. Laurie worked with her clients to design custom benches along the loggia edge that are used as seating and also as a railing, again using every space wisely. The stone urns placed at the back of the yard draw the eye across the lawn and are planted with lush seasonal color.

Urban Retreat Charlotte - Garden Design

Furnishings are functional and flexible to accommodate the family on a daily basis, but easily expand for larger parties. The handmade signature blue bench at the rear of the yard references the gardens at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington D.C. The bench is classic, but whimsical lending the garden a bit of playfulness.

The garden was meant to look mature and fit in with the neighborhood at its installation, but as all gardens are never really finished, with patience there will be amendments and changes along the way that provide a wonderful reward.

Urban Retreat Charlotte - Garden Design
The fountain wall is a beautiful backdrop to the pool, while serving a practical purpose of obscuring the pool equipment from sight and sound.

Garden Design: Laurie Durden
Landscape Contractor: The Morgan Landscape Group
Contractor: Salins Group
Pool Contractor: B & B Pools

Gardens Leave a Comment

Previous Post: « Mid-Century Modern
Next Post: A Garden Soirée »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Instagram icon   Facebook icon   Pinterest icon   LikeToKnow.It icon

Subscribe to Peachy

Sign up for your free subscription to Peachy the Magazine.

Kirsten Dexter Spring 2025 Ad
Capizzi Fall 2024 Ad
Cake For Dinner Summer 2025 Ad
Road to Resolution Ad
Ellen Kelly Homes Summer 2025 ad
Wendy Bilas Ad

Contact Us

Questions? Comments? Interested in partnering with us? We would love to hear from you.

Privacy Policy and Disclaimers

Footer


A special thanks to our fabulous partners:
Kirsten Dexter Fine Jewelry logo     Capizzi MD logo     Road to Resolution logo       Ellen Kelly Helen Adams Realty logo       Cake For Dinner logo     Lisa Cashion SparkWell logo     Wendy Bilas Fine Art logo

© 2025 Peachy the Magazine · Wordpress theme by Design By Bloom