Yard of the Week: Lush Seattle Garden With a Cozy Fire Pit

After: Galante replaced the concrete with flagstone and added a fire pit and seating. “We went with a natural palette with the stone and the brick,” Galante says. The irregular shape of the patio is in keeping with the rustic look the homeowners desired.

The vine growing up the corner of the house and along the entry overhang was another priority within the design. “This is a hop vine [Humulus lupulus, zones 4 to 8] that the homeowner has been growing for many years. He had trained it across the overhang, and it was important to him that we protect it,” Galante says.

Galante reports that the homeowners love their pots and planters. She filled the built-in brick planters around the patio with ‘EverColor Everest’ Japanese sedge (Carex oshimensis EverColor Everest ’Carfit01’, zones 5 to 9), which adds soft color and texture against the fence. The pot on the right has autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora, zones 5 to 8) and creeping jenny (Lysimachia nummularia, zones 3 to 9).