B eautiful gardens are a border-blur⛄ring tapestry of strategic design, strong silhouettes and thoughtful palettes. They elevate the architecture of a home as much as they enhance the lifestyle of its residents.

To landscape designers and talented gardeners, outdoor space is a canvas. They paint with plants and create tricks of the eye – homes can appear larger, vistas made more dramatic and boundaries removed. “When well executed, a fine house rest💝s seamlessly within its setting,” says David Ashmore of Ireland Sotheby’s International Realty.

There is no question that people love their gardens. Professღional landscaping services in the United States alone is a multi-billion dollar industry. From backyards to balconies, and from classic gardens to modern vertical ones, these spaces allow homeowners to outwardly personalise their surround🍬ings.

According to the 2018 Remodeling Impact Report from the National Association of Realtors, landscape enhancements and upgrades rank high on the “joy score” of homeownersh🥃ip.

That joy is universal. English, F🔯rench, Italian, Persian, Japanese gardens, there’s hardly a region or culture that doesn’t have an idealised interpretation of nature.

In the Irish village of Grangecon, about 30 miles south of Dublin, a historic Tudor residence and equestrian farm is set among 256 acres of rolling hills and ancient trees. Flowering gardens, hidden green pathways and classic hedgerows create a magnificent rural retreat, and Ashmore says they add 🐬a “majestic provenance and history” to the estate, the effect of 🌼which is “magical”.

Just as there are trends in architecture, landscape design is also influenced by other cultural changes. Modern gardens ꦉare more inviting and involving, with a focus on the way form and function play into the outdoor experience.

“Creating distinct green ‘rooms’ allows homeowners to travel through their garde🌊ns,” says David Bennett, landscape archꦗitect and founder of Bennett Design & Landscape in Atlanta, Georgia. “One area might serve as a quiet sanctuary for relaxation, while another is for entertaining.”

Current trends call for whimsically coloured and intricately patterned plants. Some designs embrace a sculptural approach, complemented with ornamental grasses for texture and movement. Traditionalists love the 🌞time-honoured aesthetic of formal gardens with their balance, symmetry and strong architectural composition. Cottage gardens are classic in a more informal way, with bursts of colour within an intentionally haphazard look.

Gardens not only paint a picture, they form a narrative – “an intrepid story often told by th🔜e adaptations and additions by various owners over time”, says Ashmore.

“Everything vibrates in harmony,” says de🐭signer Juan Pablo Molyneux of this majestic Spanish Colonial–style villa perched on a bluff overlooking the Pacific in Pebble Beach. Molyneux’s renovation has transformed the 1920s-built home into a masterpiece, with a grand salon and dining room, an ocean-view library and six bedrooms, all displaying gracious proportions and one-of-a-kind decorative details. Tall shade trees, emerald grass and meandering pathways contribute to the idyllic feel of the courtyard gardens, where archways are accented by hand-painted tilework by Atelier Prométhée.

^{Sotheby’s International Realty – Carmel Rancho Brokerage
Michael Canning, Jessica Canning, Nicholas Canning
+1 831 238 5535}

In a landmark Seattle neighbourhood of elegant mansions, the privately-gated WillowDon Estate takes in 174ft of waterfront along Lake Washington’s prized shores, cov♎ered parking for seven cars and e💧njoys cutting-edge technological systems and almost two acres of gardens designed by the Olmsted Brothers, who figure prominently in Seattle’s horticultural history.

^{Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty
Mary Norris +1 206 713 2151
Laura Halliday +1 206 399 5842}

This is one of the great estates in County Wiꦺcklow and just 32 miles from🌞 Dublin city centre. With a colourful history and equestrian provenance, the estate features a charming tudor residence surrounded by picturesque grounds and thriving gardens.

^{Ireland Sotheby’s International Realty
David Ashmore +353 87 251 2909}

Casa Corazón is a majestic beachfront villa with a unique style that combines nature and luxury. Architect Miguel Quintana Pali designed the property with wide walls and open spaces but also infused it with details throughout, such as soli🍬d wood beams and impressive palapas. The beautiful interior garden of orchids adds vivid colour and tranquillity into this magnificent residence.

^{Riviera Maya Sotheby’s International Realty
Violeta Marquez and Eloy Gonzalez +52 9848033026}

This pr🍰operty in exclusive Birnam Wood – Montecito’s only gated residential golf course community – is ideal for stylish living and entertaining. It features a formal living room, a dining solarium, an airy open-plan great room and kitchen and three spacious, serene bedrooms. A veranda overlooks the gardens, which include roses and other flowering plants, herbs, manicured hedges, a fountain, verdant lawn and a pool. Be🅺yond a privacy hedge with a decorative iron gate, a fairway beckons.

^{Sotheby’s International Realty – Montecito Coast Village Road Brokerage
Maureen McDermut +1 805 570 5545}

^{Iyna Bort Caruso is a New York-based journalist}