A native of northern Italy, Turin-based landscape architect Cristiana Ruspa of Giardino Segreto creates the sorts of gardens you see in a dream, with hazy swaths of color against a distant horizon. In designing a garden for a large villa surrounded by hills in the town of Reggio Emilia, she created a colorful landscape that feels painted rather than planted:
Photography via Cristiana Ruspa.
Above: When late-day sunlight hits a planting bed in the middle of the lawn, it makes the fronds of ornamental grasses smolder and turns purple perovskia (Russian sage) luminous.
Above: Ruspa, who trained in Miami as well as in Europe, favors planting palettes that emphasize the use of water-saving plants that thrive in a Mediterranean climate.
Above: Cypress and cork trees anchor garden beds; in the distance are geometric flower beds bordered with woven hazel edging.
Above: The hazel hurdles and planting beds are spaced in a precise, geometric formation to create a checkerboard effect against the lawn.
Above: Wispy grasses give the garden a sense of movement.
Above: A steel pergola is anchored to the surrounding landscape by a deck and walkway made of wooden slats. The height of a pencil-thin cypress tree plays off the pergola's slim, vertical support beams.
Above: Breaching the boundary of the walkway, a border of ornamental grasses and perennials adds an air of informality that plays well against the clipped green lawn.
Above: Silvery gray-green clouds of artemisia soften the edge of a planting bed.
Above: Artemisia, grasses, and seed pods from spent flowers create a colorful autumn landscape.
Above: Young trees are braced against the wind with teepee supports.
Above: From a distance, the silvery foliage of artemisia floats on the lawn.
Above: A rustic railing adds mystery to a wooden walkway bordered by a dry stone wall.
For another of Ruspa's dreamscapes, see The Resurrection of a Medieval Nobleman's Garden.
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