Best Gardens Gallery

Hot Tub Magic: A three sided ipe box, the cover for the hot tub, slides on steel rails for 40 feet through the garden. It serves as a hot tub cover or deck for sunbathing, a modernist frame (in the planted zone), and as a bar for post-soak mojitos.

On Tap: Once the source of drinking water for a small town near Dallas, this abandoned pumping station in Highland Park is now back in circulation.

Sky's the Limit: With lighting fixtures completely concealed in the landscape, the touch of a button that lights up fire pits throughout seems like magic a la Mindfreak. Based in Broumana, Lebanon, this year's winner of the ASLA/Garden Design Residential Award of Excellence, Vladimir Djurovic is an illusionist in his own right, engaging Lebanon's endless sky by deconstructing it and piecing it back together as vast terraces and crystalline pools.

Silent Treatment: Tiered boxwood topiaries mark the transition from pool to shower.

Silent Treatment: The outdoor living room is a cozy family space centered on a large fireplace with a surround of reclaimed granite curbing. Neutral Sutherland furniture spans the seasons.

Silent Treatment: The reflecting koi pond serves as the connector between house and garage, and as the hoyer to the garden. A subtle palette of green — hostas, Siberian iris, boxwood — adds texture.

Silent Treatment: The dining court is furnished with a Massimo teak table from Henry Hall and Toledo chairs by Jorge Pensi.