For VERANDA's first-ever Outdoor Living Awards, our judges pored through scores of entries, seeking the landscapes with the strongest ground game. And what they found was garden gold, from a rescued Christmas tree farm in the Hudson Valley to a flourishing wildlife sanctuary in Montecito.
"I always look for a strong design plan, and each of the winning gardens had beautiful architecture to it," says interior designer Bunny Williams, who, together with Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA) president Peter Lyden, judged the entries. VERANDA editors first culled down the competition to the top 55 projects, which they turned over to Williams and Lyden for blind judging. The result was eight distinct stand-outs ranging in category from pool house to porch, urban garden to country farm."Some are very formal, some looser, but they all take your breath away," notes Williams.
Lyden agrees, adding that for him, the projects that embraced and built on the natural characteristics of their environments rose to the top.
"I really admire the way these gardens and outdoor living spaces did just that," he says.
Here, a look at the dynamic designs and integrated approaches to house and garden that make these eight projects the landscapes par excellence.
Freshest Flowering Landscape
Design by Hollander Design Landscape Architects, with Haynes Roberts
Most Inspired Materials Mix
Design by Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects, with Christina Rottman
Prettiest Sculptural Design
Design By Herbert Pickworth, with M Naeve
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Magnificent Farm Rescue
Design by Janice Parker Landscape Architects, with Darren Henault
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Most Whimsical Watering Hole
Design by Curtis & Windham Architects, with Windfohr Design
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Most Linger-Worthy Veranda
Design by Gil Schafer and Deborah Nevins
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Lushest Urban Landscape
Design by Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects, with Booth Hansen Architects
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A Wildly Beautiful Revival
Design by Grace Design Associates, with McCormick Interiors
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This feature originally appeared in the March/April 2020 issue of VERANDA.
Best of Outdoor Living 2021
Our call for entries for next year's Outdoor Living Awards will begin in July. Deadlines and rules will be posted here on veranda.com. Follow us on Instagram for updates and announcements.
