{"id":203340,"date":"2026-04-20T14:21:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T14:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/203340\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T14:21:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T14:21:33","slug":"find-outdoor-living-inspiration-in-these-brooklyn-gardens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/203340\/","title":{"rendered":"Find Outdoor Living Inspiration in These Brooklyn Gardens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Including an English-style rear yard and a rooftop lounge, each design reflects the homeowner\u2019s needs and makes the most of the outdoor space.<\/p>\n

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Clockwise from bottom left: Photo by Dan Wonderly, Susan De Vries, Douglas Lyle Thompson, and Anthony Crisafulli<\/p>\n

As the weather warms up and Brooklynites look to take advantage of outdoor space, there are plenty of examples of inspired outdoor living across the borough. Here are eight gardens that weave together plantings, hardscaping, and furniture to extend the living space of their homes.<\/p>\n

All of the gardens were featured in Cara Greenberg\u2019s The Outsider column. Including an English-style rear yard and a rooftop lounge, each design reflects the homeowner\u2019s needs and makes the most of the outdoor space.<\/p>\n

\"ROOFPhoto by Douglas Lyle Thompson<\/p>\n

The Outsider: Suite of Landscaped Outdoor Spaces Extends Cobble Hill Townhouse<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cGardens in the city are very much an extension of how people want to live. Some people lean into romantic notions, others focus on functionality,\u201d said landscape architect Brook Klausing, who designed a coordinated suite of outdoor spaces \u2014 a front yard, backyard and two terraces \u2014 to enhance a newly renovated landmarked brownstone. This explains how the backyard came to be almost wholly paved with bluestone: the homeowner wanted his two kids to have a place to pass and dribble, if not actually shoot hoops.<\/p>\n

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\"BUDDHAPhoto by Emily Gilbert<\/p>\n

The Outsider: Hardscaping Anchors Fort Greene Garden With Seasonal Variety<\/a><\/p>\n

Starting with nothing but an old brick wall, landscape designer Paul Harness created a row-house backyard with formal structure but a lot of flexibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really a blank slate,\u201d said Harness, a 20-year employee of Plant Specialists<\/a>, a Long Island City-based company offering design, installation, and maintenance for everything from window boxes to rooftops. \u201cEverything is 100 percent new.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"ROOFTOPPhoto by Anthony Crisafulli<\/p>\n

The Outsider: Landscaping Extends Outdoor Season for Fort Greene Family<\/a><\/p>\n

When the days grow shorter and evenings chillier, one lucky local family can stretch the outdoor living season and enjoy fall color from four newly landscaped outdoor spaces attached to their vintage townhouse.<\/p>\n

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\"stepsPhoto by Susan De Vries<\/p>\n

The Outsider: Structure, Perennials Enhance Romantic But Overgrown Brooklyn Heights Garden<\/a><\/p>\n

This romantic walled garden has evolved over the years, for reasons both intentional and unintentional. Landscape architect Kim Hoyt originally came in to radically reshape and rethink an overgrown urban jungle for previous owners. Though the space was long neglected, Hoyt knew there were pluses she\u2019d be able to work with. \u201cThere was a beautiful old brick wall on one side, and it was deeply wooded, with a lot of evergreen coverage, on the other,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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\"roses\"Photo by Flo\u2019s Gardens<\/p>\n

The Outsider: English-Style Garden in Cobble Hill Dazzles With Spring Flower Display<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s no such thing as an instant garden, and indeed this rectangular Eden behind a mid-19th century townhouse was two decades in the making. It\u2019s the work of Flo\u2019s Gardens<\/a>, a long-established partnership between Florence Sheers and Cecilia Kuhn, whose full-service practice includes garden design and maintenance, hardscaping, planters, and rooftops.<\/p>\n

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\"garden\"Photo by Douglas Lyle Thompson<\/p>\n

The Outsider: Gravel Expanse, Wattle Fencing Give Bed Stuy Garden a European Courtyard Feel<\/a><\/p>\n

Brook Klausing\u2019s clients recently purchased the two lower floors of a brownstone, with impressive, large-paned windows on the back wall that Klausing likened to \u201cviewing boxes.\u201d But there wasn\u2019t much to view. \u201cThe backyard was a blank slate,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

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\"GardenPhoto by Dan Wonderly<\/p>\n

The Outsider: Two Walled Gardens in Brooklyn Heights Are Low-Maintenance Oases of Serenity<\/a><\/p>\n

Landscape architect Kim Hoyt\u00a0of Kim Hoyt Architecture\/Landscape<\/a> modestly calls her design of two separate outdoor spaces behind this 19th century row house \u2014 a bi-level backyard garden and a walled terrace off the master bedroom \u2014 \u201csimple and minimal, with just a few moves and plantings.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"GardenPhoto by Anna Shive<\/p>\n

The Outsider: Midwood Garden Charms With Subtle Plantings and Plenty of Open Space<\/a><\/p>\n

Low maintenance and user friendly, this 20-foot-wide backyard garden, built and planted by Crown Heights-based Brook Landscape<\/a>, proves that garden design needn\u2019t be complex to be successful. \u201cYou don\u2019t need a ton of ingredients to make a good meal,\u201d points out Brook Klausing, who founded the design\/build company in 2007 with Brian Green, an architect and fellow Kentuckian.<\/p>\n

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Related Stories<\/p>\n

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