Sunlit view from a pergola patio with a green sectional and rope rug through horizontal slat screening to a bluestone path leading to the driveway in a Wilmington DE private garden design

Inside Outside

The design intent for this Wilmington property was to turn a simple breezeway entrance into an inviting transition between the home and a private garden retreat. GreenRoots treated the passage as more than a way to get from one space to another, creating a sense of arrival and discovery that guides guests from the architecture of the home into a secluded garden beyond.

A custom Corten steel screen marks the entrance to this almost secret garden. Its sculptural presence adds a moment of intrigue and lets the garden unfold gradually instead of revealing itself all at once. The warm, weathered steel complements the natural landscape while adding an artistic architectural element to the threshold.

Location

Wilmington,
Delaware

Design/Install

GreenRoots
Design Firm

Photography

Mark Rutt
Creative

Bluestone breezeway walkway lined with ornamental grasses, yarrow, echinacea, and calamint, a glazed ceramic fountain urn, and Corten steel screens beside a mid-century modern home in Wilmington DE
Two women dining at a teak table on a lit bluestone patio, seen through slat screening, a bluestone path, and evergreen branches in a Wilmington DE private garden design

The Project Brief

  • A simple breezeway reimagined as a transition from home to garden
  • A custom Corten steel screen marking the entrance to a private garden
  • A sense of arrival and discovery, with the garden revealed gradually
  • Planting, texture, and a bubbling fountain extending the experience past the threshold
  • Views from inside the home framed to bring the landscape into daily lif
Dusk view of a Wilmington DE entry garden with an uplit ceramic fountain urn, Corten steel screen, yarrow and calamint plantings, a bluestone walk, and a paneled wood front door

The Experience

Step through the front door and the garden is already part of the house. A bluestone path leads between the Corten screens, past drifts of yarrow, echinacea, and white calamint, toward a glazed ceramic fountain urn that murmurs beside the walkway. Planting, texture, and the sound of water carry the experience past the threshold, so the move from interior to garden feels effortless.

Beyond the screens, the breezeway opens into a covered bluestone patio beneath a timber pergola. Horizontal slat screening gives the space privacy while keeping it tied to the woods beyond, and string lights, ceiling fans, and a deep green sectional make it a place to settle in from morning to night. Views from inside the home were framed on purpose, so the garden and the lit patio show up in the everyday life of the house.

The garden was designed to feel discovered, an intimate retreat just beyond the home, where a simple passage becomes an experience of its own.

Woman walking her dog along a bluestone breezeway with string lights, seen through an open paneled door with a glowing globe pendant, toward the garden patio in a Wilmington DE landscape design
Glazed turquoise ceramic fountain urn beside a Corten steel screen, white calamint, yarrow, a white globe planter, and a bluestone path at a Wilmington DE home

A simple passage, made an experience.

Night view of a bluestone breezeway lined with perennials and an uplit ceramic fountain urn, leading to a string-lit pergola patio with a teak dining table and ceiling fans in a Wilmington DE landscape design