The garden has exploded this year (turns out heavy rain + lots of sun + good design + good maintenance are the key, lol). Get excited for this backyard tour, y’all. Last summer we finished another phase of landscaping and turned the massive broken-tennis-court-turned-cement pad into a smaller pickleball court, and then we hired Dennis’ 7 Dees to do all the hardscape and landscape (shout out to Eric, our designer who totally got us). Year one was sooooo pretty. And yet year 2 is an even more magical wonderland of plants. A quick and satisfying recap:

When We Bought The Property…

It was rustic and charming, and while we didn’t intend on doing so much (we loved the idea of grass and using the existing tennis court as a sports court), the construction of the house ruined a lot of the original landscaping, so we launched into re-landscaping. The end of that string was very hard to find (and we still aren’t done – so doing it all in phases).

A Year (Or Two?) Of Mud

Despite our efforts, we had to take out the broken tennis court (which we were able to grind into gravel, BTW, and we used for our access lane), and once the machines were here ripping it all up, the entire yard became a mud pit. I’m not sure if it was more “give a mouse a cookie” syndrome or an unstoppable snowball, but let’s just say it triggered extensive updates that we are so grateful for. The band-aid was pulled off, and the hardscape, landscape, mini-gym, and Soake pool area were all put in.

The Too-Big Cement Pad

But the reduced-sized tennis court was still too big (IMHO, Brian loved the huge sports court, lol, but now realizes that I’m right). So we took a year and a half break and last year hired Dennis’ 7 Dees to reduce the pad and landscape the area underneath it and around the future outdoor BBQ area.

Last summer I did a full process post showing how they did it and how long it took, so if you are new to this and you want more info, check out this post.

Cut Down Sports Court, Outdoor Kitchen Summer Of 2025

The Dennis’ 7 Dees crew did such an impressive job – fast, professional, and super high quality. Hot tip – Book them in the fall so they design in the winter for an early spring install – that is their slower time, so they have more crew to put on your project. We finalized the design by February, and it was completely done in late April (or somewhere around there – but FAST).

It looked amazing in year one. Monrovia, which is a huge nursery in Oregon, grows really healthy, robust plants, so they planted larger than you can typically. You could still see bark and some plants were still small, but for year one we were so impressed.

Introducing…Summer Backyard Tour 2026

It’s so lush and beautiful right now, and we are enjoying the heck out of this yard. It changes every month, so I didn’t know when to shoot it, and August normally gets pretty hot, so I thought mid-July would be best. But little did I know that all the hydrangeas turn to blush pink in late July, and now I want to show you that!

Seating Set

The winter was actually still so pretty thanks to the abundance of evergreens (you can see that tour here). We already have had a huge harvest and cutback of the white garden roses, so there are less of them in these shots, but they are coming back really strong. Oh, and as you can see, we added some way more comfortable and durable seating by Polywood that I can leave out year-round without being covered (yes, in the extreme rain).

The sofa and chair set is really comfortable and is getting so much use already (it’s the best place to read while the kids are playing on the sports court). Being surrounded by the greenery feels like you are in a hidden garden, and by the time I’m out there reading (in the evening ) it’s shaded by the tall trees. But we have a third umbrella on hand during daytime hangs.

The entire garden looks like it’s been here for years and years. It’s just so lush and natural. Remember that Oregon conditions make it much easier to have a lush garden – the entire city looks so beautiful and abundant right now. Our summers are dry, so you don’t invest in this kind of landscaping without irrigation unless you are good at daily watering, but the rest of the year is so wet that the second the sun comes out, everything just bursts and it’s incredibly satisfying. We have all our irrigation on our well, thank goodness, and Dennis’ 7 Dees monitors the water needs closely.

I love that the ground cover in between the stones is thriving and so sweet. Dennis’ 7 Dees also did the area on the left side of the gazebo, which really softened that harshness of the building and made it look like it’s been there longer.

Adirondack Chairs

Aesthetically, we loved the wood picnic tables more, but functionally no one really wanted to sit in them (I think people felt locked into a conversation during parties, not to mention the lack of back support). I found that most people remained standing holding their food and drink, and as a host that mostly cares that people have fun and can relax, it bummed me out. So having these two conversation groupings (one for firepit, one for lounging) has been awesome, and they get SO MUCH USE.

I chose the green Polywood in hopes that it would blend the most year-round. We thought that black would be too modern and that white would be too bright, and we already had the green stools so we just went with it. Then we chose a more tonal soft green Sunbrella fabric to reduce contrast and again, just have them blend in with the garden.

Our wild strawberry groundcover has really taken hold in some places, but it’s so lush and natural that we love it.

We love how layered it is with different heights, textures, sizes of leaves, and color variation. There are still a lot of perennials, and some are just not popping up (so many more echinaceas have bloomed since we shot this).

I’m sure a lot of you are wondering about maintenance, because obviously this doesn’t maintain itself. Because of my job, this property needs to look good year-round, so I’m so grateful to have Dennis’ 7 Dees crew maintain it (Fernando comes every week in the summer and once a month after big cutbacks in the winter). Charlie and Elliot mow the lawns unless we are out of town. And then once a quarter, a project manager will come by and see if there are any more major tweaks that need to be made or requests from us. The garden has a mind of its own, and some plants take over, or maybe we want a jasmine to climb the posts, etc. So then we pay extra for additional work outside of maintenance. It’s a big property, but they did a really good job of weed abatement, so it’s usually a 2-3 hour maintenance every week.

I think we are those odd clients that don’t mind it more grown and less manicured (I don’t even like sharp edgelines on the grass), so we often let things grow more and then we’ll cut back in the late fall. I know it’s an extreme luxury and privilege to have maintenance, but one of the best things we did this time around is hiring the same people that designed and installed the landscaping to do the maintenance. They just know the overall art direction and irrigation system so well when it needs to be tweaked. There is so much trust. Also, having an in-house maintenance team means they are inherently much more invested in keeping it looking really good and keeping all the plants healthy because it’s their work. Same with interior design, there are going to be changes and tweaks based on how a family lives so I actually love it when my friends call and say “hey we need to get new bedding, what do you think about this” so that the room remains looking good 🙂 (Don’t worry, it’s not a requirement and I’m not weird about it, but I like that we both care that the design work continues to look really good, even years after its “reveal”).

The hydrangeas really are the star right now. They are Panicle (sun-loving) hydrangeas from Monrovia that Dennis’ 7 Dees has at most of their nurseries. They change colors – more pink in late summer and burgundy in the fall. Truly incredible.

Eric also redesigned the pool area this year, which is growing in so well, but I’ll show you that in our next Soake pool update post. While I loved the wildflowers from years 1-3, they were getting too messy even for us, so we took most of them out and Dennis’ 7 Dees planted more of what we have around the flagstone here instead. It’s still natural, but it’s so pretty and is easier to see over.

The overhead shots really are my favorites – we feel extremely, extremely lucky. This summer we had so many kids here every day running around. And don’t worry, all the random socks, towels, plastic squirt guns, frisbees, balls, water cups, janky pool toys, and trash are not shown – it doesn’t always look this good. We always have to do a huge yard cleanup before we shoot in the summer because these feral summertime kids do a lot of beloved damage.

Our Soake pool has gotten so much use this summer (and winter and fall and spring) because even though it’s small, when it’s hot outside it’s PERFECT.

We have our annual pickleball tournament fundraiser for our elementary school in two weeks, which is only for grownups (and taken very seriously by some of our neighbors). It’s always a blast, so I’ll try to take more footage (but understandably not all our neighbors are as psyched to be all over the internet as I am). Point is, we feel extremely grateful and lucky to live here and continue to use and share our yard.

We have 2-3 more months of nightly hangs out here before the great long dark. So trust me that we’ll take advantage of every night possible.

Here is a pretty fun true “before and after”!

And the next two are sliders showing the difference between last year and this year:)

A huge thanks to Dennis’ 7 Dees for the design and install of the garden. If you are in the Portland area, I can’t recommend them enough for design, project management, install, and maintenance. And for most people who aren’t going to hire out for a full design, their nurseries are the best (one in Lake Oswego, a new one near me in Raleigh Hills, Cedar Hills, and Vancouver). And for a very fun perspective from their side as well as specific plants they used, head to their post on the project🙂

*Photo by Kaitlin Green