Garden Photo of the Day

Gardens on Steps and Stairs, Part 1

Stairway views from around the world

Greetings from Patty Clark in the Yakima Valley of Washington. Instead of posting photos of my rural garden, I am sharing photos I have taken during my travels. These photos showcase steps and stairs that are encased with or surrounded by self-seeding perennials, mosses, ferns, vines, annuals, succulents, conifers, planters, walls, and spectacular views. Enjoy!

Steps surrounded by stone walls in Cornwall, England, with various flowering plants growing away in the crevices and gaps in the stone. The effect is so romantic and magical! If you want to recreate this in your garden, we’ve got guides to building and planting stone walls.

Moss and containers make a beautiful little garden between these two sets of stairs in Cornwall. If you live in a rainy climate, moss may be the easiest—and sometimes the most beautiful—accent to stonework in your garden.

Greenery between the steps in Cornwall. The tidiest among us may not like this, but I think it looks wonderful.

Life finds a way! Ferns thriving between steps on a stairway in Cornwall.

A few steps lead to a door set in a bower of flowering vines in Cornwall.

These crisp steps run up beside a wall of green in Isola Bella, Lake Maggiore, Italy. You could recreate this look with a tightly sheered hedge, or cover a wall with a clinging vine such as creeping fig (Ficus pumila, Zones 9–11), or Boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata, Zones 4–8).

A magical flight of stairs in Isola Bella is lined with pots of flowering clivia (Clivia miniata, Zones 9–11). Clivia is grown as a winter flowering houseplant for most of us, but if you wanted to have this look in your outdoor garden in a cold climate, pots of daffodils or flowering annuals would work just as well. I think the magic here comes from the use of just one plant repeated all the way up both sides of the stairs. Sometimes the simplest design is the best.

Come back tomorrow for more of Patty’s delightful photos of stairs and steps!

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Comments

  1. User avater
    LauraWilliams 01/15/2019

    I love these gardens decorations

  2. User avater
    meander_michaele 01/15/2019

    Hi, Patty. I love the theme of your pictures today...they certainly prove that stairways can be fertile ground for creative gardening. Each one is so different and so beautiful in its own way. You do have a very artistic eye and have captured some wonderful vignettes to share with us. Thank you. Looking forward to Part 2 tomorrow.

  3. User avater
    treasuresmom 01/15/2019

    Love your pics. It is all so beautiful!

  4. cheryl_c 01/15/2019

    Patty, thank you for taking us on a magical trip 'across the pond' to see what creative gardeners are up to! Can't wait to see your photos tomorrow!

  5. paiya 01/15/2019

    Patty, each staircase is so beautiful and cheerful ( we are snowbound in Philadelphia) that I would be drawn up/ down each one wondering what unexpected pleasure is around the next turn

  6. User avater
    DeweyMessier 01/16/2019

    Really Appreciated!

  7. Joycelaubach 01/16/2019

    These photos help inspire me to see the beauty in all sorts of nooks and crannies. By following a theme like this, the impact is all the better. Thank you for the inspiration.

  8. User avater
    BenjaminShaw 01/17/2019

    Excellent decoration!

  9. User avater
    KennethNguyen 01/23/2019

    marvellous

  10. User avater
    SamBaker 01/23/2019

    nice

  11. User avater
    CynthiaDow 01/24/2019

    beautiful decoration

  12. User avater
    LouisJimenez 01/28/2019

    nice! i like it

  13. User avater
    devinkoblas 01/28/2019

    graceful decoration

  14. User avater
    MarkParker 02/02/2019

    fascinating decoration

  15. User avater
    DanielTaylorr 02/02/2019

    I like it!

  16. User avater
    JimmyCox 02/21/2019

    wonderful

  17. User avater
    KevinHuggins 03/02/2019

    i really like it

  18. User avater
    RonaldTague 03/08/2019

    fascinating

  19. User avater
    JohnPrice6 05/15/2019

    so beautiful

  20. User avater
    ArmandLewis 05/16/2019

    fantastic

  21. User avater
    AnnaMartinez 06/03/2019

    It's amazing!

  22. User avater
    PatrickMclaren 08/14/2019

    graceful!

  23. User avater
    AshlieDPerron 10/12/2019

    Amazing flower settings! Great job!

  24. User avater
    JakeHouck 11/09/2019

    It's lovely!

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