For more than 30 years, the owners of this property in Riverwoods, Illinois, tended the land they lived on. As they began embracing a new stage of life, these avid gardeners envisioned a home and landscape enveloped in greenery, where every window frames a view.

That dream took root when the couple purchased the neighboring property and folded it into the existing landscape. The expanded site, now 24,000 sq ft, became the foundation for a private outdoor sanctuary; a garden idea that feels both cultivated and wild.

It was designed in collaboration between Chicago-based landscape architect The Outside Design Studio and interior architect En Masse Architecture & Design. Their plan layers the homeowners’ romantic vision of the rustic Italian countryside with a generous vegetable garden and a design-forward, working greenhouse.

To unify the two parcels of land, The Outside Design Studio extended the driveway into a looping path that moves gracefully through the new grounds, in deference to the surrounding terrain.

The team drew inspiration from existing boulders and bluestone thresholds, continuing the use of bluestone throughout the property. They carried design cues from the main house into the detailing of the garden beds, fences, gates and pergola.

Planting was conceived as a study in structural harmony, a deliberate composition linking the existing gardens with newly designed spaces. Seasonal plantings bring pops of color throughout the year, and it looks particularly beautiful in fall.

Hydrangea macrophylla provides sculptural mass, while ‘Summer Beauty’ punctuates the borders with vertical rhythm.

Black-eyed Susan, or ‘Goldsturm’, extends the composition into late summer, its golden forms reinforcing the layered structure. Each plant was selected for form, texture and seasonal progression.

The pergola is built from the same cedar used at the home’s entry. It frames a striking Italian terracotta planter, which serves as the garden’s axial focal point.

A generous vegetable, fruit and raised bed kitchen garden appears naturally on the other side of the pergola, beautifully zoned using neutral gravel and subtle fencing.

Designed by En Masse as both a horticultural workspace and an extension of the home’s living spaces, the modern greenhouse blurs the line between utility and leisure.

On any given day, it might serve as the homeowner’s workshop and seed-propagation haven, its custom metalwork complementing a stone sink and cast-concrete potting benches.

Or it might transform into a candlelit dining space, flowing naturally from the kitchen for intimate dinners surrounded by greenery.

At the garden’s edge sits the pavilion. Mirroring the architecture of the main house, it brings visual weight to the landscape, while also providing a practical space to house tools.

Inside, the space becomes a post-gardening escape for pause and reflection, complete with French bistro tables, wrought-iron chairs and a rustic chandelier.

This is a garden designed to support everyday living just as much as it invites moments of pause.

: The Outside Design Studio and En Masse Architecture & Design

Landscape construction: Pappas Company