Located alongside an end-unit townhome in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood is a yard designed to engage the homeowners’ three children. The parents hired landscape architect Stephen Prasses to create an inviting space that would encourage their kids to spend as much time as possible outdoors, immersed in their little slice of nature in the city.
Yard at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple with three young children
Location: Chicago
Size: 3,600 square feet (334 square meters)
Landscape architect: Prassas Landscape Studio
Landscape contractor: Topiarius
“The yard had been professionally landscaped by former homeowners in the past and had great bones,” Prassas says. After his clients bought the home, the main goal was to make the yard child-friendly. The patio, an adjacent deck (just outside this photo’s frame on the right) and a small lawn area were existing. There also were well-established trees, a tall arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis, USDA zones 2 to 7; find your zone) privacy hedge and other woody plants in place. Prassas tweaked the patio to improve the flow from the deck to the yard, adding some stairs (not shown). He also added pots for herbs along the patio.