This Illinois Garden Feels Like a Hidden Corner of the Italian Countryside – But Its Clever Design Works With the Woodland Landscape

More than 30 years of care and a vision of the Italian countryside shape this wooded Illinois retreat

Rachel Bull's avatar
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Published In Ideas
Yellow black-eyed susan and other fall flowers with black conservatory to the rear
(Image credit: John Boehm)

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.

Fall planting bordering curved pathway in garden

(Image credit: Scott Shigley)

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.

Fall garden with hydrangea paniculata 'limelight' and wooden pergola over a pathway

(Image credit: John Boehm)

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 Allium ‘Summer Beauty’ punctuates the borders with vertical rhythm.

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

Seating area underneath large wooden pergola with vines cascading from the top, surrounded by planting

(Image credit: Scott Shigley)

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.

Lush kitchen garden and raised beds full of seasonal vegetables

(Image credit: John Boehm)

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.

Interior of modern, black framed conservatory with potted plants and dining table

(Image credit: Scott Shigley)

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.

Interior of a garden barn, with a chandelier and iron table and chairs, looking onto kitchen garden

(Image credit: John Boehm)

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.

Designers: The Outside Design Studio and En Masse Architecture & Design

Landscape construction: Pappas Company

Photography: Scott Shigley and John Boehm

Rachel Bull
Rachel Bull
Head of Gardens

Rachel is a gardening editor, floral designer, flower grower and gardener. Her journalism career began on Country Living magazine, sparking a love of container gardening and wild planting. After several years as editor of floral art magazine The Flower Arranger, Rachel became a floral designer and stylist, before joining Homes & Gardens in 2023. She writes and presents the brand's weekly gardening and floristry social series Petals & Roots. An expert in cut flowers, she is particularly interested in sustainable gardening methods and growing flowers and herbs for wellbeing. Last summer, she was invited to Singapore to learn about the nation state's ambitious plan to create a city in nature, discovering a world of tropical planting and visionary urban horticulture.