Concourse D'Elegance and More Landscaping Inspiration

We are working on our stone courtyard patio and I've been going through my inspiration files (yet again).  Came across these from the Concourse d'Elegance, a vintage car show at the Greystone Mansion in Los Angeles. 

While Milo was looking at the cars, I was snapping pics of the beautiful grounds, which are amazing.

Of course, the Greystone Mansion boasts some sprawling lawns. But, it's the pretty combinations of plants that caught my eye: the Italian cypress trees and lavender, for example. So pretty framing this walkway. Think I'll be borrowing this idea.

Other people were taking photos of the cars, but I was more fascinated by the flagstone with gravel and brick detail.

Certain plants do having stopping power with me: Like this rosemary hedge planted in front of a house near our gym. I spied it one day while walking with the kids. I must have a pic of this, I thought.

I was afraid that the owner would see me stalking her house. But, the rosemary was so pretty and well, genius. I have since borrowed the landscaping idea for the parkway shown here. We have rosemary and lavender planted in that plot between the street and the sidewalk. Ours is covered with pea gravel though.

Ah, back to our house. I'm borrowing some plants in this shot from our neighbor's yard. I do like this plumbago.

And we already have some iceberg roses. We won't need to buy anything new for our yard--we'll just need to move things around. Amen to that.

And did I mention that our neighbors, who own Level Line Construction in West Los Angeles, dropped off some flagstone from one of their jobs. We saved them some hauling fees, and they saved us a lot of money buying flagstone.

Only one small problem: The flagstone we already have, called Wolf's Creek, is everywhere. From our front steps to the pool in the backyard. Wolf's Creek is darker with richer burgundy tones, browns and deeper grays. The new stuff is very light. And yet, did I mention it's FREE? Ah, such a conundrum. My frugal side is conflicting with my aesthetic side again. We'll have to find a creative solution that may involve some concrete stains.

More front courtyard inspiration. Love this pea gravel.

This feels like a fortress. The stone textures mingled with green plants and the flowers are amazing.

Oh, how I would love room for a fountain. Don't think that's in the budget though.

I love the color of these walls with the rich patina and the brick arch detail. We have some old arched doors with chunky hand-forged metals strap hinges going in the front of our house. Would love to figure out how to create an arch like this.

Here's our starting point. Our walls won't be too tall--they should reach the height of the top lite on the arched French doors though. We'll place the pale flagstone, blended with some Wolf's Creek, into the gravel to create our patio floor. I've ear marked a few giant flagstone pieces for the front entry steps. Stay tuned for an update. This should be going in this week so I'll post the after pic as soon as they are available. Fingers crossed we've made the right decision with the walled courtyard. What do you think?