This little garden found on
Aesthetes Lament stole my heart. A centuries old style. Do you see only a woman standing in gravel? Ha!
Gravel is cheaper than stone, doesn't require skilled labor and lasts as long as a stone terrace.
Creating a planting bed in gravel is simple, place cobblestones as edging and presto---a planting bed.
The bed, below, is lush and has stakes ready for tall blooms and twine ready for, most likely, clematis.
A solid urn is a wise choice atop the brick column. Who wants to water a pot that high? Do you want to climb a ladder and replant a pot up there?
An iron gate contrasts materials, shapes and has a keyhole view to another garden room.
Ooooooh mystery, I must go
thru that gate.
Does your garden have mystery? 
No disgusting foundation planting ruins the front of this home. Obama should have included, Americans cling to their foundation plantings as a source of security.
Lushness is espaliered on the house. Easier to maintain espalier 'whatever' than foundation plantings.
A pair of iron clamming baskets frame the sitting man. (Made that up, don't know what those iron baskets are.) Without plants they will hold the design-decorating together.
I want to smell this garden, hear the gravel crunch, meander
thru the gate and ask to use the toilet (the English look at you funny when you ask for the restroom) then I can see inside the house. Assuming I'm on a garden tour of course.
Cecil
Beaton's eye, the photographer, is knowing. Movie-set designer, gardener and writer he adored decadent amounts of fresh flowers in his home, cut from his garden.
He wrote,
Here was the garden at its best & I lay in bed & saw the Picasso & Hockney engravings framed on my side wall, & the pictures were alliterated with the reflections from outside the window of roses blowing in the breeze, & the green marvel of the garden beyond.".
Photo from National Portrait Gallery
Wow. Coming across this picture made me 'lose' the rose again. Remembering when I planted the rose, after Hurricane Opal blew thru Atlanta killing my mature 'Lady Banks' rose. Too much drama! 
Not part of the 'landscaped' garden this outdoor kitchen has loads of character for little cost.
Repeating the arbor, below. Repetition is as important as simplicity in a landscape.
Nearby, below, what my LANDSCAPE DESIGN EQUATION advocates. When you create a landscape design begin with trees. What survives in a landscape? Trees, meadow & stone focal point. If you care about low maintenance, organics, sustainability with rainwater only, creating a realm of beauty to live amongst & leaving something for the future. TREES.
With age the trees have become more spectacular than the house, below. 
Why is this painted brick, below, working for me? I used to hate painted brick. This painted charmer is near the homes pictured above.
And each of the homes edge Washington Park in Albany, New York. Yes, I was there during the tulip festival. 
Below, the wisdom of what lasts in a landscape (trees - meadow) contrasted with the ephemeral (tulips).
Contrasts, another landscape design tool. Above, see the tree design? Canopy, understory, cone, weeping, horizontal, burgundy foliage, deciduous, evergreen, brown bark, white bark, grey bark.
Vines with outward growth add a dimension of lushness & softness.
In winter, the wires are barely visible. Entirely cloaked in summer.
Run galvanized wire in horizontal lines 2' apart.
I use masonry screws for brick walls & a jackhammer drill. Copper wire doesn't carry the load of galvanized wire.
Woody shrubs espaliered against a home need no wires or trellising. Use espaliered shrubs for low maintenance.
No disgusting foundation planting ruins the front of this home. Obama should have included, Americans cling to their foundation plantings as a source of security. Lushness is espaliered on the house. Easier to maintain espalier 'whatever' than foundation plantings.
