24 Enchanting Outdoor Fountains That Make These Gardens Feel Like Paradise
You'll want to spend hours in these opulent oases.
Surrounded by beds of lavish flowers and lush, indigenous plantings, outdoor fountains lend tranquil and chic qualities to any fanciful garden. Their intricate carvings and elaborately tiled surrounds echo the serene scenes from the Grand Trianon and other great historic oases across the world, lending old-world grandeur to even the newest of landscapes. Furthermore, their hushed splashes of water and storied tiers have just the right amount of elegance to turn a beautiful outdoor space into a meditative sanctuary. Here, 23 charming outdoor fountains that will have you dreaming of verdant mazes and gorgeous foliage, no matter your design style.
Urban Life
In this West Hollywood garden, the landscape team of Hoffman and Ospina designed a simple stucco fountain to buffer the street noise. The buff-colored lime plaster ties together the Tuscan influences seen throughout the outdoor space and main home.
Farm Approach
An urn-like fountain, made with stone from a mini quarry found on the grounds of this bountiful New England garden, draws the eye to the circa-1732 farmhouse. A low privet hedge forms a traditional rondel around the fountain and Vinca minor ground cover.
Light Ambience
A rustic, double-basin fountain provides the quiet soundtrack for dining parties in the kitchen garden of Brooke and Steven Giannetti. The antique table is positioned to allow guests to look out onto the rolling hills of Ojai, California.
Thoughtful Details
In this Mediterranean-inspired garden in Malibu, California, landscape architect Scott Shrader repurposed a reclaimed wellhead to act as a fountain in the courtyard. Olive trees frame the pathway to a terraced overlook with views of the mountains.
Seaside Tranquility
Bordered by both the sea and mountains, this Montecito home is surrounded by natural beauty. Landscape designer Steve Gierke of Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects devised an elaborate garden plan that celebrates its surroundings while asserting architectural intrigue. The pebble mosaic amid Iceberg roses and boxwoods creates a sleek water path straight to the ocean.
European Sensibility
Houston-based landscape designer Herbert Pickworth took notes from this home's French-inspired architecture, originally designed by William Ward Watkins, to pare down the garden’s web of overgrown plantings. At the center of the garden, French fountains from the 1920s and formal arrangements of crepe myrtles and clipped boxwoods work in tandem to create a romantic getaway at home.
Classic Southern Charm
Ask anyone who has grown up visiting or living in the deep South, and they'll tell you that nothing quite beats the views from your own veranda. At this Greek Revival–style house in Georgia, architect Gil Schafer created a sense of contrast with loud, tomato-red furniture overlooking peaceful fountains pools, linear boxwood hedges, and a soaring pine forest.
Waves of Folly
Whimsy and joy flutter throughout this Houston escape designed by Curtis & Windham Architects, thanks in part to a bronze elephant fountain (Dan Ostermiller) and a Versailles-inspired pergola. Canary Island date palms lend vertical visual interest around the pool.
Urban Oasis
A lush emerald lawn, manicured hedges, and bubbling rectangular fountains invoke a moment of much-needed tranquility at this downtown Chicago manse. Design firm Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects planted an allée of mature maples and boxwoods in the parterre garden to make the space feel more traditional and match the home’s Irish Georgian–style architecture.
Lush Relaxation
Designer Bunny Williams solicited the help of this Palm Beach Mediterranean-style villa's original architect, Jeffrey W. Smith, to redo the pool and landscaping to establish a timeless outdoor space. This marble dolphin fountain from Withington and Company Antiques overlooks the hot tub with Palm Beach’s lush greenery as its background.
Statued Settings
The peaks of the Santa Ynez Mountains set the scene for a perfect outdoor dinner in the ornate gardens of this marvelous Santa Barbara estate. The verdant setting is brimming with storied fountains and intricate architectural design work by Warner Group Architects.
Tall and Centered
Standing in the middle of this chevron-brick inner courtyard, a three-tiered fountain creates a sense of everlasting grace at the Palm Beach home of designer Betsy Shiverick. The loggia furniture includes Brown Jordan rattan seating with pendants from Paul Ferrante. The exterior shutters are painted Herb Garden by Benjamin Moore.
Spouts of Tudor
Before moving into this 1920s Tudor-style cottage, homeowner and designer William Eubanks added more than a quarter acre of labyrinthian gardens and formerly planted rooms. The whimsical spouting fountain and statuary create a thought-provoking atmosphere among the verdant boxwoods.
Calm Cascades
Amid the rolling hills of Santa Barbara, whimsical spouting lion’s-head fountains play with cypress and oleander plantings in the lush oasis of this serene getaway designed by Ann Holden.
Quiet Moments
Nestled at the heart of this Palm Beach villa’s gardens designed by Bunny Williams, a quiet fountain by Mario Nievera both complements and pulls the attention to the home’s natural rich oasis.
A Grand Escape
Splendor and nobility resonate through the grounds and halls of Château de Pouy-sur-Vannes, the French retreat of design icon Juan Pablo Molyneux. A playful peacock named Brunelleschi roams the 17th-century-style formal gardens with multiple tiered and self-containing fountains.
Romantic Waves
A 19th-century French cast-iron fountain bubbles among the romantic beds of roses throughout Oprah Winfrey’s outdoor sanctuary in Montecito, California. Master rosarian Dan Bifano assisted the media mogul in developing crushed granite pathways with matching stonework to frame her favorite blooms—apricot Bronze Star, fragrant Heaven on Earth, and the unusual Distant Drums.
Subtle Touches
Designer Richard Hallberg awakens the spirit of this Andalusian-style California home with the help of vintage European furnishings and emerald indigenous plantings. A 16th-century stone lion looks over a pool and terrace featuring delicate spouts. The outdoor cushion and pillow fabrics are from Formations.
Sculpted Glamour
Continental flair mingles with historic touches on the grounds of this 1920s Palm Beach villa originally designed by prominent architect John L. Volk. Manicured greenery, stone pathways, and a sculpture-like fountain radiate old-world elegance throughout the estate.
Tropic Shimmer
Inspired by the setting of this Costa Rican retreat, designer Beth Webb uses natural materials, like coralina stone pavers, to set a breezy tone within the home’s courtyard, complete with a containing fountain. Curtains in a Perennials fabric hang from ivy-covered arches. The pillows in the loggia are covered in Schumacher and Sunbrella fabrics.
Sarah DiMarco (she/her) is the associate editor at VERANDA, covering all things design, architecture, art, gardens, jewelry, travel, wine and spirits. She also manages social media for the brand.
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