Southern Appalachian winters, though finicky, are happily short. A bit of reluctant snowfall, some brief cold stints requiring heavy sweaters, and then it’s over like a miracle, with three seasons of Blue Ridge gorgeousness to follow.
As this issue of Carolina Home + Garden went to print, the shawls of Eastern redbud had already blushed and faded, tulips were bumping up all over, and the mildest spring green was starting to soften the foothills — fated to submit to deeper foliage as spring draws out its dominion.
This episode of the natural life in mountain-area N.C. must be experienced live. As for the unimaginably lush summer and blazing fall — well, these lordly spectacles would be a shame to miss, too. It’s even possible that the concept of the “three-season room” was custom-made for our region. As though in answer, regional landscape architects, master masons, designers, and other building professionals are creating increasingly press-worthy outdoor-living spaces.
An “outdoor room” can be a simple act of informed subtlety — enclosing a porch or deck increases the comfort of its occupants; cantilevering that new shelter lets in maximum sunlight. On the loaded end are feats of next-level artistry, including rock-hewn mini-amphitheaters, teak-trimmed pavilions angled to showcase Asian-style gardens, deep-sunk lap pools that finish at swim-up bars, and water features so brilliant they’re gaming for comparison with WNC’s own native cascades.
Concurrent with our Asheville Outdoor Living Expo on April 23 and 24, and on the cusp of the region’s natural beauty explosion, we highlight in these pages some of the area’s most scene-stealing outdoor rooms — ripe to admire, meant to inspire.