Why Dakota Johnson’s Poolside Garden Is Turning Conventional Design Rules on Their Head

When it comes to the art of container gardening, conventional advice from professional landscape designers has long centered on the principle of variety. Ask an expert how to style a patio, deck, or poolside terrace, and they will almost invariably tell you to mix things up. Gardeners are routinely advised to combine different shapes, experiment with a wide range of sizes and heights, integrate contrasting colors, and blend various materials to give the human eye a constant feast of visual stimulation.

However, a closer look at celebrity interior and exterior spaces reveals a growing trend toward stripping away clutter in favor of minimalist repetition. This approach is vividly highlighted in a viral Architectural Digest Open Door video tour, which showcases actress Dakota Johnson’s serene Los Angeles home. Rather than following the traditional playbook of eclectic container arrangements, the garden framing Johnson’s historic pool turns standard design advice completely on its head by embracing the exact opposite philosophy.

Originally designed in 1947 by renowned architect Carl Mason, the property features a sweeping, curved retaining wall that provides a dramatic architectural backdrop to the outdoor living space. Along the length of this curved wall, at least twenty to thirty terracotta planters have been meticulously lined up in a uniform row. The visual impact is arresting in its sheer simplicity. Every single container is crafted from the exact same material and shares the same classic shape, repeated rhythmically across the entire length of the masonry.

While many traditional garden designers might look at such an arrangement and argue that it lacks individual focal points or dynamic contrast, the aesthetic choice resonates deeply with those seeking tranquility. In a world saturated with visual noise, the display proves that one does not need an eclectic mix of competing elements to create a compelling outdoor environment. Instead, a homeowner can opt for an atmosphere that feels calm, meditative, and profoundly soothing. The underlying principle at play here is one that seasoned designers frequently apply to small-space container gardening, yet rarely execute on such a grand scale: repetition is truly your best friend.

Why Container Repetition Works

When planting traditional garden borders, the concept of creating a steady rhythm and visual cohesion is a well-established and universally respected technique. The same core logic should naturally apply to container gardening, yet many amateur and professional gardeners alike struggle to trust it. The initial instinct when curating a collection of pots is almost always to treat each vessel as its own self-contained world before attempting to mesh that world with the next one. This frequently leads to a chaotic mix where glazed ceramic pots sit directly next to raw terracotta, tall urns are crowded by short bowls, and brilliant neon-colored blooms clash with neutral beige containers.

Ultimately, the resulting display often ends up looking less like a thoughtfully curated architectural landscape and more like a crowded aisle at a local garden center.

Dakota Johnson’s design approach strips all of that unnecessary visual clutter completely away. By firmly committing to a single material in the form of unglazed terracotta and utilizing pots of nearly identical dimensions, the entire installation achieves a unified, cohesive look. Rather than reading as a fragmented collection of disparate objects and competing plants, the display functions as a single, harmonious architectural stroke.

When a viewer walks along the pool terrace, the human eye is given a chance to rest as it glides smoothly down the row, rather than being forced to jump erratically between competing shapes and colors, which can often induce subtle visual fatigue. The resulting calming effect far outweighs the perceived benefits of a busy, high-contrast design.

Cohesion is the critical keyword in this landscape equation. Terracotta serves as an exceptional material for this type of repetitive styling due to its inherent natural texture and earthy tone. Because clay is a porous, living medium, each individual pot begins to weather, age, and absorb moisture at a slightly different rate than its neighbors. Over time, individual pots develop unique patinas, mineral deposits, and subtle color variations. This natural aging process ensures that a long row of identical terracotta pots eventually looks as though it was organically grown from the earth rather than simply placed there by human hands.

Getting the Scale Right

A very common pitfall when planning container arrangements for expansive outdoor areas—such as a poolside patio or a sprawling stone terrace—is the tendency to select pots that are entirely too small for the surrounding scale. A medium-sized terracotta pot that looks perfectly charming and appropriately proportioned on a kitchen windowsill can easily look entirely lost and out of place in a vast open-air environment, where it risks being visually swallowed up by the hardscape. When working with large open surfaces, the scale of the containers must match the grandeur of the space.

In Dakota Johnson’s Los Angeles garden, the planters are quite substantial, though not overwhelmingly massive. They possess enough physical presence to sit confidently and authoritatively along the sweeping retaining wall, ensuring they read as intentional architectural statements rather than an afterthought. As a general rule of thumb for large outdoor layouts, a container intended for a poolside or patio arrangement should ideally be no smaller than twelve inches in diameter, with designers encouraging even larger dimensions whenever the physical space comfortably allows for it.

For gardeners who find it difficult to completely let go of an eclectic aesthetic, designers suggest a subtle compromise. One can incorporate a few oversized statement pots interspersed strategically along a long, uniform row of medium containers. This prevents the overall display from feeling overly rigid or severe while still carefully preserving the core element of material and structural cohesion.

What to Plant in Them

Choosing the right botanical contents for a uniform row of terracotta pots is crucial to maintaining the intended serene atmosphere. Much like her choice of containers, Dakota Johnson’s arrangement succeeds by exercising strict restraint. Instead of filling the twenty to thirty pots with a chaotic assortment of entirely different botanical species, she utilized repeated plantings of similar shrubs, including classic choices like roses and azaleas, carrying the same floral motif consistently down the entire line.

For a sunny poolside environment exposed to intense ambient heat, an ideal plant selection includes hardy succulents and drought-tolerant shrubs. These resilient plants easily tolerate baking sun, intense reflected light from pool water, and the occasional accidental splash of chlorinated water without showing signs of stress or decline. Classic choices that fit this environment include varieties of agave, aeonium, jade plants, and trailing rosemary. The distinct advantage of utilizing these low-maintenance plants in a repetitive container scheme is that they demand very little daily attention while maintaining a sharp, architectural silhouette year-round.

Conversely, if a patio or courtyard receives significantly more shade, designers recommend shifting toward lush, moisture-loving options such as outdoor ferns, broad-leaved hostas, or a continuous line of neatly clipped boxwood spheres. Ultimately, the specific botanical variety chosen matters far less than a strict commitment to consistency across the entire display.

Practical Considerations

While the aesthetic rewards of a uniform terracotta container garden are clear, several practical horticultural factors must be taken into account. Proper drainage is an essential requirement that must never be overlooked. Because terracotta is a naturally porous material, it breathes and allows air to reach the plant root system while slowly transpiring moisture through the walls of the pot. While this breathability is fantastic for plant health, it also means the material is inherently vulnerable to frost damage in regions experiencing hard winter freezes.

When water absorbed into the microscopic pores of the clay freezes, it expands significantly, frequently resulting in severe cracking or structural failure of the pot from the inside out.

Homeowners living in climates subject to severe winter freezes must plan accordingly if they wish to maintain a permanent terracotta display outdoors. In colder zones, traditional terracotta pots typically need to be emptied and brought indoors or into a protected shelter during the coldest months of the year. For those where moving dozens of large pots annually is simply not feasible, frost-proof terracotta—which is fired at significantly higher temperatures to reduce porosity—offers a much more durable alternative. Another practical option is the use of double-walled resin planters finished to closely mimic the appearance of aged terracotta, providing the desired visual aesthetic with far greater resistance to extreme weather exposure.

Ultimately, the primary design lesson drawn from Hollywood’s most talked-for poolside garden is refreshingly straightforward: choose a classic material, commit to it wholeheartedly, and do not be afraid to invest in enough repetition to let the architecture of the space truly shine.