How to Create a Practical Magic-Inspired Garden

There’s something instantly recognizable about the garden surrounding the house in Practical Magic. It’s romantic without feeling precious, lush without feeling overly manicured, and just wild enough to seem like it might have been growing there for generations.

The secret is in the mix. The landscape combines the structure and romance of a traditional Victorian garden with the abundance of a cottage garden, letting it grow a little wild. Climbing vines wander up the house, flowering shrubs surround gates and porches, herbs mingle with ornamentals, and plants spill over containers and garden beds. 

And while you may not have the Owens sisters’ Victorian house, you can get the same look in your own yard.

The key is borrowing a few of the garden’s defining elements: soft colors, layered plantings, climbing vines, old-fashioned blooms, useful herbs and just enough imperfection.

Create Your Color Palette

Before choosing individual plants, think about the garden as a whole.

For an authentic Practical Magic-inspired palette, stick primarily to whites, soft pastels and plenty of green, with occasional dusty autumnal shades mixed in.

Limiting the color palette helps a densely planted garden feel romantic rather than busy. White hydrangeas can mingle with pale roses, purple lavender and deep green foliage without any single plant demanding all the attention.

Think less about matching every bloom and more about creating something that feels collected over time.

5 Ways to Get the Look

1. Let vines climb

One of the easiest ways to create the established, romantic feeling of the Owens house is to add some vertical interest.

Climbing plants can soften hard architectural lines and make newer structures feel like they’ve been part of the garden for years. Train them along trellises, archways or porch pillars to create the effect. Our Plant Expert Adelaide Schreiber, the landscape designer behind our Practical Magic-inspired plan, recommends clematis in particular, noting that it can be gentler on structures than some other climbing plants. 

Plants to try:

Proven Winners® Diamond Ball® Clematis: Masses of delicate, pale-purple flowers make this a natural fit for the garden’s muted palette.

Proven Winners® Happy Jack® Purple Clematis': Vibrant purple flowers add bit of drama along with that lush, climbing effect.

Pretty In Pink Eden Climber® Rose: For more color, a climbing rose brings soft pink blooms and plenty of old-fashioned romance. 

Try this combination: Pair a climbing clematis or rose with white hydrangeas underneath and lavender toward the front of the bed. You’ll get height, oversized blooms and a softer perennial layer—all within the same understated palette.

Climbing vines, like roses, add a romantic, organic feel to garden beds 

2. Aim for imperfectly layered beds

The Practical Magic garden isn't about perfectly clipped hedges and meticulously separated plants. To capture its slightly overgrown character, build layered beds with different heights, shapes and textures.

For the foundation, consider a laurel shrub like the Sofia Cherry Laurel. Its dense evergreen foliage can provide structure and greenery around a home. For this particular look, we recommend letting it grow more naturally rather than keeping it tightly pruned.

Then, bring on the flowers. Annabelle Hydrangea is especially well suited to gates, porches and doorways, where its large white flower clusters add softness and romance.

A larger shrub like Miss Kim Lilac can anchor the corner of a garden bed—or provide a much prettier way to disguise practical necessities like utility boxes.

Designer takeaway: The goal isn't for every plant to stand alone. Use different heights and forms to create the feeling of an abundant, established garden.

Hydrangeas paired with evergreen shrubs creates a dense, layered look

3. Mix in herbs

A garden inspired by Practical Magic should be beautiful, but it can also be useful.

Instead of separating herbs into their own perfectly organized plot, incorporate them throughout the landscape. It gives the garden a more casual, collected quality, and puts fresh herbs within reach when you need them.

Creeping Rosemary works particularly well in containers, where its stems can spill over the edges for the wonderfully unkempt feeling seen throughout the movie's outdoor spaces.

And, naturally, there’s lavender. Try Southern Living® Phenomenal™ Lavender along the fronts of garden beds, beside a picket fence or around the edge of your vegetable garden.

Pair lavender with roses and rosemary for a combination that feels romantic, fragrant and right at home outside the Owens house.

Planted in the ground or in containers, lavender adds blooms, fragrance, and an added bonus of attracting pollinators 

4. Add a flowering tree

Look closely at the outdoor scenes in Practical Magic, and you'll notice flowering trees woven into the landscape. Their light-colored blooms add to the dreamy effect without overwhelming everything growing beneath them.

For something that’s both beautiful and productive, consider a Wenatchee Apricot Tree or Chinese Mormon Apricot Tree. Their spring flowers provide the romantic look, followed by fruit later in the season.

If edible fruit isn't a priority, an ornamental tree like the Yoshino Cherry can create a similar effect with masses of pale spring flowers.

A flowering tree also adds another important layer to this garden style. Think of your landscape from top to bottom: flowering tree canopy, climbing vines, shrubs, perennials and herbs, then trailing plants spilling over the edges.

You don't need every layer everywhere. Repeating a few throughout the landscape is enough to create a garden that feels full and established.

A flowering cherry tree adds a profusion of blooms, without overwhelming the rest of the garden

5. Bring the garden inside

Of course, the greenery doesn't stop at the Owens' front door. The kitchen and sunroom are filled with plants tucked into every available space. The trick here is the same as it is outside: don't make everything too coordinated.

Combine potted herbs, trailing greenery, whimsical indoor plants and cut flowers for an indoor garden that feels like it's there to be used and enjoyed—not simply styled.

In a sunny porch or sunroom, try a potted Southern Living® Chef's Choice® Rosemary or Lemongrass. For spots with indirect light, let a Monstera Adansonii trail from a shelf or planter. In dimmer spaces, the nearly black foliage of a Raven ZZ Plant adds a moodier touch.

And don't worry about matching every pot. A mix of containers, heights and plant shapes only adds to the collected-over-time charm.

Trailing house plants bring the same lush, wild vibe indoors

How to Keep Your Garden Wild—Without Letting It Get Out of Control

The secret to this style is making a garden look a little untamed without actually neglecting it.

Start by choosing plants that are suited to your Growing Zone, sunlight and available space. A lush garden still needs room to grow, so check the mature size of each plant and give it the spacing it needs rather than packing young plants too tightly.

As the garden fills in, aim for a natural shape rather than perfectly manicured forms. Prune shrubs as needed for their health and size, train climbing plants along their supports, and trim or deadhead flowering plants according to their individual care needs.

Containers can also help you get the look without committing every plant to the landscape. Let herbs and trailing plants spill over pots around patios, gates and porches, and move cold-sensitive varieties indoors when needed.

Most importantly, resist the urge to make everything perfect. A branch reaching slightly farther than its neighbor, rosemary tumbling over a planter or flowers leaning into the path aren't necessarily problems to fix—they're part of the charm.

Make the Look Your Own

You don't need to recreate the Practical Magic garden plant for plant to capture what makes it special.

Start with a soft palette. Add something that climbs. Layer flowering shrubs with herbs and perennials. Let a few plants spill beyond their expected boundaries. And choose things you genuinely want to grow, whether that's fragrant lavender outside the kitchen door, an apricot tree you'll harvest from each summer or a climbing rose welcoming you home.

The result should feel less like a garden that appeared overnight and more like one that's developed a personality over time. A little romantic. A little wild. And maybe...just a little magical.