This is my back yard. Just kidding. I wish! It's not even on the same continent as my back yard. It's actually one of the gardens at the Alcazar, a medieval palace in Seville, Spain, that I visited last month. But it was breathtaking, and I'll probably attempt to incorporate some small aspect of what I experienced there into my own humble landscape.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and gardeners are the living, growing proof of that. We love to learn from each other's gardens, borrowing ideas, elements and techniques to enhance our own creations.

Every time I write about one of the winning gardens from the Star Tribune's annual "Beautiful Gardens" contest, I hear from other gardeners, eager to tour the garden in person, talk to the gardener or even just drive by for a look.

One local green thumb with an ambitious series of gardens told me he was inspired to add his "black garden," filled with the darkest-foliage plants, after seeing a similar one in England.

Landscape designer Eric Baldus, owner of Terravista (www.terravistalandscapemn.com) says his own award-winning landscape was inspired by the gardens of the Alhambra, a Moorish palace/fortress in Granada, Spain. That iconic landscape has been copied for centuries. Even the Alcazar's gardens take their cues from the Alhambra.

I'm not sure yet how my visit to Spain will end up influencing my garden. Maybe I'll finally add a water feature. The sounds and reflecting qualities of water are a major element in those famous Spanish gardens, and made a big impression on me.

Being in USDA Zone 4, I can't realistically grow a lot of the plants I saw there (like orange trees!). But the structural hedges could easily be incorporated into northern gardens.

I also loved the stone garden paths I saw in Spain, where rocks of different shapes and colors were combined to create a mosaic.

What great gardens have you seen? And what have you borrowed from them -- or thought about borrowing -- to make your own garden a more beautiful place?