When a tree fell in Constance and Ray Beagle’s front yard in Kansas City, they replaced it with a dance floor of sorts. Now instead of the dappled shade of an old oak outside their front door, the Beagles have a weathered brick patio on which 24 neatly trimmed boxwood globes seem to swirl in a beautifully choreographed shrubbery ballet.

The Beagles never lament the loss of the old oak, or worry much about any other such calamities that befall their garden. They turn the problems into opportunities. When another big tree died in the backyard, they planted four linden trees in a tight square to define the corners of a cozy garden room. When a long section of fence blew down in a storm, they installed a lively mixed hedge that provides privacy and expands their planting repertoire.

“A lot of things in your garden just happen because you were forced into it,” Constance says. “You respond to things.”

Constance and Ray’s house, a tidy gray saltbox built in 1965, is nestled into an older neighborhood in the heart of Kansas City. During the 31 years the Beagles have lived here, the landscape has evolved steadily from mostly lawn into a densely planted collector’s garden. “I fall in love with certain things,” Constance says. “And when you find things that really work, you want more of them.”

The dancing boxwoods came about in 1999 through collaboration with garden designer Kristopher Dabner.