Garden Designs
The Elements of Garden Design
To reap the beautiful rewards of your garden, there are many aspects that need to be
considered in your garden design. You create a mood and style with the colors, textures,
shapes, sizes, and placement of the plants and structures you choose for your garden design.
When considering where plants will look good, you have to keep in mind their preferred
growing conditions.
Plants are not static; most change with the seasons and grow larger with the passage of time,
and this is a critical aspect to understand when designing your garden.
Defining garden style through design
Gardens are usually designed in one of three broad styles:
Formal, Informal or Natural.
Formal Gardens
A formally designed garden can be imposing and serene at the same time. This style relies on straight lines and symmetrical plantings along with elegant touches such as sculptures and garden ornaments.
Hedges often are sharply pruned into flat walls. Green is the predominant color, touched with understated secondary colors. A geometric knot garden of herbs, English-style double border, and a pristine rose garden are perfect examples of the design of the Formal Garden.
Informal Gardens
An Informal garden is almost the opposite of the Formal one in its design. Curves and colors are plentiful. Plantings are usually asymmetrical, although they are balanced and planned.
Plants often are allowed to grow into their own natural shapes. Strong colors and balanced design characterizes this style. Cottage gardens with mixed borders of small trees and shrubs, delicate flowers, ornamental grasses and small trees are at home in an Informal garden design.
Natural Gardens
A Natural garden design is one which tries to imitate nature. Excellent examples include: a woodland, or meadow-like setting.
Creating Garden Structure by Design
The grounds around your home consist of two different elements: the Hardscape and the Softscape. The Hardscape is defined as the man-made
design elements in the garden including fences, paving, decking, patio furniture, window boxes and ornaments. The Softscape consists of all the natural design elements in plant materials, lawn, shrubs, trees, and flowers.
The Hardscape materials are permanent in the design and do not change with the seasons, grow larger, or suddenly die off as plants do. They give the garden year-round design structure, creating constant elements against which the Softscape plant materials are arranged. Therefore, the Hardscape and the woody plants (trees and shrubs) of the Softscape combine to create the garden’s year-round structure, which is sometimes referred to as the garden bones.
When the bones are well-designed, the landscape looks good throughout the year, even as the flowers and foliage change with the seasons. For this reason, it is necessary to plan the bones of the garden with an excellent design scheme.
General Guidelines for Great Garden Design
* Create sight lines by framing an uninterrupted view through a gate or pair of trees. Line up gates, paths and stairs so that one view leads to another.
* Use structural elements, such as a row of trees, straight walks and geometric garden beds to create a Formal garden.
* Use bold curves and repeated plantings to create an Informal garden.
* Place a focal point (such as a specimen plant, garden ornament, or bench) to add contrast and interest to the space.
* Use fences, walls, patios, and decks of an attractive material and color for pleasing visual structure.
* Group evergreens and deciduous shrubs together in masses or drifts to form pleasing patterns and rhythms.
* Layer plantings according to height in a grouping. Choose one or more small flowering trees, several shrubs beneath and beside the trees, and a carpet of groundcovers and perennials to be placed under and around the shrubs.
Following the basic principles of garden design, and determining what design style is the most appropriate for your landscape,
your lifestyle, taste, budget, and enthusiasm for gardening, can lead to designing the perfect garden for you.
Remember that you know your needs and what purpose you want your garden to provide for yourself and your family. Incorporating the design elements found in the general guidelines above will give you year round beauty and happiness.
