Lots of elements will make a garden messy not pretty
Jul 18, 2008
All well-designed gardens have a unifying principle – a central idea that creates a cohesive, integrated look. To produce beautiful designs, let us depart from the Victorian notion of including lots of different elements in the garden, just because we can.
By Winifred Rukidi
All well-designed gardens have a unifying principle – a central idea that creates a cohesive, integrated look. To produce beautiful designs, let us depart from the Victorian notion of including lots of different elements in the garden, just because we can.
It is tempting to rush out and buy plants, gnomes, bird baths, water features and rocks for a rockery that have no relation to one another and then dot them throughout the plot. The result will be a messy look and an unfocused project.
If you really want to have all this, you will have to divide your plot in sections, say at the back of your house you put a rock garden and have a water fountain at the front.
It is wrong to put both in the same area because their themes are different.
To avoid this mistake establish an overall look for your garden at the planning stage.
Take for example, a garden with a central rectangular lawn, flanked by neat shrub borders, with a large pot or jug on a pedestal at the end. You instantly know that this is a formal space, governed by clear lines and by somebody who likes order.
An informal garden with a winding path running through borders of grasses and trees produces a very different image, yet it still has a cohesive design.
Informal gardens are often successful on large grounds. Forget the idea on a small plot, because the eye will see nothing, but mess in the end.
You could create a garden of different circles and it will be these circles that will cohesively bind the garden together. You may create a round lawn, for example, then make half-circle steps leading to the lawn. You can have raised circular flower beds somewhere near the patio of the house. Whoever looks at your garden will appreciate it. Good gardening.
winnieruk@hotmail.com
All well-designed gardens have a unifying principle – a central idea that creates a cohesive, integrated look. To produce beautiful designs, let us depart from the Victorian notion of including lots of different elements in the garden, just because we can.
It is tempting to rush out and buy plants, gnomes, bird baths, water features and rocks for a rockery that have no relation to one another and then dot them throughout the plot. The result will be a messy look and an unfocused project.
If you really want to have all this, you will have to divide your plot in sections, say at the back of your house you put a rock garden and have a water fountain at the front.
It is wrong to put both in the same area because their themes are different.
To avoid this mistake establish an overall look for your garden at the planning stage.
Take for example, a garden with a central rectangular lawn, flanked by neat shrub borders, with a large pot or jug on a pedestal at the end. You instantly know that this is a formal space, governed by clear lines and by somebody who likes order.
An informal garden with a winding path running through borders of grasses and trees produces a very different image, yet it still has a cohesive design.
Informal gardens are often successful on large grounds. Forget the idea on a small plot, because the eye will see nothing, but mess in the end.
You could create a garden of different circles and it will be these circles that will cohesively bind the garden together. You may create a round lawn, for example, then make half-circle steps leading to the lawn. You can have raised circular flower beds somewhere near the patio of the house. Whoever looks at your garden will appreciate it. Good gardening.
winnieruk@hotmail.com