Principles Of Garden Design - Useful Ideas

By Ray Bonanza

Design is a frequently misconstrued word. It can easily be represented as the forming of themes and features into a sound and simplistic whole. Overleaf is a perfect model of a well-designed small garden (Jon and Verna's garden in the television series) which combined a number of standard principles of good design. Over-complication is the opposite of good design but it is something from which far too many gardens suffer.

Simplicity brings in a degree of constraint and this in turn imposes a sequence of planning that not only forbids muddiness but gives the complete composition continuity. In rudimentary terms, design is the creation of patterns and those patterns can be devised and planned in just the same way as you would take on interior decoration inside the home.

Your house is a primary starting point for any garden design as the building already has an architectural formula which should be reflected in the paved areas, paths or patio that surround it. You can use a combination of interlocking rectangles that project from the corners of the house or pick up the line of doors or windows. Crisp rectangular precast slabs, solid pieces of natural stone, or the pattern of brick paving, will all be perfect for reinforcing that link between house and garden.

Other factors can come into play here too, a color outline inside the house can be retained out along an bordering wall, or plants can be grouped on either side of the glass of patio doors, covering and softening the division between inside and out.

Disjointed materials like crazy paving tend to be visually disturbed and while they may be fine for an informal sitting area towards the bottom of the garden, moderated by grass and planting, they are often too flaring to adjoin the building.

Just increasing distance from the house brings informality. In the middle and more distant parts of the garden you can start to use strong flowing curves that not only lead the eye away from those almost inevitable rectangular boundaries but furnish a real feeling of movement which can in turn make a feeling of greater space. - 30228

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