There are some simple rules that lead to a successful garden design. Whether you are an aspiring amateur or a seasoned veteran of this plantalicious world. Lets explore these rules together.
Look at your properties space in relation to your house. What colors can you draw from your house to your garden. What kind of garden would suit your style of house. Example would you put a Japanese garden in front of a British styled home? Of course not! This is the basic fundamental design which a lot of amateurs seem overlook.
Now start putting some garden bed curves into your design, add a few different pathways or get ambitious and put an arbor of point of interest into the design.
Go online and research the colour wheel and pick two colors you really like. Stick with them. In landscape less is more when it comes to colours. Now figure out your soil, sun and water requirements.
Once you have this information, now is the fun part. Begin researching plants you have seen around your neighborhood that you like, see if they will fit into your design and thrive in your micro climates. Buy a book like Sunset Western Gardner to research plants grouped by full sun, shade, moist, dry etc.
By now you have a pretty good idea of the structure within your design and some plants to fill it with. Lets start playing around with some shapes, triangles, circles small and large, boxes and see where they fit on your page. Try using masses and uneven numbers 3, 7, 9 and 11.
Now that you have your shapes in there play around with them a little more. Does the triangle go with the circles, does it need to be larger or smaller
Now you have a good balance on shapes. Lets fill them in. Triangle would represent a tree or large shrub. Large Circle would be a large shrub or evergreen. Lots of little circles could be perennials or annuals. Put some grasses in there as vertical lines. The idea is to create contrast and harmony.
Stick to that color palette as much as possible. Remember this golden rule ” less is more”. Keep in mind most plants are green so you are really working with 3 colors not 2.
See if those plants you researched fit into the shapes you created on your design. If not, explore some more. Try to add big foliage against thin foliage for contrast. Integrate rocks into you theme for an anchored look that adds winter interest.
Most of all look at the big picture. Is your design complimenting your house? Does is have harmony? Flow?
If you this is too hard call Salt of the Earth Landscaping to do it for you!
Salt of the Earth Landscaping | Victoria, B.C