Gardens should always be considered highly personal works of art. I believe as, in any kind of art, the taste will vary greatly with every person having a different opinion of what constitute beauty. I think understanding of basic design principles, is important for two reasons. First, if you know the rules, you can break them in an intelligent way.
Second, it helps give you a comfort level that your design won’t be a complete disaster. There are two basic types of garden beds and plant layout, island beds and border, and two basic garden styles formal and informal.
Garden Beds
Borders
Planting a new border can really improve your garden. It is interesting to watch new plants grow and develop and borders can also be useful to hide eyeones and add interest and color.
When planning a new border, conside whether it will be in sun or shade, whether the soil is acid or alkaline, whether the drainage needs improving an how much work you are prepared to spend maintaining the border. These will determine the types of plants you choose. If you pick trees and shrubs for example, they will cost more but takes less maintenance. Herbaceous perennial are higher maintenance but higher returns. A border is anchored by a backdrop and I think these beds are easier to visualize than island beds, at least for me, since the background will help define the size of your new bed. The back-drop might be a house, a hedgerow, fence or anything else that gives you a fairly solid background, border are viewed from only one side. A flower border is generally but not always long and narrow. How deep your bed needs to be. A three foot by eight footbed will look right at home. A longer bed will need more depth, if possible, 12 foot by 100 foot bed will look proportional. Most home gardens are more likely beds that fall between 5 and 50 feet long. In this case depth should range between three and six to eight feet deep. Any bed that is deeper than four feet (you can only reach so far) will need o have access to the interior of the bed for weeding and other maintenance purposes. Paths or stepping stones are common ways to provide access.
Island bed: 0n the other hand, are not anchored by a backdrop and can be viewed from all sides. They often have a centre anchor. This anchor isn’t necessarily right in the middle. It can be offset to one side for an asymmetrical look. Center anchors can be anything from a tree, shrub or large perennial to a piece of sculpture or a large container, even a trellis/arbor can work as a center anchor. Island beds tend to be more round, square, rectangular or amorphous. They are rarely long and skinny. A with borders, their length and width needs to be somewhat proportional, so long beds need also to be wider. Island beds can be small, but are more often large since island beds can be reached from all sides; only beds larger than 6 to 8 feet across will need access for maintenance. In general, plants in border are arranged with tall plants (taller than 2 to 3 feet) placed in the back, midsize plants (10 inches to 2 to 3ft tall) in the middle, and short plants (less than 10 inches) in the front of the bed. It is best to use grouping or drifts of plants for a natural feel. The other thing to consider when planning your plant placement is that it is often best to use grouping of at least 3 of the same plant together. One plant alone often does not have good enough impact. Odd numbers tend to look better than even numbers. This is especially true of smaller plants where groups are necessary to have impact. Short plants can be used in long narrow planting to create border on the edges of a bed. There is an exception to the plant 3 or more plants rule. In general, if a plant is large enough, thick shrubs or large perennial, it can hold its own without being grouped with other plants. Usually only back of the border plants can stand alone. Island bed work on the same principle as borders, but rather than having the taller plants in the back, the taller plants are in the middle of the bed or centred on the anchor plant. Your design doesn’t need to be rigid. The tall to short progression is simply a rule of thumb, not a hard and fast rule.
Garden Style
Garden generally are either formal or informal.
Formal Gardens tend to use geometric shapes for their layout, circles, rectangles, triangles or long straight lines, plant spacing, color, and layout are all very precise.
Informal Garden tend to use curves and free-flowing forms. The color combinations are more relaxed and varying plant height will mingle together. I think most home gardens tend to be this types. Learning the types and styles of garden and the general principles of plant placement will help you design gardens for your own home.
Planting design
Planting design require design, talent and aesthetic judgement combined with a good level of horticultural, ecological, and cultural knowledge. Designing a garden often goes beyond deciding which plants you want to grow and type of function you want your garden to have. Thematic element can also influence the look of a garden. It includes the two major traditions; formal rectilinear planting design (Persian and Europe) and formal asymmetrical (Asia) and naturalistic planting design. In Asia the asymmetrical tradition of planting design in Chinese gardens and Japanese gardens originated in the Jin Dynasty (265-420) of China. The gardens’ planting have a controlled but naturalistic aesthetic. In Europe the arrangement of plant in informal groups developed as part of the English landscape Garden style and subsequently by the French landscape Garden, and was strongly influence by the picturesque art movement. The thematic element can also influence the look of a garden.
Popular style elements
Formal gardens: keep formal gardens simple. The plan should aim for the balance and symmetry for an air of calm elegance. Use strong well defined lines and boundaries, such as groomed hedges, walkways, perhaps even a reflecting pool. Employ single color, fence or another element. Add stylish pots, urns, gazing balls, or statuary. Keep everything in moderation so it doesn’t look cluttered.
Asian (Japanese) gardens: what makes this style of garden is more in the design philosophy than the types of plants used. Space, a sense of proportion and balance are the hallmark of a Japanese garden. As one writer put it, “nature is the ideal that you must strive for.” Japanese garden are beautiful and peaceful place that strive to represent perfect harmony in nature. They are designed based on three basic principles: reduced scale, symbolization, and borrowed view. This style of garden derives beauty from a blending of different element including sand, rocks, plant, and ornament such as lanterns, bamboo fencing, water basins, or even a small ‘tea house’. Of course there is more than one kind of Japanese of Asian garden. Rock garden have strategically placed rocks and sand raked into intricate designs, strolling garden require visitors to walk along a path, visiting certain spots that prompt them to look at specific elements. Tea and pond gardens are also typical styles. Choose fine-textured traditional plants, in pots or in the ground. Try bamboo, dwarf conifers, Japanese maple, iris, azalea and flowering fruit trees.
Tropical gardens
Tropical gardens emphasize lots of big, bold, leafy foliage plants such as cannas, coleus, hibiscus, taro banana pawpaw, trees ferns orchid e.t.c in the ground or in large containers. Use bright flowers in hot colors: yellow, red, orange, as well as bi-colors. Then include a water feature, such as a pool, fountain, or stream. You can add drama with extras: birdhouse or cages, colorful pots, gazing ball, and playful or handcrafted décor and statuary.
Cottage gardens: Cottage gardens should be overflowing with blooms so plant these, informal gardens, with a generous hand. A cottage garden design showcases full planting of old-fashioned favorites femine flowers include lots of roses and other fragrant plants (including herbs). Keep the pans well (remove spent flowers and stems) but allow them to express their natural exuberance. Finally, add some charming touches-whimsical bird house, or wind chimes.
Arid climate gardens: if your area is a little on the parched side, or you just love sandy desert filled with architectural cacti and succulents, you may want to opt for a dry climate and water wise garden. Employ a naturalistic layout, perhaps with a dry streambed or stone pathways, and choose plants that thrive in the hot sun, including but not limited to cacti and succulents. Then strategically place accents of colorful or more water needy plants in pots in groups.
Application: A planting plan gives specific instructions, often for a contractor about how the soil is prepared, what species are to be planted, what size and spacing is to be carried out under the contract. Owners of private gardens may also use planting plans not for contractual purposes, as an aid to thinking about a design and as a record of what has been planted. A planting strategy is a long term strategy for the design, establishment and management of different types of vegetation in a landscape or garden. Planting can be established by directly employed gardeners and horticulturist or it can be established by a landscape contractor also known as landscape gardener). Landscape contractors work to drawings and specifications prepared by garden designers or landscape architects.
