Garden Design: Keep it Simple
By Jai
Cheswick
Very
often when I go to look at someone's garden and they complain that for
some reason it does not feel right to them. What I notice is that the
design quite complicated.
Or, sometimes there is no real design and the layout just
looks messy.
Creating a garden without some form of design is like trying
to bake a cake without a recipe.
With a cake you can randomly add together ingredients from
the cupboard and fridge in the hope that the result will be
a perfectly baked cake as previously seen in a glossy magazine.
Or, you can follow the recipe for the cake and with a little
luck get the desired result.
Both creating a garden and baking a cake follow outlines
for getting a result, and with this also comes - as I am sure
any chef or cook will tell you - the notion of experience.
Knowing just when to add something, when to take the mix off
the heat or how much oil to use etc, etc.
With the advent of TV garden shows you might think that you
have the experience to create a garden. Most certainly this
is not beyond your capabilities. However what do you do when
your garden is not the same as the TV show…that's when
the need for experience comes in.
An experienced garden designer starts simple and builds on
that simplicity. A good designer can help you create a garden
best suited to you and your lifestyle, rather than superimpose
their own ideas of what is needed. They will listen to and
help draw out your ideas.
By keeping the garden design simple you and your chosen designer
will have created the structure of a garden, similar to the
structure of a house (different rooms, activity areas etc)
together with some detail which you can build upon if you
choose as the years progress.
A golden rule to remember is that garden design is not about
choosing the right plants.
Don't get caught up in the notion that you have to choose
the right plants for the job straight away. Plant choice comes
almost at the last minute in many cases, after you and your
designer have created style or feeling you are wanting to
capture in your garden.
Design is about creating a constructable image for the garden,
including form and shape, textures, sounds, smells, even tastes
and often, believe it or not, plants are never used (many
of Japans gardens, for instance, are formed on the basis of
using minimal plants and using rocks and gravels to mimic
natural landscapes at a smaller scale).
By keeping the design simple, especially if you are learning
about design or taking on the project by yourself, you are
increasing your chances of a successful design, one that matches
your criteria for your life.
Jai Cheswick is a Garden Designer, qualified in Landscape Architecture and Horticulture
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