Garden Designs: Tips & Guide

People say that the best gardens are those that make them comfortable and happy.  Sure, planned gardens look good, but they also have to feel good. The best gardens are those that are not too hard to maintain. Spaces must be convenient, while plants do not collide and should serve as a function. Thus, aspiring gardeners will at least have a little background in garden designs.

Garden design is the art of designing and developing plans for your own garden. Garden design is usually initiated by the gardeners or landscape artist. Here, we will discuss different types of garden designs and what to consider.

8 Types of Garden Designs

Natural Garden with Stream Water (Pond) 

This is a garden that has a balance between trees, a plush lawn, and bushes. A stream water feature winds throughout the spacious garden, emptying out into a pond.

Small Garden with Pond

Even the smallest gardens can be rife with beauty, as this one is. Bold daffodils and other plants sidle up to the edge of the small but deep pond. A small ceramic gnome is also nestled into the design.

Herb and Vegetable Garden

If you want to grow your own herbs and veggies, this garden has plant beds constructed out of two-by-fours. Garnish it with quaint garden decorations like signs denoting where each herb is. Planting peppermint seeds are also ideal for this garden design.

Container Garden

A simple garden that is full of tall and short containers. With a variation in plant sizes and bloom, this gives this garden an interesting texture.

Evergreen and Ground Cover Garden

This garden has a collection of small trees and leafy green plants. While some gardens are bold and colorful, green gardens can be also beautiful. Varied textures and species help make a green garden more diverse.

Thick Beds of Tulips

Thick beds of tulips give a beautiful and classy look to your garden. Try planting thick rows of tulips in your garden, and be sure to vary the colors. Other springtime flowers, like daffodils, work well with tulips.

Traditional Garden Mixed with Container Garden

Even in smaller backyards, a beautiful garden can be also achieved with stonework. Put up containers filled with your favorite flowers and ornamental trees. As a bonus, these gardens are simple to rearrange!

Wildflower Garden

For a bright, colorful garden, grow colorful varieties of daisies and wildflowers. Stacked stone walls and perfectly shaped bushes add a bit of sophistication.

Elements of Garden Design

Gardens are usually created with whatever plants are at hand or that strikes your fancy. When your garden starts to feel chaotic, some key elements can make a garden feel more cohesive. Things such as repetition, focal points, and colors don’t compete with one another. Take the following ideas as pieces of a puzzle and mull about how to incorporate them into your garden.

Garden Bones

Garden bones are difficult to incorporate. You need a solid structure, like a building or a story, before you start filling out the details. The shape and design of plants and other garden objects divide space. It encloses areas and brings architectural interest. Grouping plants display their shapes and create various effects.

Texture

Texture evokes emotional responses. Both tactile and visual textures invite you to touch. Use texture in groups to contrast plants or reduce architectural lines. The texture characteristics classify plants into three specific classes: coarse, medium, and fine. Coarse-textured plants have large tactile components such as leaves of rhubarb. Fine-textured materials include many ferns and grasses or a delicate structure. Medium textures fall between.

Color

Color is the biggest stumbling block for novice garden designers. Many people can tell you it looks good in blueish-reds or orange-reds. But they can’t tell you the difference between red flowers. If you have a preference for certain colors in your garden you may be on your way to a pleasant palette of colors.

Unity

Unity happens when the basic principles of garden design come together. There’s unity in balance and harmony. This can help you select a variety of plants and materials for a more appealing landscape.

Basic Principles of Garden Design

Order, Balance, and Proportion

This refers to the basic structure of the garden. Order can be usually achieved through symmetry. This can also be through the repetition of plants or colors. There is also order through balancing bold or bright features. It gives a complementary weight of fine texture.

Flow

A beautiful picture is usually created by great structure and unifying elements. This, yet, make your garden seem a little static. To keep things interesting you need to keep the eye moving. You want to guide them through exploring your garden by directing their gaze. You can do this by avoiding subtle shifts in height or color.

Transition or Rhythm 

The transition can be also used by creating depth as smaller plants flow back into larger plants. This is usually done to create the illusion of a larger space. What you are striving for is to prevent the eye from making a sudden stop.

A Garden Design during Summer

There is plenty to do in the garden during summer days. With a bit of planning, you can make the best use of your time by prioritizing what you need to do.

Keep it cool

Place a tree under existing trees to shade the patio or deck, and locate benches and chairs. For a cooling effect, place a fountain, pool, or small portable water feature near your patio. Build a vineyard at the base and plant fast-growing vines, or install a shade cloth.

Add colorful containers

Keep annual containers with regular watering, fertilizing, and dead-heading look their best. Cut down annual trailing such as petunias and millions of bells by half in mid-summer. Give regular feedings of water-soluble bloom booster fertilizer for a new color flush. Replace tired-looking plants with new ones for an updated look.

Mix it up

Don’t be afraid to combine edibles with ornamentals. Different colored lettuces make attractive edging along a pathway. Dinosaur kale can be also planted in containers with light blue leaves. It is usually paired with annuals for a showy look. Nasturtiums may be also used as container decorations, in raised beds, or a trellis. The edible flowers can liven up green salads.

Keep pollinators happy

Insects and hummingbirds are crucial for pollination of edibles and other plants. Include a variety of native plants that will bloom to attract a diversity of wildlife.

Seek out inspiration

Visit the botanical gardens and public parks. Take part in local garden tours for new inspiration and design ideas. If you are living in Los Angeles, some of the best parks include Coldwater Canyon Park in Beverly Hills where people can spend their time outdoors and explore new adventures. Take pictures — with permission — of the different places you want. You can also take pictures of variations of plants to try out in your own yard.

Think big

When the weather is good, tackle major projects such as paving a new patio, building a pond, or path. You can also install a new fence, or deal with drainage problems. If you’re trying to do it on your own, you must do your research. Ensure that your project is compatible with your home and outdoor needs. You must follow any relevant building codes, and get in on budget.

4 Ways to Prepare Your Garden During Winter

1. Clean up rotting and finished plants

Old plants may harbor disease, pests, and funguses, as well as look untidy. Removing dead plants from the soil or burying them prevents pests from having a head start in spring. Burying old plants in your garden also contributes to your soil organic matter. It enhances soil tilth and its health.

2. Remove invasive weeds

Dig them up and put them in the trash or burn them to the burning piles in the autumn. Removing invasive weeds is the only way to keep those plants from sprouting again.

3. Prepare your soil for spring

Fall is a great time to dig in soil modifications such as manure, compost, bone meal, kelp, and rock phosphate. You can add nutrients during this season. This ensures that the additives have time to begin breaking down. It enriches the soil and become biologically active. You also need to do the following:

– Plant cover crops

– Trim some perennial garden plants

– Harvest and regenerate your compost

4. Replenish mulch

Mulch to the soil surface helps regulate soil temperatures and humidity. It facilitates the transition into winter. A thick layer of mulch around the root left in the garden for winter harvest can buffer hard frosts. It can prolong your harvest. And it incorporates fresh organic material in your soil as the mulch breaks down.

Garden Design Tips

Paint a backdrop

Draw the eye up with an eye turner painted backdrop, creating the illusion of extra height and space. A simple treatment with two-tone block colors will jazz up any expanse of garden fencing. Using a dark color helps to make more of a statement effect. It also compliments green foliage beautifully.

Elevate plants to whole new levels

Make the most of your small space by taking things to different levels. Vertical shelving has a planting solution that creates extra space. This allows you to showcase potted plants and garden accessories. The height allows you to use more space, more effectively.

Create a living wall

Living walls are making their way into residential gardens and small gardens. A range of herb perennials, grasses, small shrubs, fruits, and vegetables can be also used. Try to include scented plants, seasonal flowers, and bulbs. Try to speak to your local garden nursery about plants that will suit the wall ‘s appearance. You can also ask them about the microclimate on which they are to grow.

Paint walls or fences white

White paint is usually used to make the most of a small room. This is because of its brightening and lightening effects. Gardens may also enjoy this trick.

Plant a garden in pots

Add lots of pots. Fill it with everything from the tiniest flowering plants to tall and bushy trees.