Friday, 29th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

A dream garden

By Sereba Agiobu-Kemmer
28 April 2018   |   3:48 am
Is your garden a nightmare? Are you struggling with small space? Does your garden miss the mark for your family’s lifestyle? Did you inherit a messy design? Does it require too much maintenance for your busy schedule? If you answered yes to any of these, don’t give up. The right changes can transform even the…

Borrowed vista the art of Japanese ‘ Shakkei’ this garden incorporates view of the countryside beyond

Is your garden a nightmare? Are you struggling with small space?

Does your garden miss the mark for your family’s lifestyle?

Did you inherit a messy design? Does it require too much maintenance for your busy schedule? If you answered yes to any of these, don’t give up.

The right changes can transform even the worst outdoor space to an exceptional garden.

In the following we will look at expert design secrets for making the most of your garden. So stop stressing over your garden and start to enjoy it!

Establish Focal Points
Create a definite focal point to anchor your garden. This could be an entire area, such as a formal knot garden, or something as simple as a bench or a piece of sculpture.

Find Your Garden’s Power Spot
Not sure how to establish a focal point? Here’s some advice:
“A site’s power spot is any place that seems more interesting than any other. It may be just a high section of the lawn, a shaded corner, or a hidden rock”.

To determine where it is, walk around. Stand quietly in different areas and feel the mood each one generate once you decide where the power spot is, here are some ways to signify this area: clear around it; illuminate it; make a small path leading to it; place a marker or an upright stone; establish a destination with a bench or a sitting rock or log.

Play With Patterns
Want something that visitors can interact with? Try using patterns purposefully with the intent to draw the eye into the garden should be created with the scale of its surrounding in mind.

In a forest area with large trees a pattern might be 300 feet long. Small details are important too. A spiraling metal handrail or an intricate raked pattern are eye-catching components of the garden.

Create Desirable Views
Not everyone is blessed with incredible magnificent garden views, but luckily with a few expert tricks, you can create a compelling vistas that lend depth and perspective and lead the eye through the scene. Here are four ways to enhance views within and beyond your garden:

1-Edit Out Unwelcome Views
Experts recommend carefully siting structures like sheds outbuildings, and screening walls to “edit out” neighboring houses or other unwanted views. A partially blocked view can give the impression of unlimited nature surrounding your home even if the neighbor’s party deck sits just behind your shed.

2-Borrowed Views From Beyond
Use the Japanese technique of borrowing scenery and incorporate a view beyond your garden. You can do this simply, by placing plants or fencing to frame a distant rooftop or a neighbor’s palm tree or a mango .
Another easy method is to keep shrubs along property border low, you will capture nearby and distant views, plus your garden will appear larger.

3-Make Windows Frame Views
Developing vistas in a garden breaks up monotony and allows visitors to discover new elements.

Instead of always looking down on plants or seeing them next to a wide field.

It’s more interesting to see from an outlook high above or a window high aboveor a window in draws attention upward. You look up through the windows, and all of a sudden you notice the tree canopy and filtered light.

4-Embrace The Long View
Small gardens gain a sense of depth when you accentuate long view across the garden.

Instead of making a design you meander through take advantage of one single, long view. Emphasize its length with a straight path and dramatic focal points at each end.

Incorporate Personal Touches
Experts believe that the most personal part of a design is anything that gladdens your heart: an artful accent, a fire pit, a woodland garden dotted with foam flowers and ferns.

Play More
When selecting plants and ornaments, follow your personal taste. If you have a significant personal item give it a place of prominence.

And if there is a lot of uniformity to your plantings there is less need to worry about sticking with “rules” or a single style. Don’t be afraid to put your thumbprint on your garden. After all its yours!

In this article

0 Comments