Main Elements Of Good Garden Design

Garden design is often referred to as a form of living art, and thus is far from an exact science. The practice has been around for over 4,000 years, with Egyptian paintings showing evidence of ornamental horticulture, and it doubtless dates further back than that.
If you fancy changing your garden a bit and further exploring this ancient art, the best advice I have is to get out and give it a go. Practical learning and practice are by far the best way of learning, as with all art forms. The advantage with gardens is that nothing is permanently in place. If you decide you don’t like the arrangement you end up with, it can easily be changed.

Whilts the best way to learn is by doing, below are three important basic factors you should consider in the design stage of your garden:

– Harmony

This is a difficult area to describe completely. It means essentially the combination of the parts of the garden coming together as a whole. There are many ways to play with this. Some commonly used featues are the use of similar plant types, colour palettes that are limited and strong focal areas like stone water features. It is far easier if you decide on a theme for the design before starting it.

– Balance

This is generally the most recognisable part of the garden, as it covers the layout and basic structure of the garden. It ranges from 17th and 18th century formal gardens with rigid lines to the flowing modern design of the landscape movement. This also covers the types of plants used and their textures, as well as ornamental furniture like stone benches or statues.

– Flow

As with many artistic disciplines, the flow is how the garden is composed and how the eye is drawn in certain areas. The idea is to design this as naturally as possible, both to suit the user and the planting, and should include open and closed areas, and different vistas. The final item to consider when designing for this element is existing or planned exterior items, like furniture and water features.