Designing Your Garden – Basic Principles Part 2

In the first part of our article on the basic principles of design, we discussed how it might prove useful to have some education in these principles to keep your garden and landscaping from looking like something thrown together. Indeed all those garden supply catalogs and gardening magazines lure us in with…

In the first part of our article on the basic principles of design, we discussed how it might prove useful to have some education in these principles to keep your garden and landscaping from looking like something thrown together. Indeed all those garden supply catalogs and gardening magazines lure us in with their beautiful pictures of gardens. We all want ours to look just as lovely.

Previously we discussed balance as a major design principle. We touched on mass, texture and color. Here we proceed to discuss some other basic principles of design to be used in our gardens and landscaping.

Unity has to do with how the parts fit together. One easy way to provide this is to have an overriding theme for your landscaping and garden. Sometimes this unity can be provided by a single element being used throughout the design. It could be a single type of building material. Using the same ground cover throughout can provide unity as well as using a single species or variety of plant over and over.

When considering the principle of harmony, keep in mind the harmony of the color of your elements. Be careful about mixing your color palette. If you will have flowers in your garden and landscaping (like who wouldn’t), keep in mind the harmony of fragrance of your flowers.

(As a side note, one principle some landscaping designers like to incorporate is the contrast of colors of blooms such as blue flowers next to yellow flowers or interspersed within and the contrast of textures, living and non-living. Be careful not to make the contrast discordant. This is one of those places where experimentation will come into play.)

The principles of utility and suitability have to do with such things as using only as much concrete as is really necessary within your landscaping. If stepping stones can fulfill the function, then strive to use these. Make the materials suitable to your area, to your lifestyle and the style of your garden and landscaping. Will the elements used perform the functions required by your family members? Is the design suitable for all the members and the lifestyle you lead? And don’t forget the family pets and their needs.

As you design your garden and landscaping, you will probably incorporate other design principles such as repetition, rhythm, simplicity, etc. Keeping these basic principles, especially those above, in mind as you design your garden and landscaping will make those catalog pictures come real for you. Don’t forget to be ready to experiment.