Saturday 27 February 2010

Garden Design: How to Make Best Use of the 3rd Dimension


The first step in designing your garden is to draw an accurate ground plan so you know exactly how much space you have to work with. One mistake many people make after measuring the length and width is to forget that there’s another important dimension – height. Extending your garden upwards adds visual interest, can make your garden appear larger, and provides additional growing space, which is especially valuable in a small garden.

Flat Garden
If you have a flat garden with the majority of plants at the same low level, consider using any boundary fences or walls to support climbing plants. A long, blank wall can provide year-round colour and interest if it’s covered with a carefully chosen selection of climbers. Some plants and shrubs will need trellis or guide wires to help them reach the heights while others can scramble up perfectly well on their own.

Fenced Garden
If you are planting against a fence be aware that some mature climbers can be quite heavy so check that the fence posts are firm and the fence itself is strong enough to take the extra weight.

Arches, pergolas and obelisks are popular ways of introducing some height. You can buy them ready-made, choosing a design to fit in with the overall style of your garden, or construct your own. A wide range of plants, decorative, edible or both, can be trained over them. One word of advice: a rose-covered archway looks romantic but you won’t love it if you get scratched every time you pass through! For roses without tears make sure you choose from the many thornless climbing and rambling varieties that are available.

Planted Garden
Introducing tall plants is an easy way of introducing vertical shapes into your planting scheme. For summer colour, hollyhocks and giant sunflowers are fun to grow and impossible to overlook. Bamboos are fast growing but might need to be contained, and many ornamental grasses are not only tall but also come in some striking colours.

Trees are the tallest plants you can grow, but must be chosen with care if you have limited space. Large trees too close to buildings can cause expensive problems. They will also shade a large area and take a lot of water from the ground, which will affect other plants in the vicinity.

Before you buy a tree check the maximum height it will reach and how far the roots will spread. If you have any doubts it’s always best to get expert advice. The good news is that many specialist tree nurseries can offer small and dwarf varieties that will live happily in restricted spaces.

Vertical Gardening
A relatively new idea in garden design, but one that is generating a lot of interest, is vertical gardening or creating living walls. The idea is to grow plants close together in individual pockets formed in a panel that has a built-in irrigation system. One or more of these panels are then fixed to a wall. Once the plants are established the panel is hidden beneath the foliage giving the impression that the plants are growing out of the wall. The possibility of growing strawberries next to your bedroom window is certainly intriguing!

Planning new features to add height to your garden is the easy part. Carrying out those plans can involve skills you might not have and time you cannot spare. Discuss your ideas with a professional landscape gardener and benefit from his or her experience.

Bring your Garden to Life with a Spring Makeover

Many people see spring as the beginning of the gardening year, and it’s the perfect time for a garden makeover. Any improvements you make now will get the new season off to a great start.

Here are a few ideas that can give a tired garden a quick facelift:

De-clutter: Resolve to get rid of anything you no longer want or need, but think green and recycle as much as possible. You might be able to sell or give away play equipment that your children have outgrown, building materials left over from DIY projects, even that wheelbarrow with a wonky wheel … Your junk could be someone else’s treasure and just think of the extra space you’ll have!

Make a new lawn: Most lawns can withstand a lot of wear and tear but eventually the damage takes its toll. If your ‘lawn’ has become a rutted patch of weeds replace it with fresh, top quality turf for an instant green carpet.

Coordinate your containers: Most keen gardeners have a collection of assorted plant containers that they have acquired over the years. Pots, tubs, boxes and troughs in a variety of different shapes, sizes, colours, styles and materials can all be useful, but when clustered together on the patio they might not give the overall effect you were hoping for. There is a place for a pink plastic flowerpot in the garden, but it probably isn’t next to an antique stone urn. If you don’t want to buy a complete set of new containers try rearranging the ones you already have into groups that do look good together. You can paint wooden planters in the same or toning colours, and instead of trying to hide a single ‘odd’ pot you could make a feature of it.

Be ruthless: Unfortunately, plants don’t last forever. If some of yours are past their prime they might not be worth cosseting for another year. Try taking cuttings from a favourite plant so you can replace it with a vigorous new offspring. Otherwise, get rid of mediocre plants that are taking up valuable space and treat yourself to something different that you’ll really be proud of.

Add a focal point: If the first word that springs to mind when looking at part of your garden is ‘boring’ give it some interest in the shape of a statue, sundial or water feature.

When you start improving your garden one idea will often lead to another, but tackling all those jobs is a different matter. If you need advice and help with some of the bigger projects, ask for a free, no obligation consultation from a professional landscape gardener who can turn those ideas into reality.