Designing Different Shape Of Gardens
The overall shape of your garden isn't as important as you think it is. However, what you do with that shape is. What I mean by that is don't feel limited by the overall shape of your garden, it's not an issue. If it's long and narrow, we can make it look and feel wider. If it's short and wide, we can make it look and feel longer. What's important is how we go about doing those things. In the last chapter I mentioned how important movement is to creating a great garden, and it's especially vital in a small space. So what exactly do I mean by movement? Well, it simply means a way of using shapes and key features so that your eyes journey down the garden in a certain way, from one point of interest to another. This visual 'journey' can make a garden feel a lot larger because you're not taking in the entire garden with one glance. To show you what I mean, take a look at the pictures below of different shape gardens. The red line shows how the side-to-side movement from the arrangement of shapes, directs your eyes down the garden. The square and circular paving sections make the garden look wider by taking the eye from side to side, from one point of interest to another, as shown by the red outline and 'movement' line down the centre of the garden. In the following section are some more examples of movement and designing using simple shapes. I've divided the examples into categories of long, wide, square and awkward shape of gardens.
Next to each example plan is a deconstructed design with red lines showing the design shapes with direction arrows highlighting how the shapes affect the look and feel of the garden. Long Narrow Garden Plans This small garden looks much larger because the paving pattern and careful use of rectangular 'boxes' in the design trick the eyes into thinking there's more width and length in the garden. This small, modern town garden needed to look both wider and longer because it is viewed from two different aspects from the house. This was achieved with the use of carefully positioned rectangles of decking and paving. The direction of the decking made the garden look longer and the paving made it look and feel wider because of the direction the slabs were laid (this trick will be covered in more detail later). The raised rendered planters add height and interest and prevent the entire garden from being viewed in one go which also increases the sense of space. The built-in seating also functions as storage boxes with the deck slats on hinges for easy access. Wide Garden Plans With wide gardens it's important to try to make the garden look longer. If there's room, dividing the space in two sections will help achieve that, especially if you draw the eye to focal points at the end of the garden. The curved path in the example garden above also helps to draw the eye round the garden, this visual journey makes the space feel larger.
The example garden above has very strong paving lines. The darker cobble boxes draw the eyes out into the garden away from the house, which help make the area look longer. Square Garden Plans The three designs for a very small, square, courtyard garden visually do the same thing. Each design shape draws the eyes through the garden but also from side to side, which makes the space look bigger. The mix of materials also helps trick the eyes into assuming the area is larger than it actually is. This small courtyard garden is made to look and feel larger by using a dominant paving pattern and large mirror framed with trellis. The paving pattern makes the garden look longer and wider and the large mirror reflects the pool and garden making it look twice the original size. Awkward + L shaped Garden Plans This small garden uses circles to make the space look larger and lead the eye round the garden. The circle shapes also help to hide the awkward angles of the garden and add interest with the level changes. The cobbles laid in a dispersed pattern around a paving circle also create interest. The small random bond paving helps make this small garden look much larger. A mirror and water feature are the main focal point, drawing the eyes down the garden, then across to the bench in the far corner.
Pots add colour and interest and help break up the paving. The planting spills out across th e paving and will become quite 'jungly' over time. Circles are very useful to help disguise awkward angles in gardens. They take your eyes away from the angles and visually lead you around the circular shape away from any awkward angles. The decking contrasts with the paving to create added interest and tie in with the wooden staircase to the back gate. Adding a white render to the enormous brick wall reflects a lot of light back into the garden, making it feel more spacious. Finally, a mirror at the end reflects back some of the garden planting, adding an extra dimension to the garden. The meandering path takes the eyes from side to side of the narrow passageway and the mix of materials and rendering the lower section of the wall makes the space feel lighter and look wider. The circular shaped patio and deck also help make the garden look larger along with the mirror reflecting back the garden at the end. Small Front Gardens. This small front garden has two similar design options. Design B has fractionally more paving (which is the one that was chosen). The client wanted a very low maintenance garden and to terrace it rather than have the original slope. This was the front garden of my first house. I used leftover landscaping materials and bought some nice gravel and a few herbs and vegetable planters, job done in a day. The centrepiece the herbs were planted around was a square mosaic design created from similar cobbles to the path. Using similar small size materials has made the area look much larger as has laying the cobbles at an angle. The sweet red grape vine was trained up the house and runner beans grew up the obelisks either side of the front door.
The tubs provided a constant supply of lettuce with occasional onions and the best carrots I've ever grown. Fresh herbs were always on supply, for such a small space it was very productive. This front garden was a very simple design based on two semi-circles. The shapes create interest and most importantly make the area look deeper and help disguise the awkward shape. Movement A sense of movement can be achieved in lots of different ways. The shapes you use have the biggest impact along with how you use the landscaping materials (which we'll cover in more detail in Chapter 5). Now, if you have an exceptionally tiny garden, it simply may not be big enough to create shapes that direct the eyes from one side of it to another. It might also be impossible not to 'see' the entire garden with one glance. That doesn't mean you should ignore the movement design principle, though. It just means you will need to use it in a more subtle form like positioning a focal point, like a feature pot, or sculpture, in a key location that draws the eye to that one spot before the rest of the garden. It might sound a bit over the top to try to control how your garden is viewed but it is an intrinsically important part of the process. Think of your garden like a story. You don't want people jumping straight to the ending before they've taken in all the intrigue of a great plot. It would be boring. The ending alone doesn't make a good story; it's the build up of the plot. If you can think of your garden like this, it will help you create lots of interest. The more visual interest you can create, the more the eyes and brain have to take on board and the larger the space will appear. Now, before you dash off and manically buy every last feature your local garden centre has in stock, hold on! I want to clarify what I mean by 'lots' of interest. Chucking in every last thing into a garden does not make for a good design. It will look cluttered and smaller. The type of interest I want you to create is carefully controlled. Adding a feature in a location that lines up with the main window you view the garden from, for instance, will work wonders. Then adding a secondary feature that's viewed after the main feature so that your eyes have something else to look at immediately afterwards (a continuation of the story), and so on, is what I'm talking about. Just like a good plot, it's helpful, once you've sorted out your main design shapes, to work out how to get people visually from point A to B around your garden.
Constructing a design, like a good plot, gives
structure and will enable you to create lots of additional interest without
cluttering it up with random 'stuff'. A good storyline on its own isn't enough
though. Your garden needs to be well dressed too. So after the plot is
complete, the costume department needs to come in... 'Clothing' Your Garden -
Choosing the Right Shapes and Landscaping Materials Great garden design
basically makes the best use of what you've got. Think of design like
tailoring. A good tailor can work wonders with any size or shape of body.
Garden design is no different. Think about how someone tall and slim would look
in an outfit, which had lines on it running from head to toe. Would that suit
them? Probably not because the lines would accentuate their length and make
them look very tall and skinny, even if they happened to be the perfect weight
for their frame. Fashion police aside, now what would happen if our tall, slim
person were in an outfit that had lines running horizontally rather than
vertically? Now think in exactly the same way about a garden. If you have
paving slabs or decking in a long narrow garden, which is the best direction to
lay them in? Lengthways down the garden like our tall person's first outfit, or
from side to side? The direction in which you lay paving slabs and decking can
be a very powerful design tool. In the next chapter, we'll take a look at some
more design 'tricks' you can use that will help make your garden look and feel
larger than it actually is.
