Garden design has evolved through the years to suit our changing lifestyles, however we could still learn in your timeless garden layout of yesteryear. Although the dimensions of gardens and upkeep time have been reduced, and the way we utilize them has shifted, the ideas from past designs can be extremely important now.
Fixing a small garden or parts of a bigger garden for a room did not only occur in the late 1960s with the work of British designer John Brookes. In the early part of the last century, the designs of the partnership of Gertrude Jekyll and Edwin Lutyens and the job of American garden designer Lawrence Johnston, that created Hidcote gardens in England, were based around the compartmentalizing of areas — creating, in actuality, the first”garden rooms”
Following is a peek at some small gardens that use compartmentalizing along with other ideas previously to create a beautiful complement to houses now.
Arterra Landscape Architects
Structuring garden rooms. The potency of compartmentalizing lies in blending the powerful structure of hard landscaping with gentle plantings. It is evident even in this latest of garden designs.
Outer space Landscape Architecture
Structure is the most important factor in regards to designing a small garden. The bones of the garden hold it together in all seasons and weather conditions. The squared paved area here combines different parts of the garden through its structural use of powerful lines.
Jobe Corral Architects
Creating the bones of the garden. The designers of yesteryear used paving, walls, pergolas and rills to create these bones. Now we’re more inclined to use decking, gravel and elevated beds. Within this yard the powerful blocks of gravel along with the proper water characteristic hold the design together.
Tobin + Parnes Design Enterprises
Softening the outlines. Once the arrangement is set, plants may soften outlines and hard edges, and include colour and year-round interest. The crops in this strategy add to the proper paved layout without overriding or hiding it.
The Garden Consultants, Inc..
Selecting crops to fit the design. Restricting the range of crops can help strengthen the layout. Small garden design needs discipline in plant choice. Too many forms will lead to a fussy design that doesn’t feel easy on the eye. In this garden the use of a few species enables the plants to combine with all the paved areas and walls.
Blasen Landscape Architecture
We could take ideas from topiary gardens of yesteryear and only use evergreens trimmed into shapes that will unite the small garden layout. Or seem to famous gardens such as Vita Sackwell-West’s Sissinghurst, where her white border is a great lesson about how to restrict planting to one colour to unify a small space.
Bright Green
Utilizing focal points. One of the final lessons to be learned from the gardens of the past century is that the use of a feature or focal point within a small area. Most small gardens are enclosed by a hedge, fence or wall, so they don’t have any natural focal point leading to eye through your garden. A sculpture, water feature or, in this case, a stunning outdoor couch creates an internal focus.
Arterra Landscape Architects
Looking back to move forward. This small garden brings together all we’ve heard from the past. The construction is very powerful, linking all areas of the area. The hard landscape is softened by the restrictive plantings, along with the lime green chair provides a great focus. By return we could move forward in the way we design and utilize our smaller outdoor spaces.
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