Re: Case Study Garden Designs

david feix wrote:
> 
> The topic of garden design and overemphasis on use of
> color came up on the gardenweb forum on landscape
> design, and I thought it might be of interest to the
> medit-plants group as well.  One forum contributor(IB)
> was remarking how color often misleads novice garden
> designers, to the detriment of design considerations
> such as form, texture, proportions, etc., and can
> become the Achille's Heel of Novice Garden Design.  I
> took a somewhat contrary position that color isn't
> necessarily a bad starting point, particularly for
> those of us in a mediterranean climate.  As it has
> been somewhat quiet as of late, it this a topic that
> others would wish to discuss at medit-plants?
>
> [ ... interesting case study snipped ...]
>  
> I'd be interested to hear other case studies for how
> people design their gardens...

Hi David,

   I'm not a professional designer, but my husband and I have been
   working on our own 2-acre garden for the last 6 years. It's been
   happening slowly, developing in stages, area by area, during our
   free time. We've typically had to re-do an area 3 times before
   getting it "right", but the design lessons I'm aware of learning go 
   something like this:

   For me, colour is important, but only in the plant-picking stage,
   which is the last stage of the design process. Before that, 
   I think it's important to consider:
   - use
     how many people, what time of day, what are they doing,
     this affects the density of planting and space layout
   - mood
     intense? relaxed? contemplative? exotic?
     affects plant selection (e.g. variety vs repetition) and type
     of plants
   - pace (how fast do I want to move people through here)
   - flow (how does it tie in to adjoining areas)
   - light (what kind of light is most prevalent during the time when
            this garden most gets viewed/used)
   - statement
     This is a sort of summary of all the other points, but I think
     it's very important to define this before starting work on a 
     garden. All of our failures have been when we haven't done this,
     then found out that what we created was not what we wanted or
     needed.

   Some examples of conscious purpose/statement in the design:
   in a private area off the bedroom, we installed a white garden 
   because it is viewed at low light (dawn/dusk/moonlight). The mood
   is, by design, quiet, relaxed and peaceful. It is a viewing garden,
   meant to be seen from the bedroom only.
 
   By the pool, we've put in hot-coloured plantings because the
   plants need to stand up to the afternoon sun, which is when
   that area is used.  Along the front path (foot path to the
   street) the mood is relaxed strolling, and we've installed 
   a "mediterranean" garden. 

   The entry garden serves as a landing stage, to create a mood
   change from when guests get out of their cars, announce that
   they have arrived in a garden.

   After deciding the purpose and mood, and laying out the hardscape,
   plant-selection is the final step. Having a colour scheme in mind
   simplifies the process for me, otherwise the choices are almost
   too wide and overwhelming. Sometimes the colour scheme can vary 
   through the seasons e.g. in our "mediterranean" garden, it's
   primarily purple and chartreuse in early spring, then
   red/burnt-orange in the summer. But besides the flower colour,
   I consider balance, size, height, leaf-type, density, foliage 
   colour. I try to lay out the major/architectural plants first, 
   then the blobby mounds, then the knitters/weavers to tie it all
   together.

   If you are interested in seeing the results of these theories,
   do come visit our garden at 
       http://www.geocities.com/ikuffel

   Thanks for starting this thread, it was fun thinking about
   the steps.

Cheers,

-- Irene.

Irene Kuffel
Napa Valley, California.
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index