As harmony is to a tune, so colour is to a garden: it gives a more precise feeling and mood to the under¬lying design. Colour alone cannot make a garden, but it can enrich the design and highlight different parts of the scheme at different times. It can attract atten¬tion by means of bright Read more...
The style of a garden is largely responsible for its atmosphere, whether it is neat and geometric, relaxed and informal, busy and colourful, or still and discreet. The choice of style is often influenced by other gar¬dens that have been seen and admired. Try to be open-minded about the styles Read more...
From time to time most gardeners long for an all-green garden. It is a longing for clarity and simplicity, for a rest from the business of gardening. The in¬spiration may be found in a formal garden: picture a white-painted weatherboard house with a long veran¬dah overlooking still trees and Read more...
The interiors of Victorian houses were known for their fussiness and crowding detail; so it was with the gardens of the high Victorian period. Labour was cheap and numerous gardeners could be employed, removing worries about whether a garden style might be labour intensive or not. The period was Read more...
Despite the vituperations of those who regarded topiary as “pastry cooks’ gardening”, it has always had a loving following somewhere. Whatever topiary might do for the style of a garden, there is always pleasure to be taken in the sheer craftsmanship of creating and maintaining Read more...
Each of us sees colour differently, and one person’s idea of bright harmonies may be another person’s chamber of horrors. Nevertheless, there are certain basic guidelines which will help to produce harmoniz¬ing colours. Thereafter it is up to the individual to satisfy his or her Read more...
There is a far wider choice of plants for cool, moist, woodland-type shade than for the dense dry kind, but in both cases the same planting principles apply. Since shady areas are usually sheltered from the wind, plants with large, soft leaves can be selected, with special attention to Read more...
A good parterre is about as stylized a piece of garden¬ing as you will ever find. It turns the surface of the gar¬den into a picture, a pattern complete in itself. In principle it is one of the simplest of garden styles, however complex the geometry of the pattern itself may actually Read more...
Texture works with shape and color in a garden to create movement and harmony for the eye. In contrast with themselves and each other, these three elements produce a constantly changing variety of in¬terest, bringing the detail of the garden to life. The greater the range of textures, the Read more...
The color wheel shows how the principal contrasts in color are made – red with green, blue with orange and yellow with purple – but countless bold com¬binations can be used. These are strong effects, high¬lights to be used in garden design in a similar way to harmonies, but more Read more...