Garden Design Basics

Garden design is far from an exact science, and is often referred to as a living art form. The practice has been around for over 4,000 years, with Egyptian paintings showing evidence of ornamental horticulture, and it doubtless dates further back than that.
If you’re thinking about exploring this ancient art and changing your garden, the best advice is to do some reading and then go for it. As with all art forms, the best way to learn is to get stuck in and practice. The great thing about this is that nothing is permanent. If you decide you don’t like the arrangement you end up with, it can easily be changed.

There are many books, guides and courses on lots of aspects of garden design, but there are some good basic principles to get you started:

- Harmony

This is a tough idea to nail down completely. In essence it means the sum of the parts of the garden, and how they work as a whole entity. There are endless combinations of elements that you can use here. Some of the common tricks are using limited colour palettes, similar plant types in different areas and strong focal points within the garden, like stone water features. Before starting the design, you should decide upon a theme, and most importantly stick to it.

- Balance

This covers the basic structure of the garden, and is generally the most recognisable part of the garden. You can track the style of this element through history, from ancient symmetrically structured layouts through the flowing design of the landscape to modern times. This also covers the types of plants used and their textures, as well as ornamental furniture like stone benches or carvings.

- Flow

The third element is, like with painting, composition and drawing the viewers eye. The flow of the garden should be natural, and include open spaces, vistas and paths where appropriate. Lastly, one important element not to leave out here is the inclusion of planned or existing exterior objects like furniture or water features.