Garden Design IdeasGarden Ideas, Photos and Tips for Gardening at Home
form Lucius DuBignon Clay into ceramics may not seem like the most logical readiness for a vocation designing gardens . But Key West landscape designer Craig Reynolds , who take ceramics in college , sees the connection . “ Garden purpose is my remains , ” he says of his process of imagining an out-of-door outer space . “ Every piece of land has a fingermark , by which I mean proportion , scale , circulation . You just have to incur it . ”
Reynolds , who has task throughout South Florida , the Florida Keys , and the Caribbean , approaches each projection much as he would if he were paint a landscape . “ I employ aboriginal plants in the background as a framework , and in front I layer tropic - look plants like philodendrons , palms , and variegated plants to bring in colouring , ” he says . “ I care garden to feel sculptured and designed in a style that feels like artwork , ” he articulate . Here are eight tips from Reynolds on creating a garden that feels like artistry .
1 . MASS IT
No matter what size of it space you ’re plant , “ you involve masses of matter , ” Reynolds says . “ You may have five or six species of industrial plant , and use maybe 10 of one , 20 of another , and 100 of the small groundcover . mass merge a textural , heavily planted garden . ”
Massed bromeliads andPhilodendron‘Burle Marx ’ filling either side of the ipe boardwalk with a ocean of putting surface . DwarfPsychotria ligustrifoliaand fernlikePodocarpusadds tiptop and texture along the fencing . Photo : Richard Bloom .
2 . EMBRACE THE LONG VIEW
small-scale gardens put on a sense of depth when you accentuate retentive views across the garden . “ Instead of making a design you meander through , take reward of one farsighted view , ” Reynolds suggests . Emphasize its distance with a straight path and dramatic focal points at each end .
3 . PLANT A NATIVE BACKDROP
“ indigen are often the most resistive to pests and most durable once they get established , ” Reynolds says . “ And so the long - term health of the garden is survive to be better if you habituate them . For clients who require a tropic facial expression , I use aborigine in the backcloth , and then I layer showier , tropical - style plants in front . The node let what they want , and environmentally we ’re doing as much as we can to use the right plant . ”
Ficus repensgreens up a lily-white stucco wall , while a borrow view of neighboring palms fosters the illusion that this garden continues beyond its quarter - acre bound . “ We used what was next door so that we did n’t have to plant on the inside of the bulwark , ” Reynolds read . “ This give us a little more blank space for a patio . ” Photo : Richard Bloom .
4 . LIGHT IT , BUT DON’T LIGHT IT UP
" Lighting is a Brobdingnagian part of my designs , ” Reynolds says . Eliminating hot spots — the glare of an exposed bulb — is the number one challenge , he says . “ If you could get free of red-hot spot , the inflammation look natural . ” Focus , too , on highlighting feature you want to accentuate and letting less important elements pull away into dark .
5 . big ISN’T ALWAYS BETTER
right proportion is key to a successful garden pattern , specially for patios and swimming pocket billiards , and they must relate well to the size of the house and other garden elements . For pools peculiarly , Reynolds suggests , it ’s respectable to err on the small side . Make it a design characteristic , not the prevailing element . “ When you look out , you want a sense of space , ” not a yard jam - packed with wish - list items .
This home plate ’s living room transmute into a covered porch when glass door are unfolded , disclose a modestly - sized 14 - by-14 - animal foot swim pool , a lawn , and concealment - providing verdure . picture : Richard Bloom .
6 . LOOK UP
A diminished garden feel prominent if it draw the eye up and over the boundary fencing . Borrow a neighbour ’s landscape gardening by framing a view of their trees and creating the semblance that your garden extends out past the property lineage . Or found a few magniloquent Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree near your fencing line . “ A tall tree eviscerate your eye up , ” Reynolds aver . “ That makes a quad feel bigger and the tree seems farther away , even if it ’s planted at the edge of the property . ”
7 . PLANT SEE - THROUGH industrial plant
damp a terrace and give a little garden a enceinte sense of deepness by breaking up pave with planter space , and fill them with an airy tree rather than a bush or shaggy perennial . “ What you want is to see through and beyond the plant , ” Reynolds says . “ If you put a bush there , for exemplar , it would arrest your perspective , and the space would feel smaller . That ’s why I wish King Alexander medal : they have multiple trunk and get marvelous enough so you could see right through them . ”
King Alexander ribbon underplanted with bromeliads break up the paving around the puddle . On the leftover , masses of bold - textured plants include palms andCyperus papyruscreate a “ woodland ’s bound ” sense of effusiveness . Photo : Richard Bloom .
8 . A natural spring SHOULD LOOK GOOD , EVEN WHEN DRY
A fountain is n’t always on , especially if you ’re trying to conserve water . Reynolds suggest making a spring that looks just as good turned off as on — for representative , a glass - tile pee wall that still looks attractive , and a adjourn spout that fades from prominence when the water ’s turned off .
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