The main difference between a beautiful garden and a haphazard growth of trees and plants is designing. Without the element of proper designing, any growth of plants and trees will give you the feeling of a forest. You might have chosen the plants and flowers you want to grow in your garden but if you ignore the most essential part of any gardening project, that is design, you will only get mesh of plants that may die off soon and waste your money and all the efforts. Let us share a few simple tips about how to design a simple garden. Once your neighbours see your self-designed garden, they will be green of envy.
If you have raw land for gardening or a simple garden, you have great scope for designing. You can use your creativity along with a few simple garden-designing rules to give it a beautiful shape and structure. And you have a large area to add more plants and flowers in the future.
Before you start designing the garden, have a closer look at your property. Bring measuring tape, a notepad and a garden hose with you. You may be surprised, but garden hose will help you decide the shape of the garden. You can arrange it in many ways, using different shapes as a base, like square, round or rectangle to design a basic and balanced garden. An asymmetrical and free formed garden can blend beautifully in surroundings.
Write down the measurements of the garden in your notepad. Knowing these will help you design the garden in a more comprehensive way, and also, it’ll help you decide the quantities of soil and mulch additives. Using a scale, draw the garden on the graph paper along with the permanent features of your home.
Choose plants for your garden, which can grow according to the sunlight available in your garden. In addition, native plants are the best choice, as they need less maintenance. Colour scheme is an important element of the garden design. The colours should blend well with the house and existing landscape features. Colour scheme should be such, which alleviates your mood, creates a feeling of simplicity and peace. Red and orange are vibrant colours and green, blue or light purple are cool colours.
Focal point of the garden should be foliage plants, including ornamental grasses or other plants having beautiful kind of leaves. Plants should be arranged according to the garden shape. Place plants outward and forward in descending order in height which complement the focal point of the garden.
Garden design is the most essential part of constructing a beautiful garden. Gardens are very dynamic in nature and they change, grow, spread, die off and then bloom in many wonderful ways. If you’re not sure if the plants you want to have will not affect one another in a negative way, or you’re not sure about the design – ask a professional designer for help. You can share all your ideas and plans, and this way you can create a perfect garden of your dreams.
1. Hard case
‘If buying wood, avoid anything that isn’t hardwood,’ advises Humphreys. ‘And always buy wood from a sustainable origin!’ So think ash, teak, oak and walnut. This Amalfi Asthall table from The Cotswold Company is made from plantation grown balau hardwood and features a lazy Suzan centre. Sturdy structure, elegant design and guilt free indulgence. Bliss.
2. Summer style
‘Metal is popular due to being more weather resistant and hard wearing with less need for protection and re-oiling,’ says garden furniture expert Julie Humphreys of Crocus. The French grey metal Garden Furniture range from Graham & Green epitomises stylish outdoor living. Plus, the chairs and table collapse for easy winter storage.
3. Set in concrete
Gone are the days when concrete meant ugly. With chic designs in the pipeline, it is the material of choice this season. It’s easy to look after, resistant and durable. Check out the Concrete gardening furniture from Made in Design. Plant your favourite blooms (think geraniums, rhododendrons or minimalist bamboo) in the built-in planters for a pretty, personalised back rest.
4. Country charm
‘Benches which are space saving seem to be more popular than an array of chairs around a table,’ says Jon Holloway from outdoor furniture specialists Garden Trading. Ideal for a city garden is this elegant garden bench from Natural Collection. ‘If you cannot store furniture away in the winter I would use classic Teak or Ash,’ advises Holloway. ‘Good quality Teak will never go out of fashion.’
5. Flexible friends
‘How about having a table that can be used indoors in the winter and then taken outdoors in the summer?’ suggests Holloway. Celebrate the Iron Age with this Parisian Fleur Garden Set from Dibor. The ceramic surface of the wrought iron set is embellished for a decorative French flourish. The fully foldable structure on both chairs and table make them very portable.
6. All-weather rattan
‘Rattan, both natural and ‘man-made’ is definitely the in-vogue furniture,’ says Holloway. Get the look of Rattan with all the advantages of man-made material with this Avery Diner Chair from Raw Garden. The woven synthetic material is fade, UV and weather resistant. Be lazy and leave it out all year – you’ll find it’s fungus and mould resistant too.
7. Dual purpose
‘Wood never goes out of fashion, especially with the traditional gardener,’ explains Humphreys. The Planter Seat – Versailles Planter Seat from Crocus is a clever combo of functional wooden seat and decorative planters. To preserve wooden furniture, treat it annually with a hardwood furniture oil.
9. Flower power
For full-blown romance an arch of roses is hard to beat. Climb your favourite creeper over this Westminster Arch from Crocus. Or surround your seat with flowers with the Rustic Arch Garden Furniture Iron Arbour Bench Seat from Amazon. It’s steel frame coloured in antique bronze is weather proofed for year-round glamour.
10. Sustainable elegance
‘If on a budget, it is still wise to buy the best you can afford like a small hardwood set and make sure it’s comfortable,’ says Humphreys. The Hardwood Chelsea Garden Armchair from True Shopping combines elegance with eco-awareness. It is made from Vietnamese hardwood from renewable sources. Sit back, sip on a Pimms cocktail and soak up the rays.
Also introduce to you Green Furniture
Green Furniture is a term that is used for consumers interested in making environmentally intelligent choices in furnishing their home or office because it can have a significant impact on the ecology of the planet, as well as their health. In an ever increasingly “throw away” society poorly made furniture lasting only a fraction of the time that it did in the past is filling our landfills. In the United States alone tens of millions of furniture are discarded yearly into landfill. There is very little recycling of materials on furniture that occurs and many pieces have toxic materials that are capable of leaching into soil groundwater.
Environmentally concerned citizens are increasingly requesting “green” products. “Green” Furniture often symbolized by a tree are products that use materials from “sustainable”reference forests, have low toxic material levels, locally manufactured and are durable enough to last. Durable furniture can last a life time Good eco-friendly furniture should lend itself to easy repair, disassembly, and recycling. Products certified by MBDC’s C2C (Cradle 2 Cradle) product regimen are a perfect example, like certified office chairs from Herman Miller and Steelcase. Please see, Modulus Furniture. These product can be easily taken apart, sorted into their constituent parts, and recycled at the end of their useful lives. When buying furniture, stay away from “monstrous hybrids”, pieces that are an inseparable amalgam of materials. If they can’t be taken apart it’s probably a sign that they can’t be repaired very well either.