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Design techniques

This is the exciting bit. You have visited grand houses and show gardens, taken many photographs, developed a passion for just about everything, and generally looked, collected and clipped until your mind is racing with ideas. When it comes to good design, it helps if you follow the rule that says ‘form follows function’. This means that your final design should be a balanced blend of both your functional needs and your ideas and passions.

How can I use my inspiration?

A long, formal pond or canal links the patio with the rest of the garden. The natural earth-coloured bricks and symmetrical layout give this design a traditional or classic feel. The planting is less formal.

A decking patio with seaside overtones – the matching raised beds are topped with turquoise crushed stone to draw the eye. This is an entirely modern design that focuses on colour, texture and function.

GOOD DESIGN, POOR DESIGN, TASTE AND STYLE

In the context of design, a good starting point is to say that things and structures have to work – gates must open, seating needs to be comfortable, steps must be safe, and so on. If you are worried about what constitutes good taste or good style, then the best advice is to relate to tried and trusted classical forms. If you go for untried, cutting-edge forms and imagery, then you may risk, certainly in the short term, your design being described as being in poor taste or poor style – sometimes possibly for no other reason than that it has not passed the test of time.

Harmony and contrast

Taken literally, the term ‘harmony’ describes forms, colours and textures that are similar one to another, to the extent that they look happy together. Red brick, stone and wood might be described as being in harmony. The term ‘contrast’ describes forms, textures and colours that are dissimilar or opposite. The strange thing is that contrasts – say dark against light, or rough against smooth – can be a joy to the eye. For example, polished marble can look all the more exciting when it is set against a contrasting material like rough-hewn oak.

You can use a colour wheel like this to help you make informal decisions.

DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM AN EXISTING DESIGN

There is a fine line between drawing inspiration from an existing design and copying a design. If you visit a garden and are so excited by it that you go away and create a garden that pays homage to it, you are drawing inspiration from it. If, however, you replicate it stone by stone and flower by flower, you are merely copying it.

FRESH, ORIGINAL IDEAS

Using fresh, original ideas is always good. Try to be original with the small things – the little details – and big original ideas should follow. There is no credit in being original just for the sake of it, however. Of course, it is always good to aim for originality, but do not worry too much if you fail.

GARDENS EVOLVE

The wonderful thing about gardens is the way they evolve. You start by putting in structures – paths, walls, and hard areas – and gradually as plants grow in size and number, and as your behaviour changes, so you will find that you will, almost by necessity, modify the shape of the structures to fit.

LANDSCAPING TIPS

Work with what you have: do your best to keep and use what you have – mature trees, dips and hollows in the ground, natural features like rocks and pools.

Soil stability: be wary about making big changes with wet or waterlogged soil, or soil on a sloping site. Take advice if you have doubts.

The house must look comfortable: aim for a landscape that holds and nestles the house, so that the house looks ‘happy’ in its setting.

Get the best viewpoint: shape the garden so that it looks its best when seen from the house. If you get it right, the house will also look its best from various vantage points around the garden.

Draw inspiration from nature: the easiest way forward is to draw inspiration from a slice of nature – a forest glade, a valley, the side of a hill.

Materials in harmony: all new materials look their best when they are drawn from the locality – local bricks, local stone, local wood.

Scale in harmony: aim for structures that complement the house in size, rather than structures that overwhelm the house.

PLANTING TIPS

If you liken planting to painting colours on a canvas, you can take the analogy one step further by saying that you must hold back with the planting until the canvas – the structure of the garden – has been well prepared.

Climatic conditions: the plants must be suitable for your climate – it is no good going for delicate plants if your site is windy and subject to frosts.

Soil conditions: the plants must suit the soil – you must not choose chalk-loving plants if your soil is predominantly clay.

Sun and shade conditions: look at the way the sun moves around the garden, note the areas that are sunny and shady, and position the plants accordingly.

Scale: take note of the potential size of plants – the width and height when fully grown. Be especially wary of some of the fast-growing conifers.

Year-round colour: aim for a broad selection of plants, so that you have year-round foliage, bud, stem and flower colour.

Container-grown plants: these can be purchased and planted all year round.

MAKING NOTES AND SKETCHES

It is a good idea to go out into your garden, with a stack of coloured pens and a pad of gridded paper, and to make sketches. Take measurements of the garden, decide on the scale – say one grid square equals 60 cm (2 ft) – and then draw the garden in plan and perspective view, with close-up details showing special areas of interest (see below). Draw what you already have, and then draw in any desired changes. Try to visualize how the changes will affect how you use the space. Place markers around the garden so that you can more easily visualize changes.

Use a rope, hosepipe or chain together with some pegs to help you plot out an irregular shape.

A perspective view of the garden is more difficult to draw than a plan view, but is nevertheless the best way to visualize your design.

A plan view of the garden (viewed from above) can be drawn to scale over gridded paper. Colouring in areas can be helpful.

Important features can be drawn separately and in more detail.