Successful garden design results in a garden as if it should never have been any other way. Good design is simple design, and care and maintenance are essential for a beautiful garden. The following principles are ones I have found helpful.
Style
xxxx• create a design which is definite and which has a strong framework; this will help to create the xxxxcharacter of the garden.
xxxx• incorporate and make use of existing features, both those within and outside your boundary.
xxxx• make an uncluttered approach to the garden so that the latter becomes a striking surprise.
xxxx• take ideas from other places and other gardens, and adapt them so that your garden is truly your xxxxown, and in your own style.
xxxx• finishing touches, which often help to make a garden labour saving, will make your own mark on xxxxyour garden and help to create unity in the design.
Unity
xxxx• plan the garden as a whole, and with singleness of thought and purpose.
xxxx• unite and link the house and the garden with views, vistas, doors, windows and paving.
xxxx• avoid too many different and ill digested features.
xxxx• make the garden compatible and in keeping with the surroundings.
xxxx• use local materials but not too great a variety of them.
xxxx• focal points help to create vistas and concentrate one's gaze; do not spoil vistasby creating xxxxconflicting lateral distractions.
xxxx• hedges of one species; the same colour on all painted woodwork; and the way in which separate xxxxareas are linked all contribute to unity.
xxxx• the overarching canopy of a tree can help to unite all beneath it.
xxxx• create glimpses of what is to come next as one moves through the garden.
Space Division
xxxx• divide the area so that the complete garden is not seen at one view.
xxxx• plant hedges for division, height, and an unbroken background (unity); be patient while hedges xxxxgrow and appreciate that there is much interest and pleasure in growing a hedge well. Common xxxxyew (taxus baccata) can even grow one foot in a year.
xxxx• make full use of corners to create interest and help reduce labour eg awkward grass areas to cut.
xxxx• if the site allows create different levels which will contribute enormously to inteest and variety in xxxxthe garden.
Scale
xxxx• correct proportion leads to harmony and a peaceful atmosphere.
xxxx• ornaments and features are more often too small rather than too large.
xxxx• the width of borders, paths, steps and paved areas; and the height of features (ornaments and xxxxfountains) all contribute to scale and proportion.
xxxx• a mistake in small gardens is to scale down too much.
xxxx• good proportion: breadth to length ( the golden section); open space to plante area; horizontal to xxxxvertical.
Plants and Colour
xxxx• contrast the planting in different areas; do not have the same planting patterns recurring at every xxxxturn; be generous with your planting, and make full use of annuals. Grow the plants you like in xxxxplaces they like.
xxxx• pleasure from colours and plant associations derives from your taste ( beauty is in the eye of the xxxxbeholder. In my own garden I try to place blue, grey, pink, white, light green and pale colours xxxxtogether; leaving yellow, brown, red, and deep green together elsewhere. I try to use groups of strong xxxxcoloured plants to strenghten my design. Texture and foliage help to complet the picture.
xxxx• understandpruning - when, where, and why?