A good garden is a wonderful thing, whether it is the place to be for summer socialising or a pretty winter wonderland to enjoy from your kitchen window. But gardening doesn’t come easily to everyone, and planning out a garden with a ‘wow’ factor can be harder to achieve than you might think. What are some simple lessons you could take on board in service of creating your ideal garden?
Don’t Overcomplicate
First and foremost, you should reckon with your own ambitions regarding your ‘wow’ garden – if only to ensure you aren’t getting too far ahead of yourself ideas-wise. There are many ways in which you can imbue your outdoor spaces with a wow factor, but employing all of them at once can serve against your interests; the term ‘too many cooks’ can readily apply to the volume of ideas you might have for your garden!
Instead, try to keep things simple. First, isolate three essential values you want your garden space to represent. These could be anything, from ‘social’ to ‘serene’ or even ‘eco’. These can help you narrow your vision, and avoid bloating your garden with disparate concepts. Where eye-catching features are concerned, try to limit yourself to two – this way, your efforts don’t distract from one another.
Plan Your Paths
A truly ‘wow’ garden often employs zonality, with different areas of the garden achieving different things. For example, you might have a patio by the back door for socialising, a relatively wild corner for sustainability and a trimmed set of flowerbeds (or vegetable plots). Connecting these zones makes it possible to ‘explore’ the garden, adding wonder and intrigue to the space or spaces.
As such, you should give careful consideration to the paths you place between each area. Setting a meandering path of paving stones across your lawn can give a magical touch to garden traversal, whether a fully-fledged pathway or a ‘stepping-stones’ style arrangement.
Plants are Crucial
Of course, a garden cannot be a garden without the presence of flora. Plants can utterly define a garden space, and a lack thereof can be disastrous for the character of your outdoor space. A worrying trend has emerged this year, wherein plants and grass are increasingly being removed from garden spaces in favour of artificial flora.
Not only does this have ill effects for the environment (both locally and with regard to climate change) but the effect is an uncanny, even disturbing one. Investing properly in your plants and lawn will yield impeccable results, not only for the biodiversity of your garden but also for its aesthetics.
The Rule of Three
Finally, we come to the rule of three—a broad rule that can help you keep your garden simple and effective. When it comes to hardscaping – that is, the installation of pathways, patios, retaining walls, and fences—try to limit yourself to three types of material. This keeps clutter down and adds a sense of homogeneity to your garden!
