Landscape Gardening

Garden design has often been compared to the image of an image. Your work of art teacher said that you should no doubt have a good picture a main point of interest, and the rest of the points, just go do to make more beautiful the central idea, or a fine setting for it. So in landscape gardening there must to be a picture of what he wants the whole, if his work be completed as the head gardener. From this study, we will be able to work a little theory of landscape design. Let us go on the lawn. A good extent of open lawn space is always beautiful. It's relaxing. It adds a sense of space to even small grounds. Sun, we could generalize and say that it is good to keep open lawn spaces. If one covers his lawn space with many trees, with little flower beds here and there, the general effect is choppy and fussy. It is a bit like an over-dressed person. One of the reasons to lose all individuality treated that way. A single tree or small group is not a bad arrangement on the lawn. Do not center the tree or trees. Let them fall a little into the background. Make a pleasing side feature of them. In choosing trees one must keep in mind a number of things. You should not choose an overpowering tree, the tree should have a good condition, with something interesting about the bark, leaves, flowers or fruit. While the poplar is a fast grower, it casts its leaves early and so is allowed to stand, naked and ugly, before the fall is old. Mind you, there are places where a row or double row of Lombardy poplar is very effective. But I think you'll agree with me that one lone poplar is not. The catalpa is quite lovely by itself. Its leaves are broad, its flowers attractive, add the seed pods that hang the tree until away into the winter, a bit squeness image. The bright berries of the ash, the brilliant foliage of sugar maple, the blossoms of the tulip tree, the bark of white birch, and the leaves of copper beech all these beauty spots are observed. Place makes a difference when choosing a tree. Assuming the lower part of the site is a bit low and moist, then the spot is ideal for a willow. No trees group together that look awkward. A long search for Poplar rather not go with a nice rounded little tulip tree. A juniper would be so nice and prim, look silly beside a spreading chestnut. One must keep proportion and suitability in mind. I'd never advise the planting of a group of evergreens close to a house and in the front yard. The effect is indeed very bleak. Houses are surrounded overcapped of such trees and are not only gloomy to live, but really unhealthy. The chief requisite inside a house is sunlight and much of it. As trees are chosen because of certain good points, shrubs should be. In a grove I wanted some that have flourished, some of which later blossomed, some for the beauty of their autumn colors, some for the color of their bark and others for the fruit. Some spireas and the forsythia bloom early. The red bark of the dogwood makes a little color throughout the winter, and the red berries of the barberry, to hang the shrub well into the winter. Some shrubs are good to use for hedge purposes. A hedge is usually more beautiful than a fence. The Californian privet is excellent for this purpose. Osage orange, Japan barberry, buckthorn, Japan quince, and Van Houtte's spirea are other shrubs that make good hedges. I forgot to say that in tree and shrub selection it is usually better, who lives where the place you choose in. Unusual and foreign plants less well, and often harmonize but poorly with their new surroundings. Garden design may follow along very formal lines or along informal lines. The first would have straight paths, straight rows in stiff beds, everything, as its name suggests, perfectly formal. The other method is of course the exact opposite. There are points in any danger. The formal arrangement is likely to look too stiff, the informal, too fussy, too Wiggly. In so far as to go through, remember that a path should always lead somewhere. That is their business to a certain place in a draw. Now, straight, even paths are not uncomfortable to be if the effect of a formal garden. The danger in the curved path is an abrupt curve, a Kettenkarussell effect. It is much better for you to just stick way, if you can make a really nice corners. No one can tell you how to do this. Garden paths may be of gravel from dirt or grass. One sees grass paths in some very beautiful gardens. However, I doubt if they would serve as good in your garden. Your garden areas are so limited that they should re-spaded each season, and the grass paths are a very disturbing in this work. Of course, a gravel path makes a beautiful appearance, but also you may not have gravel at your command. It is possible to dig for each of you, the path for two feet. Then put in six inches of stone or clinker. In this pack in the dirt, rounding it slightly toward the center of the path. It should never be depressions through the central part of paths, since these are convenient places to form water. Makes under the layer of stone is a natural drainage system. A building often needs the help of vines or flowers or both to tie it to the grounds in a manner to form a harmonious whole. Vines are well suited for this work. It is better to plant a perennial vine, and so it could be an integral part of your system landscape. The Virginia Creeper, wisteria, honeysuckle, a climbing rose, clematis and trumpet vine are all very satisfactory. Close your eyes and picture a house of natural color, mellow gray of the weathered shingles. add Well, this old house a purple wisteria. Do you see the beauty of it? I shall not soon forget an ugly corner of my parents house where the dining room and kitchen met. Just there climbing over and falling over a trellis frame was a trumpet vine. It was working fine an awkward angle, an ugly piece joiner. Of course, the morning-glory, an annual vine, as the moon vines, wild cucumber. Now they have their special function. Often it is necessary to cover an ugly thing for a while before things get better and better times. The annual is 'the guy' for this work. Along an old fence a few steps vine is a thing of beauty. You could try the forest 'landscape work rivals. For often one sees festooned from one rotted tree to another the vine Ampelopsis. Flowers can also go along the side of the building, walk across the border or. In general, however, hold the front lawn space open and unbroken by beds. What more beautiful in spring than a bed of daffodils close to the house? Hyacinths and tulips, also form a Blaze of Glory. These have little or no trouble, and start the spring right. One may make use of some lamps an exception to the rule of unbroken front yard. Snowdrops and crocuses planted through the lawn are beautiful. You do not disturb the general effect, but merge only with the whole. An expert bulb gardener says to take a basket of bulbs in the fall, walk about your grounds, and just drop bulbs here and there. Wherever the bulbs drop, plant them. Such small bulbs as we should be in groups of four minutes before six in plant lawns. Daffodils may be thus planted, too. You all remember the hyacinths that grow all through Katharine's side yard. The place for a flower garden is generally at the side or rear of the house. The backyard garden has a beautiful idea, right? If you want to leave a beautiful looking front yard, turn the corner of a house and find a dump heap? Not I. The flower garden may be placed formally in neat little beds, or there may be more sort of a careless, hit-or-miss. Both have their good sides. Great masses of bloom are attractive. You should have in mind an idea of the mixing of color. Nature seems not to consider this at all, and is still wonderful effects. This is green because of the enormous amount of her perfect background, and the immensity of space, while we are limited at best to relatively small areas. So we should strive to not blind the eyes of collision of colors that do not mix well at close range. In order to break up extremes of colors you can always masses of white flowers, and something like mignonette, which is green in reality. Finally, we touch our landscape lesson. The grounds are a setting for the home or building. Open, free lawn spaces, a tree or a proper group well placed, flowers which do not clutter up the front yard, groups of shrubs are points to remember. The paths should lead somewhere, and are either straight or curved. If one starts with a formal garden, one should not mix with the informal, before the job is done.