Garden Design Tips

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Photo Credit: Mark A. Miller

Line a walkway with plantings on both sides to add color, texture and feeling as guests head toward your door.

So you’ve got a bunch of plants and don’t know exactly what to do with them. Sound familiar? You’re not alone – even remotely. Indeed, the process of designing a garden is always a challenge, even for veteran designers.

To make things a bit easier, I want to share with you some steps I’ve learned from years of working in my own yard. I’ve had three great gardens over the past 10 years – one in Wilmington, DE; one in Kennett Square, PA; and now one in Dallas. Believe me when I say my tips work regardless of where you live! (Unlike plants, designs don’t have cold and heat zones.)

The first step in any good design is to decide where you want your planting beds. Usually, these seem to end up huddled against the foundation of your home or around the mailbox. I say why squash your garden against the side of the house where no one is able to enjoy it? Personally, I know there are more exciting areas to put all that color, texture and fragrance that plants offer.

I like to place my garden beds where I’m able to walk through them – and it’s all the better if the path is one I have to walk every day as part of my routine. This makes the garden an integral part of my life, and it lets me observe and enjoy every change of the seasons. I also think that a planting along both sides of a front walk is an excellent choice since it makes entering the house more of an event.

Tips

An excellent way to discover how you journey through your garden is to walk it with a friend and take photographs of key areas.
Be careful what you plant in front of windows! Supposedly “dwarf” shrubs are often taller than your average first floor. Measure the area you’d like to fill and find out what a plant’s mature size is before you bring it home and put it in the ground.

Faqs

Q: What’s something I can do to improve the design of my existing garden?
A: Think about how you currently use your garden. Consider any changes that would make the design better to support how you’d like to use your yard.

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