Introduction to flowers

There are no limits to the range of garden designs that can be achieved. Every garden is individual. This is probably one reason why there are so many gardeners.

Over the the last few centuries there have been many great garden designs that have inspired other gardeners to copy or further improve on. These designs range from classical formal gardens to rambling natural areas of beauty.

There are quite a few 'styles' of gardening that you can follow and adapt to your own personal tastes or requirements. These requirements differ for everybody - for some, it may be to have a productive kitchen garden, for others, an area to relax or entertain friends and for others, an area for children to play safely.

When deciding what style you prefer it is worth taking into account what the variables are. These variables can be size, character, type of house, soil conditions, if whether there are banks or inclines in the site etc.

Below is a brief outline of some of the styles available:

Formal Gardens -these are further broken down into -

Classical Formal

Sometimes called Italiante this type of garden takes its influence from the 17th and 18th century Italian and French palatial gardens which were themselves inspired by ancient Greek and Roman designs. They are often set on elevated or dominant sites and consist of strong architecture, symmetrical designs, terraces, fountains, canals,cascades and long shaded walks.

Oriental Gardens

The art of garden design goes back over 3000 years in China and was later copied by the Japanese. The gardens were designed by scholars and philosophers as peaceful places for meditation. The elements are simple and symbolic, mirroring China's landscape with scaled down mountains, rocks, falling water, green valleys and lakes. Paths wind or zigzag to reveal different views and bridges offer views of fish or reflections in still water. Planting is restrained with each plant having a meaning or symbolic place in the design.

The Japanese style tends to be more dense in the planting and they incorporate carefully shaped and dwarfed trees, raked gravel and groups of rocks.

These Japanese styles are further broken down into three distinct types - The first being the flat garden with simple elements of raked sand or gravel, a flat or vertical stone and bamboo. The second is the dry garden - this consists of hills and stones to imitate dry water courses and channels. The third is the hill and water or tea garden which consists of a complete landscape of hills, a watercourse, pines and other trees among rocks and a lake.

Formal Bedding

Many of the plants used in these schemes are annuals or half-hardy plants, laid out in formal designs and patterns.

Topiary Garden

This 2000 year old art of creating shapes out of trees and bushes is usually incorporated into other designs or restricted to a section of a larger design in a formal garden.

Knot Gardens

These were particularly popular in the 16th century. They are small hedges (usually Box) laid out to form abstract patterns, often reflecting the knots used in Tudor needlework. The pathway in-between was made of coloured sand or gravel.

Parterres

These are often confused with knot gardens but are larger in scale. They consist of intricate designs of low hedges forming patterns, the centres of which are filled with coloured gravels or brightly coloured bedding plants. Evergreen shrubs of box or yew, trimmed into neat pyramids or globes may also be dotted about.

Sunken Gardens

These are usually square or rectangular in shape, enclosed by stone walls and surrounded by raised grass or paved paths. The layout is generally symmetrical with flower beds and possibly a central feature such as a statue, sundial or small fountain.

Informal Gardens are broken down into some of the following styles:

The Family Garden

This is usually fairly formal in its design, incorporating safe spaces such as open lawns where children can play, as well as areas for flower borders, possibly a few fruit and vegetables and maybe a patio area.

The Cottage Garden

This style is very informal in layout and will contain many interesting and unusual plants, with vegetables and fruit interplanted. This type of garden may need a fairly high degree of time spent on it and some horticultural knowledge.

The Modern Formal Garden

Usually has such constructions as a patio,low walls, steps and perhaps a formal raised pond. The planting is usually minimal and restricted to a few raised beds or containers and has no lawn area. It is very low maintenance and is usually more suitable to modern urban gardens.

Open Plan Garden

This type of garden is reasonably low maintenance and usually consists of a large lawn area with borders and possibly a small area as a kitchen garden. If the area is sloping away it could be terraced. It may be fenced in with hedges or could be left open if bordering open landscape to allow an open vista.

A Screened Sanctuary

Bordered by high fences or hedges, this type of garden is usually heavily planted with plenty of climbing plants, perhaps on an arbour or pergola to give the owner privacy and seclusion.

Woodland Gardens

A woodland garden is a quiet peaceful place with peaceful sheltered places. It would consist of a natural grouping of , usually native, trees with plantings of shrubs and herbaceous plants and bulbs. Access is by informal paths made from natural materials such as bark or pine needles etc. It would require a lot of space and is more suited to rural type areas.

Wildlife Gardens

Any garden with a wide variety of plants will attract and provide a refuge for insects and wildlife but the main aim of this sort of garden is to provide food and shelter for a wide variety of creatures. It would contain a completely informal pond, specifically designed to aid wildlife and varieties of plants that were originally native to the specific locality. Any boundaries would be hedges rather than wall or fences and would be of hawthorn etc. to attract birds to nest.

Meadow Gardens

There is now an increased interest in recreating these habitats to help preserve some of the flora and fauna originally found in natural pastures and meadows that were once common but are now becoming increasingly rare. They are planted with native wildflowers and grasses. Once established there is very little maintenance required.

Water Gardens

Water brings a fascination to any garden. It is normally combined into another style though and very rarely used entirely on its own.

There are no strict rules as to what you have to include into your own personal garden design. Most gardens will probably include features or ideas from a few of these styles. Some of the Formal garden ideas took up acres of space and, nowadays this space is simply not available but there is nothing to stop you from turning your garden into a scaled down version if that is what you like.