Garden design – that’s just about where you put plants, isn’t it?

by Rachel Mathews

Successful-cake In a word NO!

SO many people make the mistake of thinking garden design is about the plants…

Plants ARE important – they are just not THE most important thing when it comes to garden design. I can feel the tut tutting as you are reading this – ‘not about plants, what’s she talking about!’ You are probably not convinced, thinking you are reading the ramblings of a crazy woman or you are just plain confused! That’s OK. Like many misconceptions, it’s going to take a bit of persuasion and coersion to set the record straight.

So if garden design isn’t about plants – what is it about?

Well cake actually! Yes, glorious, delicious, icing covered, cake. Think of plants as the icing on the cake, NOT the cake itself. They finish it off, make it look pretty and make the garden feel like, well, a garden! Really GOOD garden design is about the shape first, then the plants. Shape is so important because it provides the framework that the plants sit in. If the shape or main body of the garden is well thought out, then the whole garden works as one entity, not just a hit and miss of plants dotted here and there.

ONE of the biggest mistakes MOST people make when designing their own garden is…

They get hung up on the icing. The pretty bits – the plants. If you just focus your design on what plants you are going to put in, chances are you’ll create a chaotic plant paradise but not a great garden. For some people that’s fine. BUT I suspect, not for you. The fact you are here reading a blog about how to design your garden better, means you are one of the VERY FEW smart people. I’m actually not trying to butter you up with flattery – it happens to be true, MOST people don’t plan, they don’t think ahead, they just go plant things!

If you are one of the many that have made this mistake in the past, don’t worry, you are in very good company – most people do the same thing. The reason we all head straight for the garden centre is plants are nice and we don’t know what exactly what else we should be doing, so planting the garden is the most obvious and logical thing to do.

So what should you do if you want a well designed garden?

The quick answer is to plan it first. Going back to my cake fixation (writing a blog at tea time, when I’m hungry, maybe wasn’t such a good idea) decide what shape cake you want before you even CONSIDER what colour and flavour the icing is going to be! You probably wouldn’t serve a pile of icing on a plate, so make sure you don’t just focus on the plants in your garden – make something really delicious, with a well thought out and planned garden.

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