What Is a Healing Garden? (1339)
A healing garden is a place of tranquility and sanctuary, where various elements work together to bring about a sense of well being and peace within an individual. These gardens can be broken down into three groups: healing gardens, meditation gardens, and sanctuary gardens. Experts have differing opinions on which features should be included in healing gardens, but some of the common elements are plants, sculptures, seating, and water features.
To allow individuals to relax in a safe and comfortable setting, a healing garden can be constructed anywhere, even indoors, and some are created in urban settings. Healing gardens can be created using the space available. That is why these gardens tend to vary quite a bit in size and design. Designers often choose to include water features because of their soothing effect, and in an ideal environment, those who use the garden should be able to see, hear, and even touch the water. Additional features depend entirely on the designer's preferences, but wind chimes and sculptures often find their way into healing gardens.
Anyone can construct a healing garden, but the most important consideration is that the garden should have a calming effect on those who visit it. When creating a healing garden at home, the creative process can be given free reign, and the garden can include various elements. Some suggestions for a healing garden include seating and bird feeders, for those who enjoy watching birds. If a water feature or pond is present, fish may be introduced since watching them can have a very calming effect.
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Garden Design: Location and Soil(1685)
A garden's location can have a substantial influence on its design. Topographical landscape features such as steep slopes, vistas, hills and outcrops etc. may suggest or determine aspects of design such as layout, and can be used in order to create a particular impression. The soils of the site will affect what types of plant may be grown, as well as the garden's climate zone and various microclimates. The locational context of the garden can also influence its design; for example an urban setting may require a different design style to a rural one. Similarly, a windy coastal location may necessitate a different treatment compared to a sheltered inland site.
The quality of a garden’s soil can have a significant influence on a garden’s design and its subsequent success. Soil influences the availability of water and nutrients, the activity of soil micro-organisms, and temperature within the root zone, and thus may have a determining effect on the types of plants which will grow successfully in the garden. However soils may be replaced or improved in order to make them more suitable.
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Traditionally, garden soil is improved by amendment, the process of adding beneficial materials to the native subsoil and particularly the topsoil. The added materials, which may consist of compost, peat, and sand, mineral dust, or manure, that are mixed with the soil to the preferred depth. The amount and type of amendment may depend on many factors, including the amount of existing soil humus, the soil structure (clay, silt, sand, loam etc.), the soil acidity/alkalinity, and the choice of plants to be grown. One source states that, “conditioning the soil thoroughly before planting enables the plants to establish themselves quickly and so play their part in the design”. However, not all gardens are, or should be, amended in this manner, since many plants prefer an impoverished soil. In this case, poor soil is better than a rich soil that has been artificially enriched.
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The Elements of Good Garden Design (6187)
Rely on these artistic principles to take the mystery out of garden design, even if you are working with a professional.
Lines
Line is one of the most important and useful of all design elements. Everything in the garden involves line. Think about the trunk of a tree, the distant horizon, the line created when a lawn ends and the adjacent woods begin. A sidewalk, driveway, or fence is a clear and readily accessible line in the landscape. As you plan and design your garden, always consider the line that is created by whatever you are adding.
There are four main ways to describe lines: curved, straight, horizontal, and vertical. None is more important than the others – each has different effects. Strong lines can draw your eye into the landscape, directing both where people look and where they go.
Curved lines shape informal garden beds and add interest to pathways. Straight lines evoke a sense of order and are more formal.
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Soothing horizontal lines create a sense of stability. Think of the ocean and how its wide expanse meets the sky, creating an irrefutable sense of peacefulness and majesty. Vertical lines project a sense of strength and movement.
No matter which types of line you use, be aware that lines lead the eye. Lines going away from you on the ground draw you forward. Horizontal lines on the ground slow you down. Vertical lines lead the eye up and out of the garden. Curving lines take the eye on an intriguing journey. All are desirable. It’s up to you to know where the lines will lead you or your eye and what you will see when you get there.
Light
What could be lovelier than early morning or evening in the garden, when plants virtually glow from warm backlighting? Who can deny that light gives plants life?
Light and shade change the way colors look and how they work together. Although you can't control natural light, you can play up its effects. Bright light has the same impact as warm color – it advances visually, making an object or area feel closer than it really is.
Keep in mind that light can be either natural or artificial. It is easy to add a low-voltage lighting system to extend your garden enjoyment into the evening hours. Various fixtures and their positioning create different effects. Frontlighting a dark area highlights a particular feature. Backlighting silhouettes a sculpture, tree, or shrub. Sidelighting, which can also produce dramatic effects, is used mostly for safety along walks and paths.
Form
Trees and shrubs can take many forms. A good home landscape includes major plants with two or three contrasting forms.
A landscape without strong, contrasting forms becomes as confusing as a melody without rhythm. The form and shape of plants and other objects in the garden work to divide space, enclose areas, and provide architectural interest. Grouping plants displays their shapes and creates various effects.
Round forms, such as barberry shrubs, for instance, add definition and stability to a mixed border.
Repeated, narrow verticals also add stability. Alone, a thin cactus looks awkward. Clustered, they appear well-placed. The strong uprights of a fence add a sense of security and completeness.
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Scale
Scale, or proportion, is the size relationship of one object to another. A 30-foot tree is out of place in the middle of a small patio, but a dwarf tree makes sense. Conversely, a massive house overpowers a narrow front walk lined with strips of flowers.
Consider the ultimate size of a tree before you plant it. The most beautiful tree in the world will look awkward and out of place if it towers over the front of a house. That same tree, if placed in the back yard, may provide a pleasing frame for the house.
Balance
Visual balance is achieved when the elements on each side of a real or imaginary axis are equal. If too much emphasis is placed on one side of the garden, your eye will be drawn more readily there and not to the garden as a whole.
There are two basic types of balance: symmetrical (formal) and asymmetrical (informal). When establishing balance, you need to determine a central reference point from which to draw an axis. It could be the front door, a tree in the backyard, or any other object.
Symmetrical, or formal, balance is the easiest to see and understand: The elements on either side of a real or imaginary line are mirror images.
Formal balance doesn't always suit a home or garden style. You may prefer informal, or asymmetrical, balance. For example, a large tree on the left can be balanced by three smaller ones on the right. Or a large mass of cool colors on one side can balance a small mass of hot colors on the other side.
Unity
Unity results when all of the basic garden design principles come together in a balanced, harmonious whole. Focusing on harmony will help as you choose from an exciting and sometimes bewildering array of plants and other landscaping materials.
Make simplicity a guidepost as well, and you likely will achieve a unified design that gives you a sense of completeness. Good structure in the overall design, combined with hardscape that meets your needs for service and enjoyment, creates the perfect setting into which you can place favorite plants – trees, shrubs, groundcovers, flowers, and seasonal containers.
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Contrast
Contrast emphasizes the difference between a plant or an object and its surroundings. Using contrast is the best way to avoid predictability in a garden. It also adds a pleasing sense of tension between elements.
You can create contrast by manipulating various elements such as form, texture, and color. Achieve a distinctive look by planting the contrasting forms of horizontal 'Bar Harbor' juniper in front of red-twigged dogwood, for instance.
You can contrast textures by varying hardscaping materials, such as bricks and gravel, or plant textures, such as a leathery leaved magnolia next to a finely needled cedar or juniper shrub.
Finally, the colors of flower blossoms can create wonderful contrasts. For example, red and green, purple and orange, and yellow and blue represent the highest contrast in color.
Color
Color seduces the eye, evokes mood, and reflects the seasons. As a powerful and unifying tool, color has predictable effects. Cool blues, purples, and greens soothe, whereas warm reds, oranges, and yellows enliven and advance.
Single-color schemes enchant with their simplicity. The real fun comes in expressing your personality by combining colors. Some colors compete for attention; others harmonize.
Although flowers are the jewels of the garden, too many different colors look chaotic. Remember that a balance of different colors creates a pleasing effect.
Variety
Just as you choose your guests for a dinner party with concern for their interests and personalities, so can you combine a variety of plants for compatibility.
Accents and focal points serve to make a landscape more interesting. Use them sparingly, however, to maximize their individual impact. Often, a single, interest element added to a drab scene can make all the difference.
Similar shapes and colors reinforce a theme. But certain focal points, by virtue of their interesting character, deserve major attention. These focal points should stand out from the rest of the garden. Occasional accents, such as an arbor, a sculpture, or a specimen plant, help create balance in a garden between the reference points and the background.
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Landscape Design (1718)
Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practiced by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice, landscape design bridges between landscape architecture and garden design.
Landscape design focuses on both the landscape planning of a property and the specific garden design of landscape elements and plants within it. Landscape design is often divided into hardscape design and softscape design. Landscape designers often collaborate with related disciplines such as architecture and geography, soils and civil engineering, surveying, landscape contracting, botany, and artisan specialties. There can be significant overlap of talents and skills, depending on the education, licensing, and experience of the professional.
Design approach
Factors in designing include objective qualities, such as climate and microclimates; topography, site drainage and groundwater recharge, soils and irrigation, human and vehicular access, furnishings and lighting, property safety and security, construction detailing, and other measurable considerations. Factors in designing also include subjective qualities such as: genius loci (the special site qualities to emphasize), client's needs and preferences, desirable plants and elements to retain on site, modify, or replace, and artistic focal points for enjoyment. There are innumerable other design factors and considerations brought to the complex process of designing a garden that is beautiful, well functioning, and thrives over time.
The practice of online landscape design allows professional landscapers to remotely design and plan sites through manipulation of two-dimensional images without ever physically visiting the location. Due to the frequent lack of non-visual, supplementary data such as soil assessments and pH tests, online landscaping necessarily must focus on incorporating only plants which are tolerant across many diverse soil conditions.
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