IF, as the saying goes, “my home is my castle,” then the natural extension of the home is “my garden is my sanctuary.”
Today, as it has been for thousands of years, gardens are relevant for many reasons but most importantly as a place to escape the pressures of daily life. Intellectuals will classify a garden’s design style into some category to provide context and to inform the relevance of the design in contemporary terms. On a personal level, people need to feel safe and comfortable in their gardens to find mental or spiritual sanctuary. For the many clients I work with, a key requirement of designing the garden is to find the right balance between personal expression, lifestyle compatibility and affordability.
So just exactly how do you create a backyard that will provide a place to retreat and find sanctuary? Here are some design ideas.
For some people, the productive garden provides an outlet for stress and contemplation and is usually designed around the growing of fruits and vegetables. The common rectangular raisedbox bed affords ease of access, which is good for people with physical limitations or age related issues. But the rectangular shape is not always relaxing or stimulating for the mind. Instead, consider designing round shapes that are softer and more restful for the mind and body.
Vegetables do not have to be grown in big blocks of one
species next to another. Feel free to mix and match as if you are working with ornamentals and not food crops. Use a variety of leaf and flower colours, textures and plant sizes to provide diversity for the mind and to prevent pest and disease problems.
Productive gardens require deep, fertile soil to grow the best crops, which prevents the need for chemical additives. And mulching is a must to
prevent weeding work, which is not enjoyable for the mind or body.
Concept gardens are preferred for people who want a specific form of creative expression. Concepts can be formal or informal designs but they adhere to a specific idea that can range from the mundane to the bizarre, such as designs related to superheroes, industrialization, mazes, fantasy lands and even
the Flintstones and so forth.
When designing with a specific creative expression in mind, stay true to the concept and use plants and materials that will provide visual references that reinforce concept. For example, if I want my garden to look like the Flintstone family lives there, I would use lots of large boulders, prehistoric looking
plants and crude or at least simple furnishings.
Gardens based on cultural tradition are designed using specific characteristics of any given culture. Given our multicultural society here on the West Coast it is common to find gardens designed to reflect Persian, Greek, Italian, East Indian, Chinese, Japanese, British, aboriginal and other cultures.
Each cultural garden uses specific features like water, walls, specific pathways materials, sculptures and most importantly plants that are historically relevant to each culture. It is important in the cultural garden to incorporate specific design elements that reflect the cultural symbolisms. Persian gardens, for example, often incorporate courtyards with water symbolizing protection, safety and the importance of water to life. The clichéd West Coast aboriginal garden might include sword ferns, cedar trees and a totem pole.
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