simple tips for designing a garden border
In this short article, we have listed a few ideas that will help and inspire you during the process of creating a planted border design.
First of all, you need to look at your space and understand it. Having a pen and a piece of paper would help to draw a simple sketch of your space. Locate the North direction and think about the journey of the Sun around your garden. Which areas will get most sun, which are going to be more in the shade.
Knowing this information from the start will help you decide where to locate your plant border.
Your plant border design will also depend on the size of your space. If you have a small space you might want to create some winding paths that will guide you between the beds. This simple trick will make your space feel a bit bigger. As you meander through the planting, this approach will bring the feeling of being surrounded by nature, at the same time creating a private refuge and more intimacy.
Once you investigate and understand the aspects and characteristics of the soil in your garden, you can start thinking about the plants that are needed for your plant border design.
Select plants that will thrive in your precise location. If you have a sunny, open space, choose plants that like the sun, but also plants that are drought tolerant, as you want to minimise the need for watering.
Make a list of your favourites. It doesn’t have to be very long. Remember you will repeat the plants that you selected across your border, so it all looks coherent and balanced.
Make sure you have a good variations of flower form and textures of foliage. It is often helpful to look at a colour wheel and see which colours are complementing each other, and which are more contrasting.
Once you have your plants, make sure to position them in your border, before you plant, step back and look at your overall plant border design. At this point you can always move things around.
It is also important to think about the spacing between each plant. Think about the size of the plant when it matures. Consider these measurements and space accordingly.
If there are bigger gaps between plants, especially just at the beginning of creating your new plant border design, you might want to include some annual plants. They will provide more interest in the spaces between.
Creating a new plant border design is a very enjoyable process, during which you will learn a lot about your space and the most suitable plants for your location. It is also very much a creative experience, where you can work with the colours, textures, shapes and sizes of your plants.
Watching the planting develop, especially seeing its first blooms, is a very exciting and rewarding experience, and will give an immense feeling of satisfaction as your creativity really comes to life.