Article: Maria MacRae
Some people might wonder what an article on design is doing on a website devoted to gardening for wildlife. A wildlife-friendly garden is often thought of as a “messy” affair that mimics nature. While there is incredible value to the re-creation of natural habitat in a manner that reproduces a wilderness area such as a meadow or forest, there is also wildlife value in a garden that is designed along more formalized lines, while still providing food, water and shelter for wildlife.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some wildlife supporters take much deserved pride in allowing nature the freedom to do what it will with their property in order to create maximum benefit for wildlife. Others have a strong desire to create a more formal design on all or part of their property, but would still like to welcome wildlife. Those two desires are not mutually exclusive. Beautiful and natural can go hand in hand.
Creating a garden that is beneficial to wildlife is a matter of putting some thought into a plant selection that meets the needs of the wildlife you would like to attract. If you would like a more formalized garden, read through the following tips on design, decide which elements you would like to incorporate in your garden, come up with a list of plants that will fit in that design, and then narrow your selection based on each plant’s ability to provide food and shelter for wildlife. Our native plant encyclopedia will help you in that final regard.
Design Style
There are a number of different design styles. A formal garden is based on straight lines and geometric shapes. A Japanese garden puts a lot of thought into the placement of each plant, combines them with water and stones and emphasizes foliage and texture more than flowers. A naturalistic design uses curves in the place of straight lines, interesting topography and a combination of vegetation layers (trees, shrubs, perennials and ground covers) to create more natural plant groupings.
Whichever design style you choose, there are some points to consider in creating your garden that can give it some added punch. But these are only guidelines. In the end your own sense of style should be the deciding factor.
Foliage
A lot of gardeners choose their plants on the basis of flower colour alone. Although colour in the garden is a wonderful thing, many plants spend more time out of bloom than in bloom. It makes sense, therefore, to carefully consider the appeal of a plant’s foliage when making your choices. Plants such as ferns and grasses have a very important role to play in any garden. They can provide interest, variety and beauty at times when nothing is in bloom. They can also provide great backdrops or complements to flowers in bloom.
Foliage varies in form, texture and size. Plants such as columbine or Dutchman’s breeches have small, delicate leaves, while those of wild ginger are large and rounded. Jack-in-the-pulpit has a fascinating shape. The foliage of grasses such as tufted hair grass can have a beautiful flow. Some plants have smooth, shiny leaves, while others have soft, downy ones. By combining a variety of foliage shapes, sizes and textures, you can create great interest in your garden that will carry it through times of limited blooms and even enhance it when many flowers are blooming.
Foliage also varies in colour. Although we often think of plant foliage simply as green, there is a great array of colours. Tonal values vary from very deep, dark green to incredibly pale. Some plants, such as pearly everlasting and silver buffalo berry, are even blue or grey. You can get great variety by paying attention to the foliage colour of the plants you choose and the way you place them in your garden. Silver-coloured foliage can stand out nicely against a backdrop of dark green leaves.
Don’t forget the value of beautiful fall colours and those that stay green throughout the winter. Some thought to foliage in plant selection can add some dramatic colour at a time when blooms are dying out or gone.
To help plan your design, check out some of your favourite gardens and pay attention to which foliage combinations appeal to you. When shopping for plants, place some in various combinations to see what looks good together. Flip through garden magazines to search for interesting groupings and try to recreate them with plants of similar foliage shape, texture and colour.
Colour
When it comes to bloom colour, there are a multitude of colour schemes that can be put into play in a garden setting. The choice is definitely a personal one. However, there are some basics of colour theory that can be used effectively in garden design.
Monochromatic colour schemes limit themselves to the use of only one colour. However, the colour can appear in different values — lighter and darker shades. A monochromatic colour scheme can give a unified feel to a bed. To create more interest, choose plants with a variety of different flower shapes and sizes.
Analogous colour schemes extend the colour selection to include colours found next to each other on the colour wheel. For example, you could mix red, red-violet and violet together, or orange, orange-yellow and yellow. It gives a bit more variety but still has a harmonious feel to it.
Complementary colour schemes combine colours at opposite ends of the colour wheel, such as pairing orange and blue, green and red or purple and yellow. The effect can be quite dramatic. Especially if you use very bright colours — for example, a bright red flower against some bright green foliage. However, this combination can also be tiring for the eyes if overdone. For a softer effect, use complementary colours in paler tones.
Pastel colour schemes use soft colours such as pink, lilac or peach. These colours give a peaceful, soft feel to a garden, but can sometimes appear washed out in bright sunshine.
Warm colour schemes use colours that suggest warmth, such as red, yellow and orange. These colours often make an object appear closer. Warm colours are thought to evoke warmth and energy. Red is the most powerful colour.
Cool colours are those that suggest coolness, such as blue, purple and green. These colours make an object seem farther away and are sometimes used at the end of a small garden to make it appear larger. Cool colours are felt to be calming and restful.
White flowers can add some much needed brightness to shady areas of the garden. However, bright white flowers can sometimes draw the eye and throw off an otherwise nice balance of colours. Some people, however, use white blooms to separate other colours that may not appear overly harmonious together.
Colour schemes can be applied to an entire garden, a specific bed or one part of a larger bed. The best way to decide on a colour scheme or schemes is to visit existing gardens and see what colour combinations appeal to you. Look through magazines as well. Try cutting out some plant images from magazines and playing with different combinations to see which ones look good together.
Form and Structure
The form and structure of garden elements have a huge effect on the appeal of any garden. Items such as paths, arches, accent pieces and bed shape give a garden a certain feel. Plants also play an important role in shaping its appearance.
Trees can add to the beauty of your garden in many ways. They can also provide much needed privacy from neighbours and help block off unwanted street noise. In choosing a tree, the first thing to consider is its size at maturity — both its height and width. Don’t choose a tree that will reach a mature size of 30 metres in height if you have a small lot with overhead hydro wires. Also, be sure not to place trees too close to your house to prevent their roots from affecting your foundation or their branches from blocking the view from windows. The same consideration should be given to shrubs, which can also reach sizes that can be significant in smaller gardens or even larger ones if wrongly placed. If you plan for their mature size, you’t spend years trying to prune plants to an unreasonable size.
Although they don’t have the same impact as trees and shrubs, herbaceous plants can still add to the structure of your garden. Plants are often classified according to their different shapes (see the table below for some examples). To give your garden interest, try to create plant combinations with plants of different shapes. Many plants have a sort of mounded shape to them. There are a number however, such as some of the taller grasses, which are more vertical in nature. By adding a vertical plant to more horizontal ones in a grouping of three to five, you can create more energy in the design. Even among the horizontals, try mixing different shapes and heights.
Some Example Plant Shape Categories
|
Category |
General shape |
Examples of plants |
|
Fans and fountains |
Plants that are upright with outward movement at the top |
Yucca, sword fern, deer fern, Indian grass, Virginia wild rye |
|
Mounds |
Round and full shape, as wide as they are tall |
Upright sedum, wild geranium, coreopsis, false sunflower |
|
Columns and cones |
Vertical, upside-down cone, pyramid or pillar shapes |
many evergreen conifers, silphiums |
|
Spikes |
Tall, upright spikes — taller than they are wide |
Fireweed, wild lupine, black snakeroot, liatris, cardinal flower, foxglove, beardtongue |
|
Unusual |
Unique shapes |
Rattlesnake master |
|
Sprawling mats |
Low, spreading plants |
Barren strawberry, foamflower, mitrewort |
Contrast
By creating contrast in a garden, you generate real punch. Contrast can be created by pairing plants of different colour, shape or texture. The bright red of cardinal flower is given an extra jolt if it’s beside some deep green foliage. The delicate foliage of columbine contrasts nicely with the thick leaves of wild ginger. Play with your plants while in their pots to check out different combinations before planting them.
Repetition
Repeating a certain element at various intervals throughout the garden will give it a unified feel. You can repeat bloom or foliage colours, plant shapes or textures. You don’t want it to be identical throughout, but by repeating a particular theme in varying combinations you can create harmony. For example, you might repeat a grouping of three plants, one vertical and two mounded, in a few parts of the garden. The vertical element might stay the same and the horizontal ones change, or all three might vary as to species but stay the same general shape and size. Or you might repeat the inclusion of a certain type of plant or a certain colour and intersperse it throughout the garden.
Seasonal Flow
In choosing plants for your garden, you want to maximize the year-round element. Emphasize plants that can provide more than one season of interest. For example red-osier dogwood has flowers in the spring, nice textured leaves and interesting fruit in the summer, brilliant fall foliage and fiery red stems throughout the winter.
Evergreens provide year-round colour and should be included in any wildlife-friendly garden. However, many plants can provide winter interest if given the chance. Purple coneflowers look very attractive with their seed heads covered in frost. Try leaving your perennials for the winter to see if their stems and seed heads add interest to your garden through the winter months. This gives the added benefit of providing seeds for birds during the harshest months.
For bloom colour, be sure to provide blooms in every season. Create clusters of plants that bloom together and weave them throughout the garden. This will give a better overall feel than spreading them too thin or putting all your season’s bloomers in one bed that will then look barren for the rest of the year.
Rocks, Logs and Water
These elements can add great wildlife value and plenty of visual appeal to any garden. It is best to partially bury rocks and logs to make them look like they belong in the garden. The last thing you want is a large rock that looks like it has just been dumped there, instead of looking like part of the landscape.
Play with your rocks to find their most appealing angle. As with plants, they will look better in groups of three or five than on their own.
Some Final Tips
There are a lot of theories dealing with garden design, and although it’s good to consider them, the best result comes from finding what appeals to your sense of style. An all-white garden can be harmonious and pretty, but it’s not for everyone. Remember that you will be living with your garden for some time.
• Visit gardens and peruse books and magazines to see what appeals. Then play with the photographs and images that you’ve found to see which combinations you like the most.
• Analyze your site carefully before starting your design.
• Choose plants based first on whether they will thrive in the conditions that your garden offers (light, soil, moisture and climate).
• Start with a site map — see our Getting Started section on mapping.
• Give preference to larger groupings (five, seven or more) of each perennial rather than individual plants.
• Combine plants that have similar environmental needs.
• Consider all angles from which the garden will be viewed — entrances, windows, gates, etc. — when designing.
• Identify problem areas — steep slopes, lack of privacy, ugly structures — and make the solution part of your design.
• Play with plant placement while they are still in their pots before making the final decision.
• Place the largest plants first.
Remember that design is a continuing process. Don’t expect to get it all right the first time. And have fun with it.
Some Great Books on Garden Design
Lovejoy, Ann. 2001. Ann Lovejoy’s Organic Garden Design School: a guide to creating your own beautiful, easy-care garden. Rodale Inc.: Emmaus, PA.
Lots of detail on garden design with a workbook to plan your own garden.
Roth, Sally. 1997. Natural Landscaping: Gardening with Nature to Create a Backyard Paradise. Rodale Inc.: New York, NY.