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How do the Elements of Design relate to a good planting plan? First, a good designer must have an intimate familiarity with plants. At Garden Design, we make a concerted effort to understand all of the correct cultural requirements in our plant pallet i.e. zone hardy, sun, shade, water, nutrients, and soil types. Second, a good designer uses the Elements of Design to make proper plant selections. Good designers don't just choose plants because they need some assorted trees, some random shrubs, and some snappy seasonal color. Good designers don't include plants because they have them in the nursery or know where they're easily bought. Third, the good designer must acquire the intuition to put the first two together. It is this acquired intuition for what is right that is the most important part of creating a successful planting. It is not possible for a planting design to be learned purely through a series of logical steps. This basic understanding of and appreciation for all of the Elements of Design identifies and qualifies the good designer: Form/Shape, Scale, Texture, Light, Color, and Time. Form/Shape: It is important to define the overall form of the garden in order to plant the individual shapes of green material. A good designer uses the Principles of Design to raise the standards of architectural definition of outdoor spaces. The form of a garden is ultimately about Balance, Repetition, Emphasis, Rhythm, Unity and Contrast. Once you have identified that form and whether the form gives the impression of being romantic, naturalistic, controlled, or formal, it's easier to select plants that convey those appropriate feelings. The designer the intuitively understands how the individual plant's form will achieve the feeling that is right for that garden. If all the plants were the same form, the garden would look monotonous. A good planting has enough variety of shape to look interesting in a black and white photograph. A successful plant combination relies on many shapes: of trees, shrubs, leaves, flowers, seed-heads, berries, and grasses. Plants with large bold leaves create a different impression from that created by small leaves or divided leaflets. Linear foliage, like that of grass or iris, contrasts with most shrubs and perennials. Where there is too much variety, the eye cannot perceive a common theme. This is especially true if there are dollops of many individual plant forms, a lot of vivid colors, or variegated and tinted foliage. Repeating certain species or shapes or colors is the obvious way to create rhythm. Repetition generates a strong visual impact and creates an overall cohesive form-or unity in design. If a particular shape is repeated several times in a border, a pattern will emerge. The same is true with color. Good planting design intuitively combines these elements with knowledge of particular kinds and moods of plants. Scale: By doing a scaled plan on paper, attention will be drawn to certain key questions: Which plants go next to each other? How many are needed? How they will be distributed through the planting? When doing the design, think first about the scale of taller structural plants. If there is enough space, use that plant at intervals through the design to create a sense of rhythm. Work down in size until you get to the ground covers or fillers. What gets a little tricky is to use the basic elements of design in any art form: line/shape, form, light, color, texture, and time that apply to the individual plant as well as the creation of the garden space. Texture: is a particularly underrated aspect of plants. How close we are to the plant depends on how we appreciate the texture of the foliage. Soft, light, or at least situations where light does not strike the plants full-on, is particularly important for the full appreciation of texture. Plants from shady or moist environments are more likely to have leaves with an interesting texture, like ferns. Light: is critical and yet little attention is devoted to the way light falls on plants. There is the early morning or evening, the sideways light of winter which can backlight ornamental grass beautifully. Think of the dappled light through the woods on a crystal clear day. Aside from natural light, landscape lighting plants at night can make a garden come alive with drama and mystery. Color: comes in many forms. The different colors of green foliage as well as blue, gray, yellow and re/black. Attractive and well-combined foliage is like a background to whatever performance the flowers have. Flower color is with us for a relatively short season, compared with the shape of the plant, you should concentrate on plant form and think of color as an exciting extra. Time: is the last element and is not always needed in the elements of design. I think that having plants grow makes designing with them a challenge. First of all, if you don't know the mature size of a plants, how would you know how much space to give it or if it's going to grow and hide something like a window. Once again, if you don't know your plant pallet very will, you cannot design for the future growth of that plant. |
