1. Diana Alfuth, Horticulture Educator UW-Extension, Pierce County
Garden Design
Designing Gardens as Part of a Sustainable Landscape
Diana Alfuth, Horticulture Educator
UW-Extension, Pierce County

2. Sustainable Landscape Design
Functional
Maintainable
Environmentally Friendly
Cost Effective
Visually Pleasing

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Consider the function of each portion of the landscape
Note problems/attributes in the existing landscape
Evaluate the site characteristics, including soil type, pH, light, wind, etc.
Decide on your goal and landscape style

4. Garden Design
Garden Design
Formal = straight lines, plants in rows, symmetrical, globes and columns
Informal = curvilinear patterns, plants in intertwined masses, asymmetrical, natural plant forms

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Locate gardens as part of your overall landscape design
Create a good turf area, with functional spaces and gardens behind the concept lines that form the turf shape

6. Garden Design
Consider each individual viewpoint when designing the gardens and planting beds

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The most beautiful
landscapes are
“designed”, not
decorated. They
create unity by
incorporating
Principles of
Design, including:

8. BALANCE

9. SCALE

10. REPETITION

11. SEQUENCE

12. SIMPLICITY

13. VARIETY

14. Garden Design
Design beds to keep maintenance to a minimum

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What makes it look good?
Human eyes need a place to start:
FOCAL POINT
A focal point is the first thing we see when we look at a landscape.

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Examples of things that create focal points are:
Artwork
A plant that is different than those around it
Structures
Birdbaths, birdhouses, birdfeeders
Boulders
Bare spots
Diseased/dying plants
Debris
FOCAL POINTS CAN CHANGE THROUGHOUT THE SEASONS!

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Focal Point

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Focal point

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Locating Focal Points
Any given view of the landscape should have one major focal point, and maybe one or two secondary focal points. Too many focal points creates a “busy” landscape.
Locate focal points 1/3 of the way from one side .

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Focal Point??

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After our eyes find a focal point, they need to go somewhere, and look for lines to follow.
Lines can be formed by edging, paths, structures, plant masses, plant form, shadows, etc.

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Focal
point

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Lines

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Lines

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Lines

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Lines

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Too many lines, or no lines, create a confusing, busy landscape.
Lines should take the eye where you want it to go—and keep it in the landscape.
Avoid lines that take the eye into the sky, or into the neighbor’s yard!

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Before you start thinking about specific plant species, to get a good design, you must first plan for each plant’s characteristics, or “Elements of Design”

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Elements of Design
Primary (visual)
Plant type
Plant form
Plant height/width
Plant Texture
Plant Season of Interest
(including color)

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Consider both foliage form and flower form
Plant Form:
Arching
Upright
Creeping/spreading
Drooping/weeping
Mounded
Horizontal branching
Columnar

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Plant Size (height and width)
Consider the plant’s
MATURE, NATURAL
size!

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Plant texture
Visual coarseness/fineness of foliage, branching, flowers.
A plant’s texture is relative to what’s around it, and it may change throughout the season.
Plant texture is EXTREMELY important in design, and can make or break a landscape

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Texture

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Texture

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Texture

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The finer the texture, the more of it you need. Lawn grass is our finest textured plant.
Consider textural changes to create a focal point, repetition, and variety.

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Season of Interest
This is how you get a landscape that is interesting all year—by planning it out on paper!
For each plant, group or mass, think about when it will have significant interest, and make that work with what’s around it, creating focal points, repetition, unity.

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Season of Interest

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COLOR!
What’s the easiest way to choose a color scheme?
STEAL AND COPY ONE!!!!

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Color

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Color
* Warm colors appear closer, so are good for viewing from a distance.
* Cool colors recede, so are better up close.

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Color

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Elements of Design
Secondary: Soil/fertility preferences
(non-visual) Moisture requirements
Light requirements
Hardiness
Disease & Insect resistance

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On a scale drawing, locate plants in slightly intertwined groups and masses, using single plants only when a focal point is desired.
These groups and masses will help move the eye through the landscape.

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Next, keeping in mind the Principles of Design (Balance, Scale, Variety, Emphasis, Simplicity, Sequence, Repetition), assign Elements of Design characteristics to each plant, plant group or plant mass.

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“Key” plants soften a hard feature in the landscape
On vertical corners or structures, they break the visual vertical line and keeps the eye in the landscape
They soften large areas of hard surface, such as retaining walls or fences

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“Accent” plants are a focal point—they draw attention to themselves
Could be all year, or only certain times, such as when in bloom
Accent plants can be a single plant, a group, or a mass

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Plant “groups” are 3 or more of a species, where each individual plant is discernable
Often serve as accent plants at some point during the year

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“Mass” plants – when many plants of a particular species are planted close enough together so that you can’t see the individual plants
Masses serve to move the eye between more important components and to tie a landscape together

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Start with a backdrop! Everything looks better with a backdrop! Create one if one doesn’t exist yet.
Then, locate any non-plant focal points.
Then, start with your biggest plant or your focal point plants. Using your available space as a guideline, your tallest plant should be 1/3 or 2/3 the height of the backdrop (unless the backdrop is more than feet tall).

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63. Flower Garden Design
How big should your garden be?
The width of a border planting should be 1/3 the width of the total area.
Each “height” should have an equal amount of space within the bed.

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In small areas where other rules don’t apply, a 4-8 foot wide border allows for an attractive variety of plants.

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For island beds, be sure they fit into the overall concept plan.
A good standard size is 8 feet wide, 15 feet long, with maximum plant height of 5 feet, but it should be in scale to the site!
The tallest plant should be as tall as ½ the width of the bed.

66. Garden Design
For beds viewed from a distance, hold your hands out in front of you at shoulder width.
Where your hands meet the backdrop is a good length for your flower bed.

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69. Know what plants look like all year

70. Intertwine plant groups to avoid lines that act as inadvertent focal points

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Deciduous shrub, 6’ X6’, upright, medium texture, fall interest
Evergreen shrub, 4” X 4’, mounded, coarse texture, winter interest
Deciduous shrub, 2 ½ ’ X 5’, creeping, medium texture, spring interest
Ornamental grass, 40” tall, upright, medium texture, fall interest
Herbaceous perennial, 18” tall, mounded, fine texture, summer interest (red flowers)

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Finally, choose specific plant species that match the assigned characteristics for each plant, group or mass.

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MATCHING PLANTS
Emerald Elf Amur Maple
Regent Serviceberry
Glossy Black Chokecherry
Spreading Cotoneaster
Beach Plum
Compact American Cranberrybush
Emerald Triumph Viburnum
Diablo Ninebark
Deciduous shrub, 6’ X6’, upright, medium texture, fall interest

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MATCHING PLANTS
Birdsnest Spruce
Dwarf Norway Spruce
Dwarf Balsam Fir
Aglo Rhododendron
Dwarf Yew
Evergreen shrub, 4” X 4’, mounded, coarse texture, winter interest

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MATCHING PLANTS
Rosy Glow Barberry
Evita Weigela
Snowmound Spirea
Fritschiana Spirea
Cutleaf Stephenandra
Deciduous shrub, 2 ½ ’ X 5’, creeping, medium texture, spring interest

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MATCHING PLANTS
Big Bluestem
Red Switchgrass
Overdam Feather Reed Grass
Red Flame Grass
Tufted Hairgrass
Fountain Grass
Windspiel Purple Moorgrass
Strawberries & Cream Ribbon Grass
Ornamental grass, 40” tall, upright, medium texture, fall interest

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MATCHING PLANTS
Paprika Yarrow
Red Beauty Yarrow
Fanal Astilbe
Luxuriant Bleeding Heart
Sweet William
Daylillies
Coral Bells
Herbaceous perennial, 18” tall, mounded, fine texture, summer interest (red flowers)

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Enjoy your landscapes!