Many successful garden colour schemes are created with the use of two or three chosen colours such as red, orange and yellow, but can be equally exciting using just one colour such as an all white flower theme. The key to creating a successful white garden lies in the realization that a white garden is not predominantly white, but also green.

The various textures of the foliage act as a foil to the stark-white blossoms, muting their brilliance with a calm and cool effect. Grey-leaved plants, such as lamb’s ears, santolina, and artemisia, also perform a beneficial role: Used in moderation, these “almost whites” act as a bridge between dark and light and serve to link the two serenely together.

In limited garden colour schemes, foliage shapes and textures come into much more prominent play. For a single colour garden to be successful it needs to be set off from the rest of the landscape, it just wouldn’t work if it were merely a portion in an otherwise colourful landscape.

Plants and colours go in and out of vogue, therefore you should grow what you like, in the colours you prefer and be bold enough to do your ‘own thing’. Please yourself and your garden will never be a disappointment to you. Unless you are an expert, keep your design simple. If you overdo things it will look cluttered and fussy. If you are on a tight budget, work with what you’ve got. By simply reshaping a lawn and adding new plants can transform a garden.

Bright or hot colours (e.g., red, yellow, orange) make objects look closer. They also tend to create a vibrant and exhilarating atmosphere.

Subdued colours (e.g., blue, purple, green) make objects look farther away. They also create a visually cool and calming atmosphere.

Colours from opposite sides of the spectrum (e.g., blue and yellow, red and green) are complementary. White and silver reflect light and are often used in dark corners to lift and brighten up the area; this effect can also be achieved with plants that have shiny foliage.

Yellow is best used as a focal point, as when used with other colours, is more readily noticed. Yellow exudes warmth, sunshine, cheer and happiness.

White goes with almost any colour. It brings out colour from the adjacent plants. If you have a shady area, use either white flowers or light variegated foliage to brighten the area. It also can look spectacular on its own, choose different varieties of plants, all having white flowers or foliage.

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It can be a tricky matter to determine whether a landscape is balanced or not. You’ll probably rely more on intuition than conscious calculation. While there are complex mathematical formulas you can follow, the best solution may be to simply step back and take a good look, just as a painter would do with a piece of art.

Take a look at these examples to get a feel for this design principal:

– A landscape takes on a formal look when it has a centrally located focal point, such as this tree. Elements on either side of the focal point are placed symmetrically.

– When a focal point is positioned off-centre, a design is asymmetrical and therefore informal. In this case, the horizontal feature (shrubs) balances the vertical feature (tree).

– The gazebo balances the much larger tree on the right. Although it is smaller in size, the gazebo’s stiff, solid form carries as much visual weight as the tree’s spreading canopy.

– Not only is this landscape unbalanced, it also has too many competing focal points. The result is a “busy” picture that is visually ambiguous and unsatisfying.

Colour is very personal thing and everyone interprets the moods that colours create in different ways. Colour choices is first and foremost about personal preferences and though many people prefer to adder to set design rules regarding colour and how the colours mix and compliment each other, or clash, as those hot oranges do with delicate pink.

Throughout history some of the most eminent gardeners have taken down the barriers of convention and created the most fantastic colour combinations with disregard for past rules. Light is the major factor in colour perception. Soft colours look wonderful in the early morning, in the evening and dull or damp weather.

In the Mediterranean sunshine, the same colours would look blanched, whilst strong, bold, vibrant colours that look sensational in hot climates are thought overpowering in a soft light. A background building or fence will also influence colour tones by reflecting or absorbing light; it will influence our view of the colours of plants grown in front of it. As well as geographical factors, there is a natural progression of dominant colours through the seasons. Be bold and experiment, if things turnout not as successful as one had imagined, they can be changed!

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Draw up garden design plans to scale, using pencil on vellum over graph paper (four squares per inch). Use tissue over the vellum layer for idea sketches before drawing out the final plan. It may take several attempts to achieve the one satisfactory design; the final plan may take the best elements from each sketch. Your plans don’t have to be so elaborate, however. After all, a plan is simply a map for you to follow in your garden. As long as you can understand it, that’s all that matters. And while planning for spring, summer, and autumn glory, don’t forget to add plants with winter interest—beautiful bark, berries, textures, form, or colour.

If you have the space, use conifers and broad-leafed evergreens that retain their needles or leaves all year round, as well as ornamental grasses, winter-blooming trees, shrubs, perennials, and bulbs. Plant shrubs like firethorn (Pyracantha) and beautyberry (Callicarpa) that keep their stunning fruits late into the season.

Calculating wind exposure, light patterns, and drainage is another important part of site evaluation. In addition to being influenced by regional climate, each garden has its own microclimate, determined by the hardscape, dominant plant species, and topography. Only careful, year-round observation will enable you to fully gain enough knowledge to get the best out of your plot and enable you to place plants where they will succeed and give their best performance.

If the garden will be viewed from more than one spot — say, from the street and from your front window — decide which view is the more important one. Once you’re comfortable with the picture from that angle, you can adjust the balance of elements to suit the secondary view. Be patient because this may take some time and experimentation. Plus, the balance may change as your garden matures.

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There are basically two roads to follow when seeking balance in the garden design: symmetrical and asymmetrical. Formal landscapes have symmetrical balance. A formal design is best used on flat ground or when working with a central feature, such as a fountain or front door. Formal gardens, such as Mediterranean gardens, consist of symmetrical compositions balanced about a central axis.

Modernistic garden designs with concrete, glass and steel structures make use of materials that when softened with sympathetic plantings, can become as stately as any of the conventional gardens of formal design using conventional materials. Informal gardens, such as wildlife gardens, are inspired by nature and use soft, flowing curves and shapes.

Some characteristics found in Formal Garden Design are:

• Geometric patterns, maze-like pathways
• Mass and uniform plantings.
• Intentional, designed use of floral and vegetation colour, texture and height.
• Trimmed vegetation, hedges, sculptural use of plants.
• Classical structures such as columns, arches, fountains.
• Classical artefacts such as urns and statuary.
• Outdoor “rooms” used for dining, entertainment.
• Captive animals in birdcages and fishponds.

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Study pictures of beautiful gardens in magazines and books. This is a fine way to get ideas and discover your favourite garden style. Build arbours and pergolas to separate spaces, contribute height, add charm, and provide cosy places to sit and admire the view. Remember, trees and shrubs, in addition to hard landscaping, provide structure to a garden and are therefore termed the “bones” of your design. Changes in ground level may already exist and can be accentuated by building steps and walls at these points. Raised beds are invaluable for adding interest to a flat area, and variety can be introduced by arranging plants of different heights.

Certain design garden style have evolved in response to a particular climate or geographic conditions. The native plants that thrive in hot and dry climates define a Mediterranean style, but it also reflects certain building materials and architectural styles associated with the Mediterranean area. This style of garden is characterized by warm, earthy tones in the structures and containers, specifically terra cotta, combined with dry-climate plants like erigeron and lavender, drought survivors such as cacti and the agave family.

Even in a seemingly random, informal garden, the various elements must work together and appear to be whole, rather than disjointed pieces. One method of achieving unity is through repetition, whether it be shapes, colours or materials. For example, you might have tall containers, filled with bushy plant material, anchoring either end of your long, narrow balcony or deck, thus unifying the entire space, regardless of what’s planted inbetween. Another way to achieve unity would be to pick a dramatic shape, for example, the sword-shaped New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax), and repeat it at intervals down your balcony or around your patio. The eye won’t be able to resist this rhythm.

One dramatic container, a grouping of similar containers, or some other element such as a garden sculpture, all give you a focal point, which provides a means of organizing. Anything that draws one’s eye acts as an anchor.

Try positioning your focal point arrangement ‘off-centre’ in your garden space, to create more interest and avoid the boredom of the expected. In addition to a handsome grouping of plants, a focal point can be something that contrasts with the surroundings, such as a weathered bench or a vividly coloured birdhouse. A focal point can also draw the gaze away from an unattractive view.

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Many people think about garden design only in terms of plant choices. But picking plants is the last and often easiest part of putting a garden together. Before the plants are put into place the fencing, buildings, paths, paved areas, steps, lawns, archways, etc. should be put into position.

The modern concept is to create outdoor rooms, which can be used by all the family for specific purposes. You may have a play area, eating area, areas to sit and take in the beauty and serenity, areas to grow food or to keep livestock. This approach to garden design can break down the plan into manageable portions, otherwise, the design as a whole could appear to be to daunting for most of us to undertake.

Choose a design that fits the architecture of your house your personality, and your needs. Gardens have many different atmospheres or styles. Seeing the things other gardeners have achieved can often spark off new ideas for one’s own garden. The haphazard abundance of an English garden or the sparse elegance of a Japanese garden, the influence of the formal, stepped stone terraces of Renaissance Italy, the elegant grandeur of classical French garden are styles that can be created in other locations. Open up your mind to realize how you can achieve a similar atmosphere.

Though it would not be possible to reproduce classical French or elegant Italian hillside landscape in a small city garden, a sense of classical formality is within the reach of everyone with the use of just a few stone steps, a small fountain, an architectural evergreen shrub or piece of topiary and some well-positioned urns. But let the site speak for itself. Walk around your garden, notebook in hand for jotting down questions, ideas, thoughts, and inspirations. Sit down here and there and visualize what you’d like to see in various areas.

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Today, when building costs make large houses prohibitive, one way to extend your house is to use your outdoor space to full advantage. And many contemporary houses make many a room look larger by visually extending it into the lawn or garden.

Tricks such as glass walls, using the same wall material inside as for a continuing wall on the terrace and using the same material for the ceiling inside as on the extended terrace eaves, help to do this.

Your living room or dining room and even your bedroom or your children’s bedrooms can flow right outdoors on to “floating” decks of wood, bricked terraces or lattice-roofed loggias (Outdoor Living Room).

However you do it, with the aid of vine, fences, shrubbery, shade trees and flowers you can make your terrace a delightful place for entertaining, sun-bathing and relaxing.

With a barbecue another dimension is added, for with your own fireplace or barbecue any terrace, lawn or garden spot can offer the blithe enchantments of dining under sun and stars.

In planning your terrace, consider installing an electric outlet for lighting, portable radio, electric spit for your barbecue, etc.

Use vines for a lattice roof (grape vines, for instance, leaf out late when shade is wanted and drop their leaves early at the beginning of cool weather, giving delicious fruit as bonus). Choose a rapid-growing vine like grape, hyacinth or the gourd vine.

Relate your terrace to the rest of your grounds with flowers and vines grown in pots, baskets and tubs. If the wall of the house next to your terrace seems bare or the profile of your cement or asphalt paving seems too sharp in contrast against the grass, soften the line with pots of plants.

Have dwarf trees on your terrace and blossoming shrubs in the terrace-retaining walls. Create interest with changes of level; build flower beds around trees, steps and walls.

For a terrace where everybody in the family assembles, have play space for young children, a sand box which can later be filled with plants, or a little square pool for sailing small boats (this can create a sense of luxury long after the children are grown up).

You need not rely on trees alone for shade. Construct a self-bracing terrace roof in an egg-crate design, using the side of your house and wood, masonry or metal pillars. Corrugated plastic and reinforced glass is in frequent use nowadays because they are watertight, yet let the sunlight through.

Coming into more and more architectural use — particularly in hot climates—is the “parasol” roof, extending from the walls of the house some 4 feet and even more to give pleasant shade to the surrounding area.

Since glare reflected on bare grounds is a source of heat, a carpet of shaded grass under the parasol roof helps to keep the house cool.

Often an outdoor living space gets twice the use if it is made more accessible. A window in a living room can be converted to a French door, making it more natural to step right out on the terrace instead of walking around the house to reach it.

A terrace that is an extension of a narrow porch—a paved area adjoining the porch—will make the porch that much more liveable. A flagstone path—or any other path— leading to a terrace away from the house will increase the usefulness of the terrace.

Some kind of hard flooring is of prime importance, whether it is of brick, crushed rock, cement, wood block, or flagstone, for it makes it easier to move the furniture around and eliminates worries over tramped-on turf. In fact, it is a good idea to have a terrace in a spot where you are having trouble with the lawn.

Outdoor living space is successful, too, when it is sheltered—away from street noises and traffic, from the neighbours, from the wind. An unused corner of the house or the garage, with the aid of fences and walls, can turn into a sun trap that will stretch out the season for outdoor living both in spring and fall.

A louvered board fence, a basket-weave fence, asbestos laid in cement to form a modern wall, or the traditional brick wall, all are pleasant backgrounds for planting and good screens against wind and other disturbing elements.

Copyright 2005 www.GardeningCrow.com

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Gardens come in different varieties like the plants you find in them. There are several gardening tips that can be used for all type of gardens.

1.Mulching protects your garden topsoil from being blown away. It also provides nutrients as it decomposes and improves the appearance of your gardens. Mulching has other benefits and is one of the most recommended gardening tips by gardeners and farmers alike.

2.Healthy plants are more disease resistant. Plant are like people, a person with a strong immune system can combat diseases. A healthy plant does the same.

3. Pests can be eradicated by cleaning the plant with a watery solution of soap. Just make sure to rinse after. This gardening tip is best heeded for fruit bearing trees or edible plants.

4. Using compost fertilizers are a great way to have healthy plants. It is also a great way to save money on expensive fertilizers. Non -organic fertilizers also tend to leave chemical residues that can accumulate in garden soils and harm not only the plants but the gardeners as well. They cause toxins to go to the water supplies. Another gardening tip recommended not just by farmers and gardeners but also by environmentalists.

5. There are several plants that are only suitable for a specified climate, a certain kind of soil or can only grow with certain plants. You have to know what plant grow in the conditions you have in your area this is for you to avoid unnecessary purchases. This is a money saving gardening tip.

6.Landscaping is a good investment which can double the value of your home. This is one gardening tip that can earn you money.

7. Growing grass on bare ground is an easy way to make your home look better and appreciate in value. This is one gardening tip that promotes earning money while growing grass legally.

8. Aside from looking great in your home, trees also provide some sort of protection from direct sunlight exposure and strong winds.

9. Vines on the walls, fences and overhead structures also would offer some protection and would also look great.

10. Flowers are beautiful, but they are also expensive. Get one that is resistant to many elements. Flowers from your local community already have developed resistance to conditions present in your area.

11. For most gardens plants, their roots go only as deep as 6 inches. Putting fertilizer deeper than that would be a waste of money. Put them shallower as they seep down when the plants are being watered.

12. Earthworms are important to plants. They till and aerate the soil for the roots to breathe. Non-organic fertilizers can kill them. This gardening tip dates back to the old days of gardening.

13. Having several kinds of insects that are beneficial to your garden would be good. These insects can be encouraged to stay by having diverse plants in your garden.

14. Spot spraying weeds with household vinegar, instead of using commercial weed-killers, can eradicate them. This is another environment friendly gardening tip.

15. Avoid putting too much mulch on tree trunks, this would encourage unwanted pests to reside on them.

16. Use plant varieties that are common to your area or have been taken from an area with similar conditions.

17. Be sure to know the plants that are poisonous. If you are intent on growing them, make sure to have the necessary cure available in your household. Take note of this gardening tip, it can save your life.

18. The best time to water plants is during mornings.

19. Before planting a new plant in your garden, you must consider its height and size when it matures. This garden tip can help you save money in the future.

20. Newly transplanted plants may require special attention during its first week. This is to reduce the stress and shock it got during transplantation.

And last but not the least of the gardening tips…

21.Plants are living entities. If you want them to grow in your garden you have to treat them as such. They need to be taken care of. They are like your pets, you look out for them. In return you get that feeling of contentment watching them thrive.

A good way to take care of them is to consider that plants might have some feelings too.

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Most roses will grow just about anywhere, and in any type of climate. Certain roses do not function very well in cold climates, but will grow just as well in any other.

Rugosas

Hybrid Teas are not however, a cold climate rose. They must be grown in a warmer climate like Florida. They simply don’t have the necessary winter protection that some cold climate flowers have.

If you live in an area that is prone to harsh winters, you will likely find it relatively easy to find good, cold climate roses at your local garden center. It is necessary to plant cold climate roses in areas that are prone to winters because planting anything else would be a waste of your time as they couldnnt survive properly during the winter frost.

Griffith Buck

Cold climate roses are great for many reasons. They are very low maintenance flowers, especially good for the novice. Cold climate roses also have their very own protection set up against diseases and bacteria that can plague any flower. Here a brief list of cold climate roses. Naturally, there are many more, but to list them all would make up the entirety of this guide.

The cold climate roses are as follows:
• Rugosas
• Griffith Buck
• Modern Roses
• Centrifolias
• Species Roses
• Gallica
• Alba
• Shrub Roses

These are just some of the cold climate roses that will thrive during the harsh winters of some localities. If you live in an area that is prone to harsh winters, you may want to see if your local garden center has any of these to start with.

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There are many reasons why you might want to dry your roses (Drying Roses). Some people just want to keep a memento of a special moment. Perhaps they are a part of a wedding that you went to; maybe they were a gift from a mate, friend, or family member. There are two ways that you can dry your roses that are a cheap and relatively easy.

Air Drying

Air drying is by far the easiest and cheapest method of drying flowers including roses. It is simple; all you have to do is follow these simple instructions.

1.    Start with perfect and unflawed roses on their stems. If the roses are not in perfect condition, they will wither and the petals will fall off.

2.    Remove any leaves that may be on the branches.

3.    Bunch them up together in a manner that lets them fan out.

4.    Tie the bottom with string or a rubber band.

5.    Hang them upside down in a dark, dry place for two to three weeks to be certain that they are completely dry.

Sand Drying

1.    Start by picking the roses that are in perfect condition. They shouldn’t have any dew on them and the stems should be dry as well.

2.    You can reinforce the stems and blossom with either white glue or florist wire.

3.    For florist wire, you will want to cut off most of the stem. Leave about one inch of stem.

4.    Push about 3 inches of wire through the stem and right through the flower head.

5.    Next, you want to bend the end of the wire into a hook over each rose head and pull it down. This helps to keep the head secured to the stem.

6.    When choosing to use the glue, begin by diluting the glue in a dab of water.

7.    You will take a toothpick and dab a thin coat of the glue mixture at the base of each petal.

8.    Next, you will work the glue into the base of the stems of each flower so that you can attach each petal to the base, wait till the glue dries completely.

9.    Now for the sand, slowly and carefully cover the flowers with sand in deep open boxes.

10.    Make the sand in the box deep enough to hold the flowers upright.

11.    Sit each flower in the sand filled box and slowly pour sand around the base, around the sides, and over and under the petals. You should pour the sand evenly so that you can preserve the flowers natural shape.

12.    You will want to wait for the flowers to dry while facing upright.

13.    Put the boxes with the roses in a dry space that is warm and brightly lit. This will ensure that your roses will maintain their bright color.

14.    Let them dry for one to three weeks.

15.    If you want more muted colors, you will want to dry them in a more humid area.

16.    To remove the sand, tip the drying container slightly so that the sand can fall off the flowers.

17.    Remove each flower one by one. Now you have successfully learned how to dry your roses so that they are ready for you to do whatever youDd like with them. These dried flowers will make great decorations for any room in your house or office, or whatever else you’d like to do.

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