Great Ideas For A Garden Pergola Design

Pergolas are open designed gazebos intended for garden areas; the pergola can be a free standing feature like a gazebo or are attached to the home like a deck. The open work ceiling of the area still provides shade while opening up the area to the sky; this can make small spaces seem larger.

Pergola garden designs all begin with the pergola itself. A pergola is a simple structure that only takes boards, a little cement, and wood screws or nails to build. There are several supporting columns which are planted in the ground using cement for stability and an open design ceiling that is either beams or a loose cross hatching design.

Staining is usually the most pressing maintenance required the pergola portion of the pergola garden design. To make a terrific comfortable pergola garden design choosing the plants, the motif, and the accessories will bring the space together.

The Plants

Because the areas are often floored with tiles, concrete, or gravel potted plants are often pergola garden design style of choice. Potted plant gardens are easy to begin and to maintain, as an added bonus they can be easier to control than a traditional garden, plants have a harder time spreading and weeds are easier to catch.

In the pots a combination on climbing plants and small trees will accentuate the height of the pergola garden design. There are several flowering climbing plants such as honeysuckle and morning glory do well and smell very nice. Fruit bearing trees are also a nice choice for a potted pergola garden as dwarf versions of many trees so well in pots and they will actually bear fruit.

Many types of roses will also climb the structure of a pergola, allowing the pergola garden design to be covered in the fragrant beauty of the roses. The inside of the area could continue the theme by having potted rose bushes which have been encouraged to grow in interesting designs like a shrub.

The Accessories

A pergola garden design should include accessories which enhance the enjoyment of the space. Props, water features, night time lighting, and furniture can make a simple garden a place where the entire family or groups of friends will enjoy spending time.

In very hot climates, a pergola garden design could include water misters which would water the plants and provide cooling spray at preset intervals, making the space enjoyable all summer long. Gliding benches and porch swings can also be nice accompaniments on a pergola, provide a comfortable place to sit and think, while relaxing in the tranquil environment of the pergola garden.

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Japanese Garden Design - 5 Simple Steps to Create a Magnificent Japanese Garden!

If you've grown a container garden or two but want to advance your gardening and decorating skills, Japanese garden design is the way to go. This ancient form of garden design was created to promote peace and tranquility. You can be relaxing in your own paradise in no time by including these 5 key ingredients in your garden.

Moss. Adding plants like tufted moss to your garden makes the space look like a retreat, and allows you to focus on relaxing and renewing your strength. You can put the moss at the entryway and throughout the sides of the garden for a welcoming but secluded feel.

Stone lantern. A Japanese stone lantern will make a space look mysterious and alluring. You may even want to put a few hanging baskets around the lantern to bring more attention to the plants. A container herb garden would look nice around the lantern as well. The lantern not only helps to conserve energy, but gives your Japanese garden design a warm, exotic look.

'Planting' other gardens. Even though your container garden or organic seed plants may be the focus of your garden, you can also include other gardens in the scenery to make your Japanese garden design complete. A sand garden is great if you've planting things like cactus or bonsai trees and a Zen stone garden goes well with any plants in your garden. These gardens offer special places within your new space for reflection and meditation.

A tea house. This can be a small house or building within your garden where you can go to spend time alone or to interact with loved ones in a peaceful environment. The windows in your tea house should be facing other peaceful scenes in the garden, such as the Japanese lantern or the Zen rock garden, so that even while you are inside you can experience the tranquility of the entire garden. You can even bring some of your container plants into the teahouse-things like lavender flowers and aloe vera plants will add to the atmosphere nicely and you can use these plants for medicinal purposes as well.

A bamboo fountain. A well crafted high quality bamboo fountain brings the air of tranquility to your garden unlike anything else. The soothing sounds of water in combination with beautiful bamboo makes your Japanese garden design complete.

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Vegetable and Herb Garden Design - Some Useful Tips

Before you settle down to start planting your garden, there are a few questions you should ask yourself while you plan your vegetable garden design or herb garden design. The first and most important question to ask is: How much time are you willing to spend on taking care of your garden?

Someone who doesn't work a full time job will have more time to spend maintaining a vegetable or herb garden than someone who works fifty plus hours a week. And a homemaker might be more likely to make use of the fresh herbs and vegetables since they will have the time to harvest them.

When it comes to size, herb garden design and vegetable garden design can be quite varied. It is easier to keep and maintain a sizable vegetable garden since, unlike a herb garden, vegetables allow for a simple routine of watering, fertilizing, and harvesting to keep them in top shape.

An herb garden requires more care per square inch due to the simple fact that different herbs have to be harvested at different times to get the best flavor and the best quality. If you want to harvest for essential oils as well as for cooking herbs, then you might end up cutting from some plants twice, or even twice as many plants. With vegetable garden design, you need to keep in mind that the plants tend to be larger with larger harvests.

And consider where you are going to put your garden. When considering herb garden design or vegetable garden design you have to know how much room you have. You might be lucky enough to have a lot of room, which means you can plant both herbs and vegetables.

Surprisingly, it's easier to take care of two gardens at once since they each have their own schedules. When considering herb garden design, plant the herbs close to the house or, if you are using containers, keep the pots nearby to make it easier to maintain and harvest.

Unlike vegetable gardens, where you harvest based on how large the vegetables have grown, herbs are collected when you need them. It's easier and more convenient when your herb garden is just outside the back door.

If you do decide to plant your herbs in containers and pots, you have the option of moving them inside or into a greenhouse when the weather gets bad, or even keeping choice herbs indoors if you use them often.

In your herb garden design and vegetable garden design, keep space in mind! Vegetable plants grow much taller than herbs. This means they can shade nearby, smaller plants, like herbs, and not allow them to get all the sunlight they need. This is also something to keep in mind with a garden that is only vegetables, as taller plants will always shade smaller plants.

And don't forget that, before planting any vegetables or putting any plant into a pot, you should keep an eye on spacing and sunlight, reading the directions on labels and seed packets to know what each plant needs. You want to be able to get to every plant well after its gown up, so make sure to keep enough room between the plants for you to get in there.

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7 Tips to Improve Your Garden Design

Are you a visually aware gardener, a garden owner, or someone who just enjoy a beautifully designed gardens? Do you need help planning, building, or selecting plants for your special outdoor space? How would you like to have a team of award winning garden designers and experts available to assist you at every stage of the process? Access to plant experts to aid you from site assessment all the way through creation of your chosen place, with plants and hard landscaping materials that give it the visual appeal you desire? Input from landscape architects who are able to translate your vision into a superb garden and planting plans. Helping you to determine what to use and where to place it, for a design that offers year round enjoyment, all without spending thousands of dollars?

Creating a visually appealing garden space, claiming a piece of nature and visually making it your own is a very good feeling which offers lasting benefits. The concept of garden design is not new. Man has been delineating usable space, making spatial relationships based on need and sprinkling in aesthetic pleasures, since his creation. Designing an environment to suit his individual daily and seasonal needs. According to the individual's experience, skills, and aptitude, garden design has evolved and the results of the gardener exerting control of their own surrounding has been the creation of usable, attractive, and well made spaces that suit that individual's personal need.

Creating a visually appealing garden space can be an intricate and sometimes time consuming process. What style do you want? Which horticultural collection will work best? These types of details are essential for a successful garden design, but that should not get you down. Maintaining the vision and the focus of what your garden design is about and creating an outside space that you want and will enjoy, should be sufficient to keep you motivated through this sometimes lonely experience.

Here are some tips to assist you with your garden design:

1. Plan your plan - writing your ideas on paper or inputting them into your computer is an essential step when designing your garden space.

2. Work the plants form into your garden design - Successful garden designs use flower color, leaf shape, and tree stems to create a balance of color and form.

3. Personally design your space - good design should reflect the wishes, likes and dislikes of the garden owner, regardless of the country or climate.

4. Consider style- Successful garden spaces are created when planting colors and combination's complement the hard landscaping materials.

5. Create an urban jungle - Using foliage plants of different types and heights can help to provide privacy from neighboring views and offer useful shelter.

6. Sense of scale - when creating a plan, working to a scale allows you to be sure that all structures and details will work well on the ground.

7. Eye of the beholder - Sometimes beautiful garden design expressions can be created by mirroring shapes. Usage of sculptured and round flowers can add interesting design appeal to your special outside space.

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Landscape Garden Design Ideas

Having a beautifully landscaped garden is among one of the greatest therapeutic experiences one can create. Though there are people who think that this is an easy fit to achieve, the truth is that it does take a little invention and great design ideas for anyone to accomplish this feat and ensure that they create an eye catching garden. There are two major ways through which you can approach this venture, first, you can hire garden designers or alternatively choose to create your own designs. If you opt for the latter, then it is ideal to have some ideas on how to go about the same.

Landscape garden designs can be inspired by several sources and as such, it is good to note where your inspiration comes from before you embark on creating your own garden. For starters, you can create a landscape garden from geometry which in this case could include circles, squares, curves and fractels. Though there are some people who don't associate geometry with art it is ideal to note that since time immemorial, thy have been treated as symbols and more so the square and the circle and for this reason, considered as sacred and ideal for landscaping designs and ideas.

The second great idea for landscaping is the railroad. This is loved by most people due to the simplicity it displays and the emotions it evokes in people which in this case is romance. While you are considering opting for this, it is important to ensure that the right ideals are set in place to ensure that you do not depict the picture of a railroad sticking out aimlessly without direction. As such, it is best to ensure that you set up a mini landscape. When you are using the railroad idea, it is important to choose the right plants to bring out the look you want. For instance, you can use Irish or Scotch which are ideal for stimulating lawns. Another ideal plant that can be used in this kind of landscape is the miniature Elm which has tiny leaves and is ideal for creating a scale tree look. On the other hand, you could also use dwarf Alberta spruce which is perfect for creating a miniature garden that sets off the perfect look for your landscaped garden.

Another idea for landscaping is edible landscaping which in this case means that you create the landscape using some edible trees and fruits. In most cases, this can be broken down into two, ornamental and practical and as such, you should make your choice wisely. For starters if you choose ornamental, you have to go for lawn ornaments while if you choose practical designs, then you have to settle with French designs. In most cases, this will have a ground cover that provides foliage against soil erosion and hedges that can flower and as such, ensure that they safeguard your home.

By choosing any of the landscape designs mentioned here, you will be better placed to carry out your landscaping ideas effectively and as such, ensure that you come up with pleasing results..

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A Beautiful Front Garden Design Makes A Statement

The front yard of a home is a statement to the whole neighborhood of what the people who live in the house are like. Some yards are cluttered with junk or cars and do not speak well for the owners. Other yards have overgrown bushes and trees that say there is not much care being given to the home.

Having a beautiful front garden design can be a statement of great ownership. The time and effort put into the front garden design will not only look nice but will increase the value of the home and make the owners proud of their accomplishment.

Natural Front Garden Designs

There are many things to consider when designing the front garden. The first thing to consider is the location of the home. A home in the southwest desert will have a totally different front garden design than one in the northeast. Another consideration is the amount of care a person wants to take to maintain the front garden design.

Many people in desert areas where water is scarce and the summer season is extremely hot find that a natural garden design works great. Using rock, pebbles and drought tolerant plants can make a beautiful front garden design that will be able to stand up to the severe temperatures.

In very cold climates the homeowner may want to use the natural theme but will modify it. Evergreens make a beautiful natural garden design for such a climate. Looking for other native plants to the climate will insure that the front garden design will have lasting beauty.

Rocks and stone will look beautiful in cold climates as well and make great items for borders. Whatever the climate, using the natural products of the land will help make a nice front garden design.

Inviting Front Garden Designs

If the homeowner wants people to always feel welcome there are ways to say this with the front garden design. One of the most important aspects of welcoming people is making a clear walkway. Keeping the bushes and large plants away from walkways will make the home more accessible.

Another important aspect is using welcoming plants and colors. Bright cheery flowers say welcome better than about anything else. Early spring flowers such as tulips, crocus, and daffodils will invite people out of their winter doldrums. Bushes with bright green foliage can be placed to show the way to the door of the home.

Avoiding plants with thorns or a lot of pollen will make people feel more welcome and prevent injury or allergies. The front garden design of the home should be well manicured and inviting.

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A Good Rock Garden Design Requires Careful Planning

A rock garden design is a great choice for beauty and elegance simply because rocks are wonderful to look at. We enjoy rock and stone in nature, so why not bring that beauty into your own yard with a stunning rock garden design. However, if you are thinking seriously about this, then I strongly urge you to read a book or two on the topic, look over this site for information, and plan very carefully before you proceed with your project. Why is that, you ask? Because rock gardens are difficult to redesign once they are in place. Rocks are heavy making any structural changes highly undesirable. Most gardeners who implement a rock garden design rarely change it. The design will remain as it is for many years.

One tip to help in designing your garden is to first think about what you like to plant. Don't think about the rocks at first. Think about what you enjoy growing and what you have time to grow. Do you like shade plants, or ones that thrive in sunlight? Do you enjoy shrubs or flowers? After you are clear about what you will plant in your garden, then you can start to consider a suitable rock garden design. For example, if you enjoy shade-loving plants, you are going to want to leave the shady spots available for growing while the portions where you place the rocks will be where the sun shines. The safest rock garden design will leave soil open in both shady and sunny areas. You don't want to expend great effort in designing a garden with no shady spots for growing only to find in a couple years that you want to experiment with shade-loving plants. Leave yourself some options in the rock garden design you choose because most likely your rock garden design will be permanent.

Another thing to strongly consider in the planning of your rock garden design is the location of paths. Paths should not be something you throw in after you've thought of all the other aspects of your rock garden design. Paths should be put in to the design from the beginning. When thinking about where the paths are going to go, you need to think about where the sunlight is going to be through out the day. Do you want your paths in the sun, in the shade, or both? This is also important when thinking about what you will plant along the edges of the paths. Many rock garden designs begin with the paths first and proceed from them, adding in the rock and plant placement afterwards.

A rock garden design can be a practical time-saving and elegant choice for your garden in the long term as long as you take special care in planning it out before execution. The rock garden design will last for years to come and require very little effort in maintaining. Most of your time in this kind of garden will depend on the variety of plants and shrubs you decide to populate it with.

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Inspiring and Intricate Herb Garden Designs

The history of garden design dates back to 1500 BC. The earliest evidence of horticulture and landscaping is in the form of Egyptian tomb paintings depicting lotus ponds surrounded by symmetrical rows of acacias and palms. The famous Hanging gardens of Babylon were known as one of the wonders of the world. Temple gardens contained vegetables and herbs that were considered sacred. In the middle age, sophisticated herb garden designs and horticulture techniques were developed by monasteries. Monks grew medicinal herbs and treated the sick fellow monks and the community who were suffering from ailments with these healing herbs. The wealthy Romans built villas with water cascades, topiary, rose and shaded arcades. Much of the present modern herb garden design is influenced and inspired by the intricate, traditional Persian, Zen and Italian Renaissance gardens.

Your herb garden design should reflect the inspiration and theme. Herb garden may be one of the various design styles and techniques brought out below:

Knot Herb Garden Design

Knot gardens are symmetrically-designed gardens using geometric patterns with fantastic view obtained from trimming the plants in a knotted shape. It requires constant grooming and keeping the defined shapes by the precise pruning of edges. Herbs that work well in knot gardens are those that can be trimmed and designed into hedge. Varieties of dwarf herbs, such as Thyme, Chamomile and Lavender are good choices. Some possible patterns for a modern knot garden can be Diamonds, Oblongs, Diagonal crossings, Triangles and Wheels. These patterns can have divisions for different herbs that can be segregated according to hues, contrasts and fragrances.

English Cottage Herb Garden Design

There are two types of English herb gardens. The informal types are called Cottage gardens and are used for culinary and medicinal properties. The second are the formal gardens built for aesthetics and visual appeal. These gardens were structured and used knots and overlapped with row plants. Lavender and Thyme are ideal and widely used in English herb gardens. English cottage gardens are popular in American circles and widely emulated for their wild abundance of perennial flowers and herbs, vine-covered arbors, and plants tumbling over walkways.

Tuscan Herb garden Design

Tuscan herb gardens incorporate traditional elements in style and the design contains elements, that are characterized by both plants and the accessories. One of the important features in Tuscan garden design is the use of vases, urns, and terra cotta pots to grow your herbs in. Though you are expected to use a hoard of garden containers to create your Tuscan garden design, you don't really have to spend a fortune for buying vases and pots. The herb garden looks perfect in its rustic look even when it is cultivated in chipped and cracked pots. Use of Italian herbs is best for the Tuscan design with optional inclusion of poppies and flowers. Use of a trellis and grape vine or grape ivy to create a look of Italy's tradition of fine wines will give a stunning look to your Tuscan herb garden.

Topiary Herb Garden Design

Topiary is a formal garden design that uses the art of pruning and training plants and shrubs into decorative shapes. It goes as far back as the Romans, but many of the artistic forms or prunings were developed in Europe. Massive topiary shapes of animals, birds and sculptures can be created out of tight evergreen bushes or hedges. You are not expected to craft elaborate sculptures out of the herbs, use simple topiary design that will enhance your herb garden giving it an artistic view.

Landscaping the herb garden doesn't require high degree of professional skills. Using stones and rocks in home gardens provide a seat of tranquility for reflection and relaxation. Caring and tending for a garden can lower blood pressure, ease anxiety, divert stressful memories and help in conjuring good thoughts that have a lingering beneficial effect on the subconscious mind. Reserve a part of the garden to enjoy a few minutes of solitude, meditation and prayer. The mind can rest and the eyes can feast on diverse muddle of colorful herbs, blooms and flowering plants, distributed in a seemingly haphazard but pleasing style, apparently evoking thoughts of a "natural landscape." The symphony and aura of herbs with flowers in the overall composition, and the wildness of the arrangement gives rise to a closer communing with nature.

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Modern Garden Design - Artistic Chaos Or Design?

When it comes to designing a garden, there are two different philosophies about how to do it. But both philosophies can truly be considered art. One might be called art by design. This is when someone envisions their completed garden in their mind. They can see where they will place plants, fountains, and statues. They can see the colors of the plants and flowers. They know exactly where everything will be and how it will look when it is done.

The other philosophy might be considered artistic chaos. It involves creating a garden without a preconceived plan in mind. Some consider this more of a modern garden design.

Yet modern garden design really can be either-or both. Freeform, unstructured design that is somewhat chaotic is modern garden design. It is similar to modern art where an artist paints whatever comes to mind in a completely unstructured, somewhat chaotic way. Yet, modern garden design can also be carefully planned. Or there may be elements of both in your modern garden. Today there are a great number of different plants and flowers and accessories you can incorporate into your garden to make it your own.

These days the world is a much smaller place than it used to be. We can communicate with people around the world almost instantaneously. You can purchase things from anywhere in the world and have them shipped to you-and it's not as expensive as it once was. So you can now select plants that are native to many other areas of the world to include in your contemporary or modern garden design, as well as local species.

While some plants are not native to your area, you may find they can thrive in your environment nonetheless. Before you consider purchasing and importing exotic plants, you should research the type of climate, temperatures, and growing season a plant thrives in before making the investment. But you may be surprised to learn that some of the plants readily available in your local stores today were thought of as exotic only 20 or 30 years ago.

Another great innovation that provides greater flexibility in contemporary garden design is the sprinkler systems you can have installed these days. You can set these sprinklers on timers, control the amount of water that will be dispensed, and in so doing, you can almost simulate the native environment that a plant is accustomed to. This provides you with additional options not previously available.

Greenhouses can be designed to regulate the humidity level for your plants. Soils of all qualities and types can be brought in from other areas. Many other things can also be cultivated to create the perfect environment for the modern garden design you desire.

Contemporary garden design often includes much more than plants and flowers. Typical home gardens in the not-too-distant past usually only included a handful of gnomes and a birdbath. Today gardens often incorporate beautiful and artistic elements that may be exotic, domestic, or both according to each person's personal taste.

The Internet is one more way many things in the world have become more accessible to all of us. This is one of the reasons today's contemporary garden design can incorporate so many more options than ever before. A simple online search on the phrase "garden sculpture" or "garden statue" will generate more than 5,000 different options. Locally, you could probably only find a couple of dozen different statues or sculptures to choose from.

In addition to sculptures and statues, you'll also find gazing balls, decorative garden stones, holiday decor, and much, much more. And if you like them, you'll also find pink plastic flamingos and colorful garden gnomes, as well. Whether you prefer a contemporary garden design with modern decor or retro style garden accessories like these, there is so much to choose from these days that you are bound to find something you will love.

Just by looking at a person's garden, you can tell a great deal about that person's interests and personality. Contemporary garden design is all about creating a garden that expresses your individual taste. Regardless of whether you prefer a structured, planned design or a more chaotic expression of

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