Right now I'm still figuring out my front yard when I'd much rather be in back with Eckbo, Mondrian, et al. I'll post about the front sometime today or tomorrow, though, and I ask ahead of that, "Is SUBDUED a legitimate central idea?

Maro

LOL! As I also frequent the Pets forum, I thought I was in the wrong place when I read your subject line.

I understand your point and think it is excellent. I do have a question though. You are specifically referring to a small plot. Wouldn't the same still be true of a large (say .... 20 acres) plot although perhaps to a lesser extent? Wouldn't it be odd if I had a Japanese style entry and a meadow to the side and a estate type expanse of lawn to the back and a rose garden to the other side and a formal herb garden on the back forty?

I ask because this is one issue I am working with. The front of my house has become more formal and the back is very informal, so I am working on the transition between the two.

But I don't want to hijack the thread, so we do not need to discuss my specific concerns more just the question - isn't it also true for a larger property?

THUMP! Â THUMP! Â THUMP!!

Arrrgh! It's Dogzilla!

No  it's my backyard!

Wellspring

Maybe even more so pl but also consider that this would be a genuine reason for 'rooms'. If each 'style' was surrounded/separated with a thick yew hedge connected with a flagstone walkway leading to and culminating in a statue of, say an 800 lb gorilla on axis this would be your central idea.

prairie love -- funny you should ask that question. Over the weekend I visited a garden on 37 acres. It was developed on a private estate over a period of 111 years and 4 owners, the last an eccentric opera singer who devoted her wealth to enriching the gardens for nearly 50 years.

The parking area was adjacent to the Australia garden. The tour led along the entry drive bordered by a sweeping mass of succulents, through the tropical garden to the cycad garden. Beyond the stand of palms, we visited the blue garden, the bromeliad garden, and the outdoor theatre, leading to the telescopic lawn (it looks much longer than it actually is). Across that, we visited the new cactus garden, followed by a stroll up an olive tree allee (which I saw on tv today as the backdrop for a financial services commercial), and into the Italiante garden behind the stately home (which reminded me very much of the Generalife Gardens of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain). The rose garden was part of this section. We then ventured to the fringes of the property through the citrus orchard to the herb garden, then around to the front of the house to the shade garden (ferns and begonias), then to the former nursery area which has become a tangle of dragon trees, and to the front cactus plantings. Across the way is the former pool area with its formal lily ponds and pool house, then the Japanese garden complete with imported stone carvings, and boulders transported from afar, and a very *live* heron to mix it up with the metal sculpture cranes in the pond. That is all. Oh, well, I may have forgotten something. Oh, yes, the topiary clock garden!

Amazingly, it all flowed very well. If it is any help, the formal Italianate garden was surrounded by tall hedges, as was the theater garden.

There were walls, glass slag chunks used for edging, stone sculptures, natural basalt columns, a constructed stone grotto, koi ponds, a variety of paved walks, decomposed granite walks, iron gates, plastered adobe walls, tiled fountains, giant seashells, and rock mosaics.

So go for it, prairie love, and when you run out of money, just sell your jewelry so you can buy more cycads, as this woman did!

Having never gardened before, I hated what had been done by some previous owner in the way of hardscape and landscaping in the backyard, which is about 45x80' (very big for here, it's a small house on a large urban lot). It had fallen into disuse and overgrown with weeds, full of blackberry vines and roof rats. Never even looked at it, if we could avoid it.

Since we couldn't afford to pull it all out, we had to work with what we had and create ways to pull it all together, melding our needs with the 300 lb gorilla already sitting there (small lot, small gorilla, LOL).

As it turned out, the backyard is now by far our favorite place. I think now that a lot of it is due to exactly what you are saying, that we had to restrict ourselves (in this case because of what was already there) to certain design parameters. It actually made it easier that there were so many things we COULDN'T do with the space.

Getting back to the original post: to relate my above description of a 37 acre garden to the presence of an 800 lb. gorilla, I can only say that an 800 lb. gorilla is not particularly obvious or uncharacteristic in a 37 acre zoo; in fact, it accomodates several of them quite nicely. But plop one in my tiny garden, and scale and proportion become a problem.

Ink said: "You need one central idea and build a garden around that.."

No doubt that's great advice, and I have read and heard it before. For those of us struggling with this concept of a "central idea" maybe some of you who are LDs, or some of the more experienced folks on this forum can give us an example of what a "central idea" really is?

"Every garden scheme should have a backbone, a central idea beautifully phrased. Every wall, path, stone and flower should have a relationship to the central idea" said Edwin Lutyens. Does this explain it haringfan? Your central idea might be a theme or it might be forms taken from the architecture of your house but it is what informs your choices, it may even be based on a 'style'. Say you decide that your garden should be in keeping with your Modernist house, this is its central idea, so when you come to deciding layout, materials and plants you think 'Modernist'. Whatever the central idea is, it is what will give your garden the unity often lacking.

Does this clarify it haringfan?

Ink: Yes that helps, but I guess I have trouble thinking conceptually (in general...not just in relation to this post). You said a garden in keeping with a Modernist house could be a central idea based on an architectural style of the house. That kind of central idea is pretty accessible even to me, but is it too simple? Or no?

I guess IÂm struggling to try to think of a central idea for my garden, and I am at a loss. Fortunately, IÂm in the early stages, having lived in our house less than a year, so this is a good time to develop my central idea.

When designers work with clients and try to come up with the central ideas, how is that done? What questions to you ask to develop that central idea? Should I strive for something more sophisticated than "a garden that complements my house" as a central idea? How do I know when IÂve chosen a central idea that is so sophisticated that a dullard like me will never pull it off?

So how about some real examples? What is everyone's central idea?

Some concepts to consider for your garden:
1. A woodland garden using locally native plants
2. A spring blooming garden reverting to greens for summer
3. A casual, relaxed garden setting for seasonal outdoor entertainment
4. A garden meant primarily for viewing from inside the house
5. A formal garden to complement the house style
6. A garden that is pet friendly or encourages visiting wildlife and provides habitat

Just a few themes that might spark some ideas on your part...

In my own design practice, the central idea for many client's new gardens revolves around giving them a sense of private retreat and sanctuary, as in an oasis or paradise garden. Planting style often is keyed into using plants and flowers to reinforce or contrast with both interior and exterior colors and textures. As I design in a climate that allows using exotic species from all over the world, the plants may be keyed to a specific continent or habitat which the client enjoys in their travels, and would like to mirror in their own garden. I also typically try to be a good neighbor in designing new gardens, and relate the new design to the surrounding neighbors as well, repeating elements of the neighborhood so it doesn't seem as if it has no context at all.

A garden that is pet friendly or encourages visiting wildlife and provides habitat and using locally native plants and A casual, relaxed garden setting for seasonal outdoor entertainment

These are what I am trying to achieve and I do not think they are incompatible with one another - you did not say or even imply that, Bahia, but I just wanted to clarify that perhaps more than one of your concepts can be combined.

I have recently taken the following approach to our yard (or I WILL take this approach if the snow ever goes away). The interior of our house is very nicely done (with the help of an interior designer) and the result is that almost everyone who visits calls our home "warm", "inviting", and "relaxing". I want the same for my outdoor spaces, so as I think about any given area I try to think "what would make this a relaxing place?" "what would invite people to walk over here?" etc.

I don't know if this will work, but I think it is along the lines of what Ink and Bahia are suggesting.