Read on below for more tips on how to create a garden that is full of interest and mystery.
2. The Mystery of the Unseen
If you want to make a small outdoor space more interesting or appear larger, you can use an ancient Japanese design technique known as miegakure or ?hide and reveal.? This entails partially obscuring a view or features in a garden to create an illusion of distance. A half-hidden vista also encourages people to explore a space because the ?mystery of the unseen? is quite tantalizing. If you see only a partial view of a landscape you will invariably move forward to see what is ahead.
These stone and gravel steps curve down and out of sight beckoning you to go further. The light-color of the steps make them stand out in this shady spot and their width allows plants to grow over the edges without limiting room to walk. Photo by: Jan Johnsen.
You can hide parts of your garden by planting a leafy plant in a strategic spot, angling a walk or set of steps or locating a mounded plant bed in front of the view. You can even use shadows to darken an area which makes it appear to recede in the distance.
3. Pooling and Channeling
People move through space in the same way that water flows?it moves rapidly through a narrow channel and slows when it flows into a larger, wider pool. Similarly, people move faster in a narrow walk and slow down or pause when they arrive at an opening. Knowing this, you can use a design technique called, ‘pooling and channeling,’ to lead and direct people through a space.
The grassed walk, or ?channel,? leads to a fenced-in round overlook. The stone paving and the round shape of the ?pool? invites people to pause and look down into the wooded slope below. Photo by: Jan Johnsen.
So, when you lay out a walk, think about the areas where you might want people to stop and enjoy the view. Widen the walk or create a larger stopping area here to encourage them to pause. You can even place some chairs here, telling them to stay a while.
You can also widen the intersection where two walkways meet. Conversely, if you want people to move rapidly through a space, keep the walks fairly narrow.
See more at the Garden Design Magazine
poinsettias, right . . .waiting for my leaves to be turning red 🙂