Object: layout of garden

Garden layout is the art and process of designing and creating plans for layout and planting
of gardens and landscapes. Garden design may be done by the garden owner themselves, or
by professionals of varying levels of experience and expertise.

Elements of garden layout:

Whether gardens are designed by a professional or an amateur, certain principles form the
basis of effective garden design, resulting in the creation of gardens to meet the needs, goals,
and desires of the users or owners of the gardens.

Elements of garden design include the layout of hard landscape, such as paths, walls, water
features, sitting areas and decking; as well as the plants themselves, with consideration for
their horticultural requirements, their season-to-season appearance, lifespan, growth habit,
size, speed of growth, and combinations with other plants and landscape features.

1 Location
2 Soil
3 Boundaries
4 Surfaces
5 Planting Design
6 Garden Furniture
7 Sunlight
8 Lighting

Location:

A garden's location can have a substantial influence on its design. Topographical landscape
features such as steep slopes, vistas, hills, and outcrops may suggest or determine aspects of
design such as layout and can be used and augmented in order to create a particular
impression.

Soil:

The quality of a garden's soil can have a significant influence on a garden's design and its
subsequent success. Soil influences the availability of water and nutrients, the activity of soil
micro-organisms, and temperature within the root zone, and thus may have a determining
effect on the types of plants which will grow successfully in the garden. However, soils may
be replaced or improved in order to make them more suitable.

amended in this manner, since many plants prefer an impoverished soil. In this case, poor soil
is better than a rich soil that has been artificially enriched.

Boundaries
The design of a garden can be affected by the nature of its boundaries, both external and
internal, and in turn the design can influence the boundaries, including via creation of new
ones. Planting can be used to modify an existing boundary line by softening or widening it.
Introducing internal boundaries can help divide or break up a garden into smaller areas.

Surfaces:

In temperate western gardens, a smooth expanse of lawn is often considered essential to a

garden. However garden designers may use other surfaces, for example those "made up of
loose gravel, small pebbles, or wood chips" in order to create a different appearance and feel.
Designers may also utilise the contrast in texture and color between different surfaces in
order to create an overall pattern in the design.

Planting design

Planting design requires design talent and aesthetic judgement combined with a good level of
horticultural, ecological and cultural knowledge. It includes two major traditions: formal
rectilinear planting design (persia and europe); and formal asymmetrical (asia)
and naturalistic planting design

Garden furniture:

Garden furniture may range from a patio set consisting of a table, four or six chairs and
a parasol, through benches, swings, various lighting, to stunning artifacts in brutal concrete or
weathered oak. Patio heaters,that run on bottled butane or propane, are often used to enable
people to sit outside at night or in cold weather. A picnic table, is used for the purpose of
eating a meal outdoors such as in a garden.The materials used to manufacture modern patio
furniture include stones, metals, vinyl, plastics, resins, glass, and treated woods.

Sunlight

While sunlight is not always easily controlled by the gardener, it is an important element of
garden design. The amount of available light is a critical factor in determining what plants
may be grown. Sunlight will, therefore, have a substantial influence on the character of the
garden. For example, a rose garden is generally not successful in full shade, while a garden of
hostas may not thrive in hot sun. As another example, a vegetable garden may need to be
placed in a sunny location, and if that location is not ideal for the overall garden design goals,
the designer may need to change other aspects of the garden.

Lighting

Garden lighting can be an important aspect of garden design. In most cases, various types of
lighting techniques may be classified and defined by heights: safety lighting, uplighting, and
downlighting. Safety lighting is the most practical application. However, it is more important
to determine the type of lamps and fittings needed to create the desired effects. Light
regulates three major plant processes: photosynthesis, phototropism, and photoperiodism.

Principles involved in layout of gardens:

Initial Approach:

The available land for gardening may not be with ideal shape or size. When the site appears
to be hopeless a good designer will make the best use of such site. Land with Natural
undulations should never be leveled. The differences with levels should be utilized with
advantage.

Axis:

An imaginary line in any garden. Garden is created around the axis with balance. In formal
garden central line is the axis. At the end of an axis there will be a focal point. Architectural
features such as bird bath or sun dial.

Focal point:

There is center of attraction which is generally an architectural feature focused as a point of

interest it is one of the good land scape element.

Mass effect:

The use of one general form of plant material in large numbers in one place is done to have a
mass effect. Such mass arrangement should not become monotonous. The size of mass
should be varied.

Unity:

Unity has to be achieved from various angles. The unity of style, feeling, function between
the house and garden has to be achieved and unity between different components of garden as
if they merge harmoniously should be achieved.

Space:

Garden should appear larger than its actual size vast open spaces are kept under lawn and
planting is done in periphery. If any planting is done in the centre its branches should be at
higher level. The lines in the garden are made to converge slightly at a distance to create an
illusion of space.

Time and colour:

A thorough knowledge is essential to select the plants depending on their flower colour or
foliage colour. Colour schemes like monochromatic, analogous complementary or contrasting
are laid out by selecting different plants. It is better to have masses of single colour against
amixture of colour. A bed of roses containing single colour Eg: Red or yellow or Pink has
much softer tone and beauty than a bed of mixed colours.

Mobility:

In temperate country the garden changes colour very shortly and contrastingly from one
season to the other season, thus symbolizing mobility of movement. Some trees changes their
 leaf colour in autumn, suddenly in winter leaf fall and gives dullness. Again n spring the
plants spring back in light with new leaves. To create some symbol of movement in our
country. Trees such as Indian Almond (Terminalia catappa) can be used because it changes
its leaf colour into striking red twice annually.

Style:

Every garden lover has to invent his own style. A good style has to be developed by studying
great garden styles of the world and grasping the underlying principles. Even more know
ledged gardener will commit mistakes.

Type of garden:

A gardener may think that a landscape garden can be laid out only on a gently undulated land,
but it is not so. The goal in landscape gardening is to improve landscape with an idea of
developing view or design.

Formal gardens:

It is laid out in a symmetrical or Geometrical pattern. Everything is planted in straight lines.

If there is a plant on the left hand side of a straight road similar plant must be placed on the
right hand side also. Flower beds, borders and shrubbery are arranged in Geometrically
designed shapes. Trimmed formal hedges Ashoka trees, Topiaries are the typical features of a
Formal garden.

Feature of garden:

A typical feature of formal gardens is the axial and symmetrical arrangement of pathways and
beds. Both of these elements are typically enclosed, for example with low box hedges or flower
borders. The garden itself is usually surrounded by "green walls", for instance walls covered in
climbing plants, fences or clipped hedges. The area that has been created by this procedure is
again divided by hedges, espaliers, and trellises. The enclosed areas of the different parts are
structured by means of low elements.

Fig: formal garden

Informal gardens:

The whole design looks informal. Features are arranged in a natural way without any hard
and fast rules but here also the work has to proceed according to a well set plan. The idea
behind this design is to imitate nature.
Wild garden:

William Robinson in the last decade of 19th century made the

idea of wild garden. His main idea was

i) to naturalize plants in shrubberies.

ii) Grass remains unmoved as in nature and

iii) Few bulbous plants should be grown scattered.

Ancient Persian garden.

The major garden styles of the world are

1. English garden

2. Moghul garden

3. Persian garden

4. Italian garden

5. French garden

6. Japanese garden

The Moghul, Persian, Italian and French styles fall in the category of

Formal gardens where as the English and Japanese garden are classified

in the informal style of garden.