Dargan Landscape Architects

Create Nourishing Flourishing Home Utopias

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How Do I Begin a Fairy Garden?

Source: Dargan Landscape Architects
Source: Dargan Landscape Architects

If you’ve been dreaming of a whimsical garden that captivates with magical colors, enchanting greenery, and other tiny touches, a fairy garden may be just for you. A miniature fairy garden takes container planting to a fun, new level. It’s all about creating a realistic little landscape that will whisk you away to a charming fairy-like world. 

What I love most about fairy gardens is the opportunity to be creative and use your imagination. After all, there is no wrong way to create a fairy garden. There are endless materials and accessories that can add depth and aesthetic interest to a fairy garden including small twigs, rustic wood, beach pebbles, fine mulch, sand, seashells, small trinkets, and metal pieces.

The first step is to find a pot, container, or small bed and fill it with potting soil. Then the fun of planting and decorating can begin. Here are some of my favorite elements for creating a magical mini garden:

A Fantastical Focal Point 

A mini structure such as a dollhouse, arbor, or even a plant that emulates a small tree can make for a delightful garden centerpiece that draws the eye. 

A Picturesque Pathway 

Let onlookers follow a walkway or pathway with their eyes to the garden’s centerpiece and central destination. Add to the charm by constructing it with little stepping stones or pea gravel. 

A Place to Sit

Make a mini seating area with dollhouse patio chairs, loungers, or other tiny furniture. 

A Beautiful Frame 

Set the scene and frame your fairy vignette with a lovely little fence. Think about positioning your fairy garden under a tree, near a bench in your garden, or in a landscape, so visitors won’t miss experiencing the mini magic. 

A Little Life 

Bring your fairy garden to life with miniature animals, figurines, and plants with varying textures, colors, and heights. 

Feeling inspired to make your landscape more alluring? Contact me, Mary Palmer Dargan of Dargan Landscape Architects in Atlanta, directly at 404.354.1715. I’d love to tell you about our work and begin discussing ideas for your own custom garden full of treasures. 

Press Release: Permaculture Workshops in Cashiers, NC in April and May

Contact information: Mary Palmer Dargan
[email protected]
Phone: 828-743-0307

CASHIERS, NC – Join us for two new workshops in April and May as part of a series on Permaculture at Dovecote Porch & Gardens in Cashiers, NC.

Two workshops will be offered in April and then again in May: April 24, 2015 10-1pm and May 15, 2015 10-1 pm.

Location: Dovecote. 35 Flash Pointe Drive (a.k.a. McKinney Lane) Cashiers, NC 82717
Cost: $125 per person includes light lunch each day & 1 field trip.
Instructor: Mary Palmer Dargan, rla.
Pre-registration required. Includes a workbook and homework

The workshop will cover:

  • Draw your dream garden with compost stations
  • greenhouse huts
  • potting areas
  • work out the best practices for your property
  • learn methods to preparing and plant your garden with hardy vegetables & annuals
  • use handprint planting methods
  • seed-blocking
  • starting baby plants and dahlias for late spring & summer propagation

 

About Land-Life-Scapes: The Ultimate Home Environment

The gentle joining of hands between your home environment, your family and nature is my passion. My professional practice as a landscape architect is defined by permaculture principles, but I never thought of it in those words. By taking time to engage with nature and observe how it functions best on your home property, you can design solutions that suit particular situation, avoiding wasting time, labor and resources. These workshops will empower your property as the ultimate Land & LifeScape environment.

For more information, contact: [email protected]

To register, click here

For more information about Dovecote events, see: https://dargan.com/dovecote-events

About Mary Palmer and Hugh Dargan

“Hugh and I moved to Dovecote from Highcote in High Hampton after 15 years and spent 2013 renovating and building these new gardens. Now, we are celebrating!” explains Mary Palmer.

Licensed, seasoned landscape architects, Hugh and Mary Palmer Dargan, ASLAs, enjoy creating custom master plans for living environments. Their designs for residential properties, museums, churches and campuses have received innumerable awards, print and TV media coverage. Now almost 40 years into honing their craft, the Dargans travel far and wide to assist in creating transformative environments. They offer one-on-one VIP days and master plan packages.

Using Evocative Color & Design to Transform a Garden

Source: Dargan Landscape Architects
Source: Dargan Landscape Architects

We all know how color can affect our moods and emotions, which is why we are so particular about the hues we bring into our home. Similarly, gardens can be designed with color palettes that create a certain feel or mood. One of the most appealing parts about flowers is their colorful blossoms and petals. Since perennials can be found in almost any color on the spectrum, gardens can be designed with color combinations that make them feel as beautiful as they look. 

Plants with evocative tones can have a powerful affect on gardens. Racy reds, sunny yellow, vibrant magenta and bright orange, for instance, can bring gardens to life with invigorating energy. An attractive scheme can be created by combining colors that are complementary or opposite on the color wheel to ensure strong, aesthetically-pleasing contrasts for added vitality and creative energy. Harmonious hues – which are adjacent on the color wheel – can round out palettes with balance and cohesiveness. 

Flowers and plants, as well as accessories for outdoor living spaces, can be used to add color to gardens. Command attention with a patch of assertive red lilies or create a dynamic look through smaller pops, like a piece of red outdoor furniture. Orange poppy flowers can add warmth with a vivid tone that inherently makes you smile. Yellow accent pillows can brighten an outdoor living space while a big bed of yellow rudbeckia can make a garden appear larger.

Blue blossoms are rare, but some planters with blue and violet delphinium, or a patio finished with turquoise tiles, can make for an environment that is both stunning and serene. A touch of purple can always be used to infuse a little nostalgia or help to finish a modern scene with its complex blend of calming blue and energizing red. 

To go bold in the garden, don’t limit yourself to bedding plants. Shrubbery with an animating hue can add a little drama as they bring color to eye-level. Container plantings can bring color where soil can’t in areas including decks, porches, walkways, and steps. Gardens can also be carefully planned with containers, beds, trees, and shrubs in a way that ensures a captivating landscape all year long with different colors for every season. 

For a steady source of garden design and landscape architecture inspiration, like Dargan Landscape Architects on Facebook and follow co-owner Mary Palmer Dargan on Twitter.  

Create a Garden Corner to Energize & Invoke Nature

Source: Dargan Landscape Architects
Source: Dargan Landscape Architects

A well-designed garden is aesthetically interesting from every angle, even corners. Too often, corner areas of the garden get overlooked or underrated as a space that can enhance landscapes and outdoor living. No matter what the size of your garden, it can be designed to make the most of each corner, so no inch of beautiful outdoor space goes to waste. Such spatial planning in the garden can add value to your property and quality of life. A smart garden designed to optimize space can leave you with better views to enjoy from inside your home as well as more ways to connect with nature and expand living space beyond the walls of the home.

Here are some of the garden design ideas we are finding inspiration from right now as we begin planning for the spring growing season:

  • Convert a corner into a focal point: Turning a corner of the garden into an intriguing focal point will direct the eyes to this area, highlighting the spaciousness or making the garden feel larger. An ornamental tree, sculpture, or fountain that compliments the style of your home and landscape can make for a fabulous focal point. Blend it into the rest of the landscape with a border garden. Position a light fixture on this focal point to create a more dynamic lighting scheme and allow this corner to shine even at nighttime.
  • Create a corner seating area: A built-in garden bench, sectional sofa, or patio area with table and chairs can be a great use of a corner space. This layout will allow you to entertain and relax outdoors as you enjoy your garden from a new and unique vantage point. A pergola, fire pit, or full outdoor fireplace can anchor and define this corner seating area and allow its use more seasons out of the year.
  • Tuck in a pavilion, gazebo, or other structure: An outbuilding nestled in the corner can turn this space of your garden into your own backyard retreat. A more significant corner structure can also give you the opportunity to establish the style of your garden, whether it’s inspired by modern, Asian design or an enchanting and picturesque cottage scene.

Are the corners of your garden working as hard as they could be for you and your landscape?

We’d love to help you make the most of your landscape with a custom garden. Whether you are looking to entertain outside or simply achieve a space to inspire and encourage a stronger relationship with nature, Dargan Landscape Architects would love to help build and design the garden of your dreams. Contact us by calling me (Mary Palmer Dargan) at 404.354.1715 or Hugh Dargan at 404.354.1714.