garden design

Garden spaces can become havens of peace and tranquility. It’s all in the design. The right combination and arrangement of landscape design elements can yield spaces that not only look serene, but have the power to quiet the mind and soothe the spirit. Here are some of the elements we recommend incorporating into gardens to create outdoor spaces that offer a beautiful sanctuary to escape the everyday hustle and bustle. 

• You can set the tone with your landscape, so the mood you are trying to create can be felt the moment one arrives to your property. One way to do this is with an allée design by lining the driveway with bushes or trees, such as old oaks or new maples. Originally a common feature of formal French gardens, an allée can create an entryway that is like a warm embrace. It can naturally lead to a welcoming landing. 

• A circular path that runs through or around a garden is a timeless method for turning outdoor spaces into an experience. Walkways can be constructed of wood chips, grass, bricks, or stones. Separate stop-offs can be added along the pathway using benches, fountains, statues, or plant bed themes like a butterfly garden. Nodes can also be embedded throughout gardens to add variety and create options. They can be designed with focal points and should take advantage of light and shadow. A pathway leading up to a node can be shaded by plantings to incite forward motion. The intuitive response is to keep moving until you reach the next node flooded with light. The more thought put into the different stop-offs and nodes, the more ways you can enjoy your garden. 

• Gardens can be enclosed in fences to add privacy, block sounds from the road, and to create the feeling of being truly immersed in nature. Fences provide other benefits including the repelling of rodents and other animals that may indulge on plants. Enclosures give you the opportunity to take advantage of entry points with a gorgeous gate design. Gates can be custom designed to achieve the garden style of your dreams, whether that is simple and picturesque or intricate, fantastical, and whimsical. 

• A grass terrace is a fabulous garden space for dining, walking pets, or simply creating another seating area where you can take in garden surroundings. These green spaces can also make for stunning views from inside the home. Grass terraces are flat spaces that are built into a slope and bordered with a retaining wall and hedges or other similar plantings. 

For more garden design inspiration, follow us on Houzz or Pinterest. Contact Dargan Landscape Architects to learn how we can help you achieve your own outdoor utopias. 

The beauty of custom landscape design is the opportunity to enhance not only your property but your lifestyle as well. When designing a garden, consider ways it can encourage you to stay active outdoors for a healthier, happier you. Whether you love gardening, yoga, Pilates, swimming, or sports, your garden can be tailored with usable recreational spaces to enjoy these activities. 

Gardeners know that tending to plants and beds can be great exercise. As you walk, weed, tend, plant, pick, trim, push carts, and lift bags of soil and mulch, your body is getting a nice, relaxing workout amidst fresh air and Vitamin D from the sun. At the same time, your mind and soul are treated to the benefits of a moving meditation and a connection with nature. Many gardeners can speak about the stress reduction and positive mental shift that can result from this timeless activity. Not to mention it’s great for all ages and levels of physical ability. 

Gardens can be designed to feature vegetables, herbs, fruits, orchards, flower patches, perennial sweeps, and potted plants among other interesting vegetation to nurture and care for. Streams, waterfalls, ponds, and fountains can make gardens even more aesthetically pleasing while making it all the more pleasurable to work in the garden. Gardens can even be bolstered to encourage more exercise with features, such as a bench for stretching. 

If you are not looking to work on your green thumb, there are other recreational areas you may want to incorporate into your landscape for. Yoga, Pilates, and small exercise equipment like rebounders only require an 8×8-foot space. If you have lots of space to spare and enjoy swimming, a lap pool may be the perfect addition to your landscape. Any of these activities will allow you to strengthen your core and balance and enjoy adrenalin and endorphin releases, while spending quality time with Mother Nature. 

No matter what your fitness aspirations, a commitment to being more active outdoors can yield flexibility, self-esteem and strength of body and mind. Think about your short- and long-term goals. What can you build in your outdoor space to achieve them? 

A team of professional landscape architects can help you to create and build a custom-designed recreational area in your landscape. Even more, they can make this space multi-purpose or create additional areas so you can have spaces for entertaining, dining, and relaxing. 

Contact Dargan Landscape Architect online or by calling 404.231.3889 to learn more about our landscape architecture, build, and design services. Our team of passionate landscape design and architecture experts would love to work with you to create a landscape that improves your personal health and happiness, as well as home value. 

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.