Contemporary Garden Design With Hardscaping

Contemporary Garden Design With Hardscaping
By Holly Garnett

When it comes to garden design, what's a contemporary garden? Certainly it's not like what one would see at Arley Hall, with an herbaceous border full of larkspur and old roses? A contemporary garden design would seem, on first look, to be rather devoid of plants and full of cleverly designed hardscaping. The area is full of pavers, stepping stones, planters, fire pits and places to sit and maybe modernistic water features. Sometimes it looks very much like traditional a Japanese garden and might even be planted with bamboo and other Asiatic plants. A contemporary garden might even have artificial turf. Some people find this an acquired taste, but there's a place for it, especially in small spaces where there simply isn't room to have great, sprawling, old-fashioned flowering shrubs.

The homeowner or gardener might want to consider a landscaping professional, like a landscape architect, a landscape designer or a garden designer. These people are trained to take into consideration such things as the site of the building, the grading, drainage, the type of soil and the best plant placement. They should also be highly creative. Landscape contractors and landscapes will actually do the hard work of planting and constructing the garden itself. The homeowner should also make sure that what she wants to do complies with the local building codes before she starts her landscaping or gardening project.

Since they depend so much on hardscaping, a lot of contemporary gardens can also be considered outdoor rooms. Their emphasis is not so much on flowers and shrubbery to refresh the eye but places to work, entertain or play. So there can be a brick terrace that's refreshed by climbing vines, or a deck built around an ancient tree, or a bench made out of twigs.

One quite lovely design idea is for a raised wooden deck with built in seating and planters. The planters might be perfect for geraniums, while ground covers and low shrubs like English lavender can be planted at the base of the deck and set off by strategically placed boulders.

Landscaping around a pool is probably the epitome of contemporary gardening. The pool can have an edging of random stone with places for bold planting. Around the pool is the idea place for ornamental grasses, peonies, coneflowers, rose mallow and sages. Elephant ears also make a statement. Big pots and urns can also be placed around a pool and filled with annuals.

Paving is also an important part of a contemporary garden. One creative way to use pavers is to leave enough space between them to plant flowers. Vegetation to plant would include lupines, anemones, daisies, day lilies, irises, sedum, creeping phlox and herbs like thyme and rosemary.

For further details on the topics mentioned in this article and other gardening issues, such as finding sheds suppliers, visit www.GardeningBirmingham.co.uk. For instance, take a look at the options for garden development for more details on developing your outdoor space.

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