Summary
Avid gardeners "love their plants, they know about sun and soil and how to grow things," says [Lisa Lewis], but they're likely to end up with "plant collections." One of the biggest problems she sees is a "piecemeal" approach, with little beds "scattered around the yard with no reason for being where they are." This is typical as people start planting without a master plan.
Other popular elements are "water features, swimming pools, patios - places where you can come out of the house and connect right into the garden." With high gas prices and other reservations about traveling, people want to make their yards "into more of a resort, with a hammock or gazebo, a little house by the pool, a little studio shed to do art work in." Connecting these spaces visually to the house and to each other "takes a practiced eye," Lewis says. Ideally, she sees the yard as a series of "little adventures," where the visitor is drawn from one thing to another, and not able to see everything in one view. This can be accomplished even in a small yard."A lot of people can't visualize their garden in advance," says [Penny Jones]. That's something she has no problem with - sometimes she doesn't even make a sketch before she goes to work. She likes to define a garden style that jibes with the style of the house and the owner. Focus spots such as an arbor, birdbath, obelisk, water feature or a path can be added. "You need a destination," Jones observes. And the path to that destination need not be - maybe even shouldn't be straight. "Your eye should ask, 'what's behind that?'" There should be an air of "mystery, discovery."See the full content of this document
Extract
Grand Designs
A lot of people have a do-it-yourself ethic when it comes to the yard. They might consider hiring a service to do something heavy-duty, like aerating the lawn. But when it comes to decorative aspects, they do it themselves. Hiring someone to do it for them would be like... hiring someone to go to the paint-your-own pottery place, or to go bicycling in their stead. The very idea of the activity is...
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