Secrets of Garden Design: The Year Round Garden

Across the UK, most gardens and balconies are awash with colour and loaded with beautiful blossoms during the spring and early summer months. Creating a garden that pleases the senses throughout the year, however, can widen the opportunity to experience the space – whether you’re within it or surveying it from the warmth of indoors.

Requiring a little more thought and careful planning, the four seasons garden needs to provide interest and atmosphere throughout the year. We’re here to unlock some of the secrets of creating a successful year round garden, regardless of the size or shape of the plot. Let us help you create a space where you can delight in watching the year go by.

Planning a four seasons garden

Successful four seasons garden design is all in the planning. Careful consideration surrounding the purpose and desired experience is key to laying the foundations and realising both immediate and long term benefits. How we feel, or how we want to feel within a space should lead to the tangible aspects that create atmosphere.

The importance of atmosphere

The basis of garden design for us lies in the atmosphere of the space. This is why defining the purpose and the desired experience are central to the process of designing a garden for all seasons. Once this is determined, other elements can be incorporated into the garden design that will help to shape the atmosphere:

• Texture of materials – pathways, steps and patio areas
• Artificial elements – structures, sculptures and containers
• Garden technology – ovens, heaters and outdoor kitchens
• Artificial lighting – whether for entertaining areas or mood lighting
• Furniture – incorporating colour, form and placement for all seasons
• Planting

The desired atmosphere is a personal element that will vary in every garden design, and this is often where garden design professionals perform at their best. The fundamental aspect remains the same, however and this is to create a space that can stimulate and regenerate the senses at any time of the year.

Light in a year round garden

The way that natural light moves around the garden is perhaps one of the most important elements to consider in a year round approach. Natural light is largely at the mercy of nature and the seasons, influenced by the orientation of the space and its geographical location. There are, however, many controllable factors that can help to dictate the play of light at different times of the year. For instance:

• The height of walls or fences
• The positioning and size of trees and shrubs
• Features within the design
• The incorporation of artificial mood lighting
• The reflectivity or colour of materials
• And much more.

The influence of light is the perfect starting point for the year round garden design. It can guide the designer towards the creation of an atmospheric space that facilitates the desired interaction.

Planting for multi-seasonal interest

Many plant varieties have multi-seasonal interest, providing a beautiful show of blooms during its flowering season, giving way to an abundance of berries later in the year. Before selecting key plants, however, assess all the existing planting within the space, as mature gardens often reveal hidden surprises once carefully cleared.

Tree canopies

Tree canopies will cast different shadows across the garden as the sun changes its path through the year. This filtering of light may help to guide the designer to create the desired effect. For example – introduce tender planting where these trees will provide essential shade during the summer; a shadow casts may suggest the perfect place for a flower bed or pathway to an exposed vegetable garden – each garden will be unique in this respect.

Evergreen plants

The common term for all year round plants is ‘evergreen’ – one which many people are familiar with. While this typically invokes thoughts of dark green foliage, evergreen planting can provide a cacophony of colour at certain times of the year and interest or shade during others.

Also consider the experience of touching the plants, brushing past the leaves and bark of the trees or running hands through a soft fern. This is why texture and form are also important elements of design when considering the vital planting.

Texture and form

Choosing plants with texture and form can help to provide a framework for the ambiance of the four seasons garden. This could include varieties of ornamental grasses and ferns that add texture at any time of the year, or it could mean adding some specimen varieties that will move around the garden in containers.

Some knowledge of planting, including soil types and the growth cycle, eventual size and spread, can help when making planting decisions. This is where comprehensive research or the help of a passionate garden designer can prove a valuable part of the planning process.

Incorporating features and structural elements

Incorporating features, such as furniture or structural elements can bring life and form to a four seasons garden design. Adding features and colour can also help to craft a space that speaks to the people within it and draws them to experience the atmosphere. This could be something as simple as a brightly coloured tabletop or as complex as a mosaic pathway.

Structural elements vary too, from a statue or sculpture to a garden building that provides shelter during inclement weather. When designing the four seasons garden, especially in the UK, these could be important, even central to the experience. For some, structural features and introduced colour can be thoughtfully placed to enjoy from the warmth of the house, providing interest and aesthetic value from a different perspective during the winter.

Whether you’re working from a blank canvas or remodelling a mature garden, there are key design elements that remain true to the core values of all year round garden design. Considering how you want the space to make you feel is perhaps the most important of all.

How we can help

Locorum& holds the creation of the desired atmosphere at the heart of our garden design. We spend time understanding how our clients need to feel within the spaces and use knowledge and passionate creativity to deliver a design masterplan that makes it real.

We would love to hear about your garden project, give us a call and let us help you create a year round garden where you can experience and enjoy every season.