Converting Florida gardens into formal or rambling European gardens depends on your own interests. What exotic country puts you into a mood to garden? Moroccan or Spanish theme can be easily accomplished in small backyards or patios with container planting of citrus trees in a stone courtyard surrounding rectangular pools. Adding wrought iron furniture and grillwork on fences, chimneas, and decorating with jewel-toned mosaic tiles on stuccoed walls or along garden paths to complete your design. Large ornamental shrubs like bougainvilleas, ficus trees, and climbing roses, with Mediterranean figs and olives planted around outside high walls to ensure privacy and shade adds to the Spanish ambiance.
Oriental gardens are similar to Islamic gardens in that they require formality and attention to detail in maintaining the symbolism of the garden. But they are unique in that the Oriental gardening style has actually become a very popular art form. The Japanese garden respects nature and uses abstract representations through rock arrangements combining religion and philosophy. The Japanese Zen and bonsai gardens reflect nature in its original earthly appearance but in diminutive scale. Everything in an Asian garden is as you would find it in nature: water bodies need to be round and not flowing from statues but from waterfalls, trees sway in the wind and brave the harsh elements of the Himalayans. When in the first stages of designing a Japanese garden remember that balance, or sumi is very important in the Japanese garden. You can design a hundred mile long ocean vista within a ten square foot area if you use all the right elements, perspectives and sizes. Rocks can symbolize whole mountains, and your pool is a lake. Using rocks, raked sand and swirling linear creases in the sand can be envisioned as an entire ocean and mountains and river streams. Traditional landscaping plants are chrysanthemums, orchids, plum and cherry trees, junipers, camellias, water lilies, lotus, bamboo, moss, peonies, grasses, irises, azalea, wisteria, tea olives, pine, cedars, Japanese maples, and ferns. In the Japanese garden your hardscape items assist in telling the story of your heritage. Adding lanterns, stone basins, temple statuary, bamboo water features, and low bridges will add movement and structure to your Central Florida backyard and easily transform it into an Asian garden honoring the traditions of your ancient homeland.
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Teresa Watkins's Florida Gardens topic, please visit the Discussions page.