Everything in the garden has a texture. We experience texture through our senses of touch and sight. While it is possible to create a garden that is about the sense of touch, in this article I will focus on texture as a visual experience.
When thinking about how to unify a garden through texture, don't focus too much on the details. Look at broad areas of textures, such as clipped hedges, mown grass and the foliage of trees and shrubs.
It may help to think like you are creating a collage out of pieces of fabric, textured paper and sandpaper. The contrast of velvet against sandpaper is similar to the contrast of mown lawn against a graveled surface.
In design, the subject of texture is about harmony and contrast. Contrast can be used to stimulate, but this article is about how to unify a garden through the use of texture. A garden with too much contrast lacks unity. A garden without contrast will be perfectly harmonious and perfectly boring.
Think of texture as a pattern that you weave throughout your garden. In a parterre, texture isn't very important because the geometric pattern is the dominant element. You don't want a lot of textures competing with the geometric pattern, you just want a simple background that the design will be displayed against. The patterns of informal gardens are built up by playing texture against texture.
Most informal gardens are composed out of three layers of foliage. The topmost layer is composed of trees, the middle layer is composed of shrubs and understory trees. The bottom layer is composed of ground cover, herbaceous plants, bulbs and low shrubs.
Many gardeners focus on the the bottom layer with it's herbaceous flowers, but it is the upper layers which are most important. This layer dominates the lower layers, both by casting shade and just because of the size of the plants. The topmost layer is usually composed of trees. The exception to this are gardens surrounded by tall buildings. In gardens surrounded by tall buildings, it is probably best to repeat the textures of the surrounding buildings within the garden. For example, if the surrounding buildings are brick, the path or terrace could be brick. If the surrounding buildings are stucco, you might have a wall fountain with a stucco background, this wall fountain could be against a freestanding wall that is backed by shrubs.
| 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 Kirk Johnson's Garden Design topic, please visit the Discussions page.