My Garden Design Scheme
If you’re up for it, have a look at my garden design scheme. It’s a fairly ambitious undertaking, but I’ve already gotten a pretty good jump on it. If features like limestone planters and retaining walls, heavy timber arbors, groovy waterfalls and ponds, and crazy-dense planting beds are your thing, then we’re all on the same page.
When I first started thinking about this garden in April of 2020, I had only a vague idea of what kind of space I wanted to develop. I knew that I wanted a cottage-ish style garden with a lot of color, a lot of lush green foliage, and a lot of limestone. That was about it. It was at this point that I should have formulated a plan. I should have researched, measured, sketched, and drafted. I should have implemented the results of this plan to create a space that would be ready to receive the plants I so thoroughly should have researched. Instead, I did it the other way around. I indulged in a plant-buying frenzy that netted me dozens and dozens of plants (actually, maybe more than a hundred) by approximately the second or third week of May. And I still had no real plan.
But it turned out that starting my garden in reverse, with loads of plants and nowhere to put them, was what actually led me to come up with a design, and then implement it.
The weather was getting hotter and I had a lot of plants that needed to get planted quickly. Watching my potted acquisitions bake in the sun forced a plan into my head. When I took the time to actually research each type of plant that I owned, and subsequently learn about each of their respective characteristics, I realized I could plant them in groupings, or features, according to various criteria. And with the concept of these plant groupings having taken shape in my mind, coupled with my vision of a limestone-laden, verdant cottage garden, I came up with a design and a methodology.
Once the idea of what I wanted the garden to look like (and how I was going to get it there) was in my head, I was finally able to focus and allow all of my gardening and gardening construction activities to coalesce around this paradigm. I knew I had many plants of varying species, appearance, and behavior which were going to be organized and planted in separate planting features. These separate features needed to tie together and compliment each other in a cottage-style garden setting, so they needed to be oriented in a synergetic manner. Continuity needed to be established. I needed to achieve this not only through the orientation of the planting features themselves (and the future inhabitants of those planting features), but also through the use of water features, and the installation of various hardscape elements, such as limestone features and other various augmenting garden structures. My plan ultimately incorporated four major components that I knew, if implemented correctly, would create a cohesive, eye-pleasing environment in my soon-to-be-transformed backyard. Those four components, which I will respectively discuss further, are as follows:
1) The planting features
2) Limestone features
3) Water features
4) Non-stone garden structures
My Garden Design Scheme: The Planting Features
Growing within each of the planting features are the things which make up the whole point of the garden – the plants. How these plants look and act together, in groups, is a lengthy topic. But I’m going to keep this (comparatively) short. For the purposes of understanding the fundamental planting scheme of my garden, I’ll just need to relay a few key points.
Each planting feature is planted according to a specific set of criteria. In all of these features, perennial plants have been planted and are now growing in wild and wondrous ways. And each feature has got it’s own theme. One feature, for instance, is the Rose Garden feature. It’s planted with a combination of Floribunda, Knockout, and Miniature rose bushes. And it’s underplanted with extremely hardy and low-growing Voodoo Sedum (Sedum spurium). In another feature, the Lily Patch, various Daylilies, Oriental and Asiatic Lilies, and a Trumpet Lily share a feature with Blue Star Creeper, a prolific rhizomatous ground cover. Another feature has been planted according to the color of the blooms of each inhabiting plant – this large, centrally-located feature is covered in flowers of white and varying shades of blue. Yet another feature, which runs immediately adjacent to the deck and along almost its entire length, is planted with small and miniature Hostas along its front border, and Dianthus, Hydrangea, and Rhododendron along the middle and back lengths of the feature – these all planted according to the fact that, although the three different plants all look and perform differently, they possess a uniformity of lower height to accommodate visibility from the deck out over the rest of the garden. There’s a Hibiscus feature, a couple of extensive shade features (one existing and the other planned and/or in the works). The border features contain foundation shrubs and smaller, complimentary plants like Coral Bells, Gaura, and Hostas. And yet another feature, anchored by two sizeable Rhododendrons on either end and a Butterfly Bush in the center, is populated with Phlox, Echinacea, Violas, Asclepias, Coreopsis, Lavender, Russian Sage, and more. In each planting feature, the plants work together according its respective theme.
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There must be visual continuity among the planting features. I tried to plant each feature so that individual plants could reference other individual plants in other respective features. I wanted various colors, shades, and forms to create a continuous and cohesive wave that would draw the viewer’s eye from feature to feature in smooth fashion, and I tried to accomplish this through plant placement alone. So, although the implementation of the existing and future limestone and other hardscape features will definitely contribute substantially to this continuity, it’s important that the design and placement of the planting features themselves, alone, are able to achieve this.
Viewability from multiple angles and directions. As discussed, the entire garden is made up of all of these individual planting features. I like to think of each planting feature as a smaller, individual garden, and the whole garden as really a bunch of these small gardens. Foot traffic through the entire garden is accomplished via paths (which will be paved in limestone by the time I’m through building) that wind among and through all of these small gardens (the individual planting features). Since a visitor to the garden can literally be standing anywhere on one of these winding paths, each feature must be viewable and attractive from all angles and directions. And the visual continuity I discussed in the above paragraph must be maintained from all of these perspectives.
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Limited space considerations. The overall footprint of the garden is only about 2,200 square feet. I’ll be expanding it to approximately 3,000 square feet (hopefully within the next week or two), which I’ll discuss a bit later in this article. Up to this point, 2,200 square feet is what I’ve had to work with as I planted hundreds and hundreds of plants, all while keeping the above three considerations in mind.
Light considerations. Some plants need a lot of sunlight and some need a lot of shade, and some need varying combinations of each. This point was probably the most important factor in the layout of the planting features. I had to make sure that shade lovers didn’t bake, that sun lovers got all the vitamin D2 they needed, and that all the plants that fell in varying places on the in-between scale were happy, too. And again, this had to be accomplished while keeping the above four considerations in mind. As a point of information, I have been successful in having sun loving plants adapt well to shade, and vice versa. I’ll talk about that in another post.
Each of the above five considerations was a critical factor in the conception, design, and lay-out of my garden’s planting features. The garden looks the way it does, and is starting to take form, because I kept each and every one of these considerations in mind as I designed and implemented my garden’s existing planting features.
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Limestone Features
A key feature in many cottage-type garden designs is stone. In gardens of this type, it’s common to see dwellings/buildings, walls, planters, and/or paths – all constructed of stone – as anchoring elements. These elements create a sense of permanence in the garden. And whether stone features are used at intervals to punctuate growing ares of green, or meander continuously throughout the planting features, they are a solidifying and unifying component of a cottage-style garden.
In my garden, I have begun building/installing limestone features to augment and enhance a sense of continuity and cohesiveness among the planting features, and further, to instill in it that sense of permanence and solidity which is that cottage garden hallmark. I’m using irregularly shaped individual buff limestone landscape stones to construct my features. (I’ve already installed aproximately one ton, and I’ve purchased an additional six or seven tons – it’s sitting on pallets waiting to be installed). The three types of limestone features I am implementing in my garden design scheme are planters/retaining walls, walking paths, and a waterfall.
Planters/retaining walls. I’m using this type of limestone feature to create a continuous elevation along the south and west borders of the garden. The planter I’ve already built runs along the west border. It is merely the first section in two long elevations of planters. It, along with the planters to follow, is built to achieve different heights. Looking at the left picture above (or the top picture, depending on your device), the change in height is visible on the left of the planter. Planters/retaining walls serve three purposes in my garden. Not only do they create the feeling of cottage garden continuity and permanence, but they also allow plants to be planted at different elevations, and, in this case, provide a structural integration for the limestone waterfall to come.
Note: “Planters/retaining walls” can actually be the same thing, whereas the front and or sides of the planter structure serves as a retaining wall for the soil, plants, etc. in the planter. The backs of my planters are laminated 4×4 green-treated structures, mechanically joined with galvanized joining plates and physically integrated into the masonry walls of the planter via masonry ties. They are lag screwed to steel unistrut supports and anchored into 3’deep concrete footings. The limestone front/side retaining walls are set on poured concrete footings and mortared together with Type S structural masonry mortar (I use a high quality Quikrete product). Thus, they are continuous, self-contained planting media.
I designed, engineered, built, and installed all existing planters/retaining walls and their individual components, and am doing so for the planters/retaining walls to come. I will describe, in detail, my step-by-step methodology in a future article.
The left side of the above image shows how the existing planter increases in height and will be integrated continuously with the next section, by “toothing” or “dovetailing” the stones of the existing elevation. The stones of the next planter will fit complimentarily with these stones.
Above is a view of the planter before the soil and plants were added. This view shows the stone front and right side and the laminated heavy wood back (which is invisible once the planter is filled and planted).
The photo above partially shows what the heavily-mortared inside of the limestone front, and includes a partial view of the laminated and treated wooden back wall of the planter.
The above photo shows a detail of the inside of the planter. Note how the inside of the limestone wall is heavily mortared and joins completely with the heavy wood back wall, thus creating a self-contained planter unit. Again, the back of the planter and all interior details are invisible upon filling the planter.
Walking paths. Limestone walking paths, paved with the same buff limestone as the planters/retaining walls, will wind along through the garden, allowing visitors to wander among the planting features and to view them from various perspectives. Their widths will vary randomly. They will provide the means to carry the limestone presence throughout the entire garden and will contribute heavily to the sense of continuity within the space.
I had started construction of the walking path feature at the location of the hose bibb on the back of the house, in order to have a place to station the hose reel. I completed this early on in the building of my garden. I decided to wait to continue this until all of the other limestone features were completed and in place.
I will outline my my construction methodology of these paths, including my use of weed barrier, road base, paver sand, etc., in step-by-step detail in a future post.
Waterfall. The planned waterfall really falls into a couple of different feature categories. Since it is going to be constructed of limestone, it’s obviously a limestone feature. But since it is going to be a waterfall, it’s also a water feature. For the purposes of this section I’ll just lay out a few key points about this feature here.
- It will be located at, and form the joining feature of, the juncture of the west and south elevations of the stone planters, shown and described in the above section.
- It will start at the height of the upper planter elevation and empty into the pond (described below in the next feature section).
- The water will spill down over three overlapping, and successively wider limestone shelves (tiers), each spaced at various height increments.
As referenced in the first bullet point above, the structure of the waterfall will be integrated into the planter/retaining wall elevations. (I’ll post a detailed, step-by-step methodology, along with lots of photos when I build this thing. It’s gonna be a monster. Spoiler alert: It ain’t happenin’ this year.)
Water Features
The water features are comprised of two main components: the waterfall (also a limestone feature, and described above in the previous section), and the pond. The waterfall, as discussed, is integrated into the elevations of the planters and will spill down, forward, and out from the uppermost elevation of the planters, and into the pond. The planned pond, which will replace our current, modestly-sized pond, will be home to our existing population of frogs, and probably (maybe) koi and goldfish. The following are key points about the future pond:
- I will need to create a temporary pond for our frogs while I excavate and install the new pond. The existing pond is located in part of the area where the new pond will be excavated.
- The new pond will have approximately 5 – 6 times the surface area of the existing pond, and will be much deeper. Consequently, the water volume will be much greater and a correspondingly larger pump will need to be installed to accommodate not only this increased volume, but the increased pressure needed to push the water flow up the height of the waterfall.
- I’ve planned and installed all of the electrical accommodations for pond pump/skimmer and heater componenets (as well as power for the deck and hot tub, both on the opposite side of the garden).
- The pond will be bordered and encircled by limestone and will be incorporated into the limestone paths, planters, and waterfall. This will continue the limestone-anchoring cottage theme of the garden.
When I start construction of the pond, I’ll post a fully illustrated, step-by-step methodology. Like the waterfall, this is not happening this year. Thank God.
Non-stone Garden Structures
The overall design of the garden is impacted directly by the planting, limestone, and water features outlined above. The final category of feature which I’ll discuss in this article, and which impacts the overall design and feel, as well as the structure, of the garden, is the category of non-stone structures. For the purposes of this section, I’ll break these down into three groups – completed, planned, and miscellaneous.
Completed non-stone garden structures. In my garden, there are a few structures that I’ll discuss here that have already been built (or are currently in the mid-construction stages) that are either an obvious visual design element, or at least play an invisible, but intrinsic role in the garden’s structure and appearance.
- The pine deck. The deck was an existing structure which we chose to not significantly alter structurally (there will be a minor reconfiguration on the west end of the deck at the step-off point to one of the stone walking paths). We did refinish it last summer to achieve a color consistent with the vibe we wanted for the garden. It’s a gathering and dining space for our visitors and for us, and it provides an anchoring presence in the garden as well as a great vantage point from which to look out across the entire garden.
- The planter backs. Invisible but imperative, these structures allow for the existence of stone planters/retaining walls which, in turn, allow for the location of the planned waterfall and for great vegetation growing at different heights along the borders of the garden.
- Garden arch. This beautiful arch/trellis/arbor is a steel unit finished in black epoxy from Outour. It came in prefabricated sections which required only minor and simple assembly. I modified the installation of the product by anchoring it into 18-inch deep concrete footings at each of the four legs. It creates a mild sense of partition and entrance from the deck area to the south and west sections of the garden. It’s being covered in a Clematis H.F. Young vine and a Clematis Jackmanii vine, which were both planted as basically bare roots last fall.
- Electrical power. The deck, hot tub, and waterfall/pond features (as well as the air conditioning condensing unit for the house and the distribution pump for the septic system) all require electrical power. I installed the underground raceway (3/4″ and 1/2″ heavy-wall steel conduit) and junction and device boxes last summer. I’ll pull the wire and terminate all device and unit power locations next year when all of the other garden features are complete. I’m hoping that this feature, if not totally invisible, is at least unobtrusive.
Planned non-stone garden features. These are the next-to-final garden features I’m going to discuss in this article. They are literally in the works now. I’ve got the materials (at least most of them) in the garage and, when I’m not working on articles for this site, I’ll be working on these two features. These are highly visible, design-centric, and structurally and dimensionally impactful to the garden space. As always, in upcoming posts, I’ll provide you with a blow-by-blow with plenty of pictures as I build and complete both of these features.
- The new privacy fence. I’m starting construction on this really soon. I’ve already done the lay out and I’ll be setting elevations for the posts this week. This is one of the few times throughout the entire implementation process of my garden project that I’ll need outside help. I’ll be tapping my burly chums, Eric and Zen – great guys who are both strong and smart, to help me tackle this project. This new wood fence is superior, both aesthetically and structurally, to the existing fence, which will obviously be demolished and removed. It’s installation grows the size of the garden space by about 800 square feet and allows for the extension of the planter/retaining wall features, and the installation of the waterfall and larger pond. It’s a critical component, and it’s completion also allows for the construction and implementation of the next feature.
- The vine arbor/trellis/lattice structure. This is an incredibly vital component of the garden’s design. It will provide cottage garden-style structure to the space and will extend the impact of the garden’s existing shady section, where it will be built and implemented. The implementation of this feature implies the demolition and removal of an existing arbor structure attached to the back of the house. I have already relocated the house’s telephone interface and cable television junction box to allow room for the vertical trellis components of this feature. The feature will consist of three vertical 6″x6″ beams, each supporting two horizontal 2″x10″ girders (for a total of six) via thick wooden pegs and concealed steel screws. The opposite ends of the rafter boards will attach to a 2″x6″ ledger board, which will in turn be attached to the back of the house. This arbor structure will support a vertical lattice for the planting and growth of shade-inducing Climbing Hydrangea (Hydrangea petiolaris) and Goldflame Honeysuckle (Lonicera x heckrottii) vines. This feature will create additional shade for, and contribute a solid sense of structure to, an existing shady area of the garden. Once again, you’ll read all about how I build and install this feature, and you’ll see all the corresponding pictures, in future articles.
(If you’d like to glimpse into the future and see how the actual new privacy fence turned out, please click here. And if you’d like to check out the completed arbor/trells structure, please click here; that article has got loads of pics plus links you can click to learn how to build the major structural elements of an arbor, if you decide you’d like to build one of your own.)
Miscellaneous non-stone garden features. This is the last one, and it’s short and sweet. We’re replacing the old hot tub (not pictured) with a new one of the same exact dimensions. It will be installed in exactly the same location as the old one. It will be accessible from the deck and will sit immediately adjacent to the deck, fitting into a semi-circular recess incorporated in the deck’s structure. Finally, I’ll be installing some coach lights on the back of the house immediately at the location of the sliding glass doors which open out to the deck, and at the location of the garage service door, which opens to the garden at the south end of the house.
And that’s a wrap…
The planting features and limestone, water, and non-stone features are all integral parts of my garden’s design. As discussed, they do, and will, contribute directly to the verdant and solid feel of a cottage garden in my own garden space. I have given a great deal of thought to, and carefully planned for, the implementation of each of these features. And although it didn’t start out that way, it’s the envisioning, planning, and preparation of each of these features that’s at the heart of my garden’s development and evolution. I believe I’ve come a long way from the beginning, when I had a whole bunch of plants and no plan.
I know, I know… I made all of you (who are still with me at this point) sit through another long article. I really do apologize for its length. But I wrote this long one because, going forward, I want for each of you to understand my garden’s design and my garden’s overall plan so that all of my future articles will make better sense. I guess I’m a firm believer in putting things into the proper context (even if it’s at the expense of boring my poor readers half to death – again, I am sorry). I promise the next articles will be much shorter, and very succinct, and hopefully very helpful and informative.
And, to those of you who stuck this one out to the end, you have my sincerest gratitude and greatest appreciation. Cheers, and Happy Gardening!
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I am going to love watching this beautiful garden grow!!
Thank you for this post. I am excited to read about your garden and plans for everything!! I think I will be watching excited for each new addition you add ! I am so happy I figured out this .com site. But I will enjoy watching on Facebook also.
Excellent post. So informative. Your designs and the photos are terrific!
Thank you so much, Colleen!