“Grow a green thumb”

Design Elements: Notes

“Color in Your Garden” for more about color theory and playing with color in your garden.

Quick Color Notes

HUE = another word for color
Hues are true colors
TINT = any color plus white
Tints are lighter colors
TONE = any color plus gray
Tones are subtle desaturated colors
SHADE = any color plus black
Shades are darker colors
VALUE = the amount of white, gray or black added to a color to create a new color
Values are the whole range of any color
TEMPERATURE = the overall impression or emotional impact created by a color (WARM AND COOL COLORS)
How colors make us feel emotionally.

“the photographic color temperature is measured only on the relative intensity of blue to red” – Allan Engelhardt

Color Basics: The Color Wheel and Color Theory in the garden; a few examples of color harmony garden plans.

Plant Forms

Round, like a globe
Mounding, rounded but arranged like piled forms
Oval, flattened globular form
Oblong, blocky horizontal form
Spreading, growing horizontally
Compact, tightly branched in a more geometrical form. Smaller.
Vertical, growing strongly upwards
Fastigiate, erect with parallel branching giving a pencil form.
Columnar, like pillars, cylindrical.
Upright tending to be upright
Vase shaped, wider at top giving classic V-shape
Pyramidal, wide at base rising to pointed top
Weeping, usually drooping branches
Vining, weak or clasping stems that grow up through and are supported by other plants or structures.

Design Concepts

Tracy DiSabato-Aust describes a garden she designed using these concepts:”Order through balance and mass collection—Symmetrical balance is accomplished through the pairing of Weeping Red Buds (Cercis canadensis ‘Covey’) at two main entrances into the garden. Hydrangea macrophylla’Endless Summer’ are also paired on either side of all the entrances. The two long borders mirror one another with smokebush, nearly wild roses, and peonies repeating through the center which also creates balance. Mass collection is accomplished through the drift of plants and particularly the mass of Rozanne geranium which creates a low edging around all the beds and spill onto the walks.” …and more in her article,New plants, old style, timeless design

Order: the overall framework, mass collection.
Symmetry: balance often created with mirror effect.
Asymmetry: balance created with unequal forms.
Mass collection: the given visual weight of an element, grouping elements together.
Unity: achieving a oneness in the design, balancing simplicity and variety.
Dominance: prominence in comparison with surrounding elements.
Unity of Three: grouping in odd numbers.
Rhythm: using repetition to create a visual sequence.