Interesting Garden Design Tips To Liven Up Your Outdoor Space
Is your garden lacking that special something to make it truly stand out? While garden design is centred on making your space more attractive, many people get too concerned with the visual appearance of their garden that they lose all sight of the joy and entertainment this space can provide.
Renovating your garden means more than just changing its appearance, as you also want to focus on creating a fun, engaging space that the whole family can enjoy.
As a leading landscaping company, Gloucestershire Garden Design understands the importance of interesting garden design. We appreciate that our clients want to create garden spaces that don’t just look good, but feel good too and can be used for all occasions.
To inspire you to make changes to your garden and take better advantage of this incredible space, we are sharing some of the best ways you can add interest using garden design. These interesting garden design tips can be tailored to suit your unique requirements, property style, and size of garden using a combination of decorative and functional elements.
Top Interesting Garden Design Tips For All Landscapes
Whether you live alone or with a large family, complete with kids and pets, your garden should be a space you want to spend time in. The garden can be an incredible space for all occasions, from relaxation to outdoor dining and entertaining guests, but this may not feel possible when the design is lacking something.
This is where interesting garden design comes in, and there are many ways you can add interest to your outdoor space, including:
Play With Structure And Levels
Interesting garden design encourages us to think outside of the box and create the unexpected in our landscapes. While there are odd-shaped gardens out there, most people have a standard, flat landscape to work with, which is why playing with structure and levels can be incredibly engaging.
Adding layers, through raised levels, steps and built-in seating, not only makes better use of your available space but generates interest. By separating the garden into unique zones for varying purposes, you have more room to use, as well as adding interesting height and depth to the design.
Layers can also be created using plants of various heights and textures. This is a great way to incorporate natural elements into your garden design, and is particularly useful for small gardens seeking more depth and engagement.
Layered planting displays usually begin with tall ornamental grasses or shrubs, and move down in height until the base is made of ground cover flowers, or even smaller plants such as herbs. These can be used across raised planters or flower beds to add more depth and interest to your garden.
Mix Up Planting Options
A range of plant types is not just useful for creating layered displays, as it is also the key to interesting garden design. To create an interesting and engaging landscape, variation is needed, and plants are one of the best ways to add colour, texture, and scent to all corners of your garden.
While you can create layered and raised planting displays, simply having a variety of flowers in your planting beds or different types of ornamental grasses in pots across the patio can make all the difference to your garden design.
As well as considering different planting types and colours, consider their structure when creating an interesting garden design. Using a combination of more structured and rigid plants, such as evergreen shrubs, with more relaxed plants, such as tall grasses or climbing flowers, can offer variation and interest.
Overall, varying plant types is one of the best interesting garden design tips because it can be completely customised to suit your unique landscape theme.
For example, if you have a modern outdoor space, variation will come in the form of structured plants and high-end flowers, as opposed to various colours and flowers. However, if you want to create a traditional cottage garden, then a variation of colours and flowers will highlight your quaint surroundings perfectly.
Introduce Focal Points
Focal points draw attention to specific areas of the garden and are essential in interesting garden design. You want to keep people engaged and interested when spending time outdoors, and focal points are a key way to do this.
Like all other areas of garden design, focal points can be adjusted to suit your unique style and property type. There are many ways you can create a focal point in your garden, whether you invest in a garden sculpture or water feature, or rely on plants and shrubs.
Whatever kind of focal point you choose, it is a good idea to place it in areas where the eyes naturally rest or are drawn to. This allows you to enhance the organic layout of your garden, as well as ensure your efforts are noticed. For example, placing a bespoke sculpture at the end of the garden path encourages people to be drawn to this area and works with the natural flow of your garden.
Add Movement, Scent And Sound
Interesting garden design engages all the senses, and while sight is one of the main ways to generate interest, there are many others to play with. This is why adding movement and sound to the garden is a great way to make your landscape more engaging and keep it interesting throughout the seasons.
Movement can come from tall plants, such as ornamental grasses, which capture the breeze and sway with each gust of wind. On spring days or summer afternoons, you can watch the serene setting move with the weather and enjoy the changes that take place in your garden based on the climate. Fragrant plants such as lavender, sage, and jasmine are another great way to incorporate the senses across your interesting garden design.
When grown to their full capacity, these plants may also move with the wind, but their main appeal is the fragrance they will spread around the garden with the breeze and colder temperatures. Adding hardy plants, such as lavender in particular, is a great way to keep your landscape interesting throughout the seasons, as this will continue to be fragrant even in the autumn and winter months.
If you have enough plants in your garden or are looking for other ways to generate an interesting garden design, sound is the sense to play with. Running water features, such as small waterfalls, wind chimes, and rustling leaves or trees, can create a soothing ambient sound that enhances the appeal of your outdoor space throughout the year.
It is recommended to focus on gentle, natural sounds when creating an interesting garden design, but you can get louder and more creative by using installations such as outdoor speakers and music systems if this is something you are interested in.
Encourage Wildlife
Finally, wildlife is one of the best interesting garden design tips because it can incorporate all of the other areas of interest mentioned. Wildlife will bring beautiful sights, sounds, and movement to your landscape as critters, birds, and pollinators come in throughout the year.
Welcoming wildlife into your garden simply means creating a habitable space for them. Having space for water, food, and shade encourages birds and other creatures to use your garden. Birdbaths and water features, insect hotels, and pollinator-friendly plants can all be customised to suit your unique landscape style, while also encouraging the natural world to play a part in the appeal of your garden.
If you have the space or want to be committed to a wildlife attraction, you can also create a wild space in your garden. Small meadows or separate ecosystems can be created by allowing the grass to grow freely, complete with feed, wild flowers, and fresh soil to attract a whole host of amazing creatures to your garden.
Wildlife attractions are best used in spring and summer, when most creatures are alert, but this can continue throughout the year to ensure your garden remains interesting and appealing.
Conclusion
Interesting garden design means focusing on more than just the visual appeal of your landscape. While appearances matter, your garden can be a more exciting and engaging environment by evoking the other senses.
From bird baths to running water features, tall plants to garden sculptures, various interesting garden design tips can help you make the most of your landscape all year long. An engaging landscape is one that offers something unexpected and encourages all senses to get involved in the experience.
When it comes to garden makeovers and landscape design, working with professionals ensures the best results. Gloucester Garden Design are your local experts in all areas of landscaping and are ready to take on your next project.
Contact Us Today
To transform your garden into an interesting hub of movement and sights, or to learn more about our services, reach out to the team today.
