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Garden Themes

A theme in your garden, whether it is cottage, formal, or Balinese, helps to create a universal look and feel, and will make your garden a great place to be. There are a myriad of garden themes that you could use but we’ve focused on the most common.

Balinese Garden

There are some basic aspects that are used to create the Balinese feel. To create this feel, use plants such as cordylines, palms, and ferns to create greenery and lushness. Foliage plants of differing heights will give the effect of a rainforest. Artifacts are an important part of a Balinese garden. These can range from temple flags to umbrellas, timber sculptures, and bronze and stone statues. Artifacts will provide focal points throughout the garden. At night, highlight the artifacts with spot lighting. Use gentle path lighting to atmosphere and also provide safety. If you want the smell of Bali, burn some incense in your garden – sandalwood is a great choice.

Rainforest Garden

For a great rainforest garden, all you really need is great soil preparation and plenty of organic mulch. As a general rule, rainforest plants have a delicate root system and thus simply will not grow in hard soil. They will do best in soil that has been thoroughly dug and loosened. Thick organic mulch is also a must as it keeps the soil moist by reducing evaporation; controls weed growth, cools the soil, provides nutrients, and keeps the soil healthy by maintaining a balanced population of micro-organisms.

If you have a thick layer of mulch, you should not need to water your garden any more than you would a normal garden. However, you will need to water it more often during the first few months as your plants become established. If you follow these two steps, you should have a garden that is thick, lush, and feels like your own little slice of rainforest.

Cottage Garden

Cottage gardens are gardens that have no formal plan – rather the plants are crammed in wherever there is space for them. As you can imagine, these gardens often look whimsical and are filled with colour and scent. Let your plants self-seed and you won’t have any weeding to do. The plants will be so closely packed that there will be nowhere for them to grow! Fill in gaps by planting annuals, but avoiding using modern hybrids or double flower varieties as they are not traditional plants and will not attract wildlife. The aim of a cottage garden is to use traditional plants – the same plants that you could have found a hundred years ago. Add some metal watering cans and pails, and some terracotta pots for a picture perfect cottage garden.

Formal Garden

The formal garden is geometric and relies heavily on symmetry. The garden is usually divided into smaller areas through the use of pathways and hedges. The aim of the garden is to create a pattern. Formal gardens require much more planning than an informal one as you will need to think about the shape of the garden, what will be at the middle, how the paths are laid out, and so forth. They will also require more maintenance.

Use plants that are compact, neat or slow growing. However, formal gardens are about simplicity so the number of plant species used is generally limited. Use bluestone, brick or granite to create a formal feel.

Japanese Garden

Japanese gardens are constructed from rocks, sand, ponds, greenery, and coloured plants that are placed in just the right spot. In Japanese gardens, the main focus is actually on the rocks, and not the plants. The flowers and the greenery are used to enhance the inner and outer beauty of rocks. Stones are one of the fundamental elements of the Japanese garden. As well as being used as part of structures such as walls, paths, and bridges, each stone is considered to be its own element. Stone lanterns are usually set near a stone water basin. The water basin is made from natural or lightly worked stones and is replenished frequently by bamboo pipes. Water is also fundamental in Japanese gardens, as it means life. Without water, nobody and nothing can live. The water has to go from east to west.

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