Teach Your Landscape Rhythm

According to Marjorie Elliot Bevlin, author of Design through Discovery: The Elements of Design (my college design textbook from the 1980s), there are six elements of design and seven principles of design. Even

Lay of the Landscape: Natural Garden Style

A natural garden reflects the natural landscape that surrounds it, whether its the prairies of the Midwest, the forests of New England, the fields of wildflowers in Texas or the starkly beautiful deserts of the

Breeze Into Coastal Landscapes

Landscaping for the coast offers some unique design opportunities as well as challenges. The salty winds can be tough on plants and people, yet the breeze brings a sense of anticipation and motion to the landsca

Keep Your Garden in Lines

A line is the strongest visual element of design. But that doesnt mean it has to be a straight line. Diagonal, arcing and even S-shape lines are powerful ways to move the eye through a landscape. Lines signal to

Formal Parterre Gardens Rule the Landscape

A kept-to-perfection garden is fabulously beautiful and cant help but add to the charm and desirability of a home. And the formal parterre garden, created by 16th-century French garden designer Claude Mollett, i

Garden Design Essentials: Texture

At least two of the senses come into play when you bring texture into the landscape: touch and sight.Marjorie Elliott Bevlin wrote in Design Through Discovery: The Elements and Principles, Textures are so much a

Vegetable Growing Lessons From Longwood Gardens

Join me today as we take a trip to Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, to visit one of the great gardens in the world. The showpiece of Pierce DuPont, Longwood Gardens is on the short list of garden tours you absolut

Conservatories of Longwood Gardens Inspire Awe

You might think of carpet cleaners when you hear the name du Pont. If you are a garden lover, though, youll see visions of lush plantings, grand greenhouses and arboretums. The du Pont family crafted some of t

Garden Design Essentials: Shape and Mass

Im reviewing the elements and principles of design — straight out of my 1980s college textbook Design Through Discovery, by Marjorie Elliott Bevlin — as they relate to gardens. I wanted to explore my own underst

Focus Your Garden Palette

Color is all around us, and in the garden it is one of our most powerful resources. It is also a unique way of expressing ourselves. When we decorate our houses, we tend to use color schemes — whether following

How to Work With a Landscape Pro

Even if you can decorate a living area or bedeck a bedroom with the best of them, landscape design has a unique set of challenges that may leave you stumped. Not only does it require a totally different skill se

Longwood Gardens Pathways Invite Exploration

In a previous ideabook, I introduced you to the conservatories at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. In this one, Im going to share the pathways of these magnificent gardens.Longwood Gardens can

8 Ornamental Grasses for Coastal Gardens

Ornamental grasses are some of the easiest plants to design with on the coast because almost every ornamental grass tolerates the salt spray and harsh winds off the ocean. They look great massed, which is also a

Renovation Detail: The Ribbon Driveway

This week my husband and I are presenting our ribbon driveway plans to our township zoning board. This classic driveway design features green grass running between two parallel strips of pavement. Dating back to

Lay of the Landscape: Modern Garden Style

A modern or contemporary landscape is defined by its emphasis on strong structural and graphic elements, clean lines and unusual materials. Its bold, often stark, with strong visual lines running throughout and

Garden Design Essentials: Positive-Negative Space

Space, a critical element of design, is ever present in the outdoor world, thanks to the vast sky overhead, the seemingly endless horizon of the ocean or a distant view of treetops.We can take advantage of the g

Climbing Plants Suit Small Gardens

Our 21st-century lifestyle has left many of us with smaller gardens, where every inch of outdoor space is precious. Through the use of climbers and wall shrubs, we can expand our planting opportunity, giving us

Topiaries Carve a Place Indoors and Out

Topiary gardens can take years to grow and perfect (theyre not for the faint of heart). For those who are committed to maintaining a formal topiary garden, however, the results can be magnificent.Join me as I t

Geometry Roots Great Garden Design

Geometry may have been a dull subject at school for some of us, but it has had a significant influence on the design of our gardens through the ages. The use of geometry as a design tool has taken us on an inter

Lay of the Landscape: Mediterranean Garden Style

If you live where summers are dry and hot (or at least warm) and winters are warm and wet, a Mediterranean-influenced garden can be great: Its lush, inviting and generally low maintenance, filled with drought-to