The flowers are blossoming, the foliage looks fantastic, and the plant combinations are gorgeous. So why doesn't your garden satisfy? The problem just might be a lack of hardscaping?structures like arbors, walls, fountains, pools, and decks that delineate, ornament, animate, and add dimensionality to a garden. Using both his own and others' layouts, a top garden designer reveals why these structures are so important and how to incorporate them into the landscape. Each chapter examines a specific principle (creating balance, instilling motion, establishing focal points), and features illuminating discussions of style, function, application, and plantings, as well as magnificent projects. Bring fresh life to a garden by adding a curvaceous patio with a rill, a sculpture plinth on a terraced platform, or a Victorian ?room.”
Gardens consisting solely of flowering and foliage plants may be lovely, but they may also lack a sense of unification or completion. One way of introducing structure, interest, balance, and focus to a botanically dense landscape is through the application of hardscape elements. Whether it's a simple concrete birdbath emerging from a groundcover bed or an elaborate masonry walkway meandering through a perennial border, such structural ornamentation can be incorporated into gardens of any style and size. Giving straightforward advice and instruction, Davitt guides gardeners through the function and purpose of paths, walls, fountains, arbors, and other garden structures; helpfully suggests companion plantings; and provides dramatic before-and-after color photographs to illustrate the power of hardscape to transform and improve garden settings. Carol Haggas
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