Posts Tagged ‘Garden’

Garden Sculpture & Fountains added much to the decorative effect of the Roman garden. Carved balustrades, benches, tables, bas-reliefs, and statuary were considered the most important part of many gardens, and were beautifully designed. To supply this ornamentation, shiploads of the finest sculptures, statuary, and artistic fountains were exported from Greece to adorn Italian pleasure grounds.

As in Greece, garden statues were usually set up in honor of some appropriate divinity. Accordingly, images of the Graces, the Seasons, Pan, Sylvanus, Flora, Pomona, and Vertumnus were frequently erected. Terminal statues with knobs below the shoulders, from which a votive garland of flowers might be hung, seem especially fit for the open air.

Refreshment being one of the most desirable luxuries for human beings and a necessity for the vegetation, an abundance of water fountains were indispensably connected with out-of-door dwelling-places. In the baths, fish-ponds, and fountains, great ingenuity was displayed to please the eye while the body was being reinvigorated.

From an elaborate chateau d’eau to a slender font of a drinking water fountain, almost every form of ornamental hydraulics with which we are familiar, and many others now unknown, seems to have been employed by the ancients. At Pompeii there are a variety of outdoor water fountains in a good state of preservation. Hardly any main area is without a rectangular basin of water a foot or two deep, either lined with marble or mosaic. Usually they are placed entirely below the level of the pavement, but occasionally the edge of the basin is surmounted by a marble statue rising a few inches above the surface. A marble table or statue was often placed in connection with these fountains.
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If you’ve got a big garden, then it can be difficult to decide what to put in it. A shed? A swing? A hammock? A little vegetable patch, maybe? What you might not have considered, though, is that you could make part of your garden into a pond.

A garden pond is not too difficult to install – in its simplest form, it’s just a big hole that you’ve dug out and then filled with water. One you’ve got a pond, though, you can put all sorts of things in it, such as all kinds of aquatic plants and ornamental rocks.

If you put in a simple filtration system to keep the water clean and oxygenated, you can even keep some kinds of fish in your pond. Goldfish are a popular choice, but any fish will do as long as it is nice-looking and can survive in a wide variety of climates – most fish that can survive in a non-temperature-controlled tank will be just fine, but do check. You may also find that other wildlife starts to turn up on its own after a while, especially frogs and small turtles, although this is much more likely to happen if there are already ponds nearby.
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Sometimes, you will want to be able to walk on part of your garden without walking on the grass, essentially creating a floored area at one end of the garden and perhaps also a path through it. The most common way of doing this used to be concrete patios, but they are fast falling out of fashion. Today, more and more people are instead opting for wooden decking.

Decking can be built either straight over the top of grass, or on top of an existing patio. It is not difficult to build yourself: normal decking is just a grate-style frame with beams every metre or so, and then planks of wood fixed to the top. If you’re unsure then you can buy the parts from a garden centre, but if you have built things out of wood before then decking is really a surprisingly easy project. It is best to leave the decking unpainted and natural, both for maintenance reasons and because it tends to look better.

When you assemble your decking, a good tip is to use screws and an electric screwdriver, instead of nails. Not only does this save you some effort, but it is much more likely to hold up against the elements and other wear the decking will get.
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Growing vegetables in your garden can save you money. During harvest time, your own produce becomes part of your meals. Home gardeners feel deep satisfaction in preparing salad or seasoning the casserole with freshly picked plants from their own vegetable gardens. Their feeling of the taste is incomparable. Fresh surplus are distributed to friends and love ones while some are keep frozen.

It doesn’t require much space to grow vegetables. Even a container pot or a window box will do the trick. Where space is limited, you can grow a mini-garden indoor or outdoor. If you have a good sun, access to water and enough containers, growing a garden’s worth of fruits and vegetables in a limited space is a no-brainer. You can even harvest more than one crop if your choice of plants and planting schemes are all well planned and executed. Windowsills, balconies and doorstep areas can be used, as well as empty packs of milks, pails, plastic buckets and cans.

When planting in containers, proper spacing is very important. One sturdy plant is better than several weak ones. Crowding chokes root systems will slow growth and poor production. With container vegetable garden, you no longer need to worry about poor soil types and bad drainage, or heavy-duty tiller to break up hard clay and rocks. There is no weeding to worry about and you can change the looks of your container placements by simply moving them around anytime to a place you wanted to.

Vegetable gardening offers a change from the monotony of the supermarket. You can grow variety of vegetables that you want. When choosing plants for your vegetable container garden, consider container worthy crops such as beans, carrots, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants and radish. Other root crops such onions and turnips can also do well in containers, but remember to always take care of these crops by ample fertilizers and water. Also consider grapes and berries. Though some take a while to get established, they bear fruits more each year. Planting for fall crops can be started in early summer, though summer planting can still be done in June in most regions.
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The Roman de la Rose gives the best possible idea of both the French and English gardens of the Middle Ages. It was chiefly written by Guillaume de Loris, in the first half of the thirteenth century, and was probably well known in England before it was translated by Chaucer into English. There are several manuscript copies of it containing descriptions in the text, accompanied by illustrations giving vivid pictures of the pleasure garden. Its form—the walls enclosing it with their surrounding moat, the subdivisions of latticework, the “flowery mede,” shaded by fruit trees, with a fountain in its center, and the stone-coped beds, containing clipped shrubs and other smaller plants—are clearly shown from various points of view.

In the most important of these illustrations (which is on the opposite page, and was taken from a fourteenth-century Flemish manuscript preserved at the British Museum), the garden is shown as a whole, ornamented with many quaint details. It is enclosed by a crenellated wall, surrounded by a moat. The subdivisions are formed by a fence of wooden trellis-work, on the topmost railing of which is balanced a peacock. In the left-hand division is a copper fountain head, where the water, spouting from lions’ mouths, drips into a circular basin, and runs off through a marble channel embedded in the turf. Velvety grass, thickly sprinkled with daisies, surrounds the fountain and forms a soft seat for the little company of merrymakers who are singing and playing upon musical instruments.
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A flower garden can be a peaceful and beautiful refuge from the rest of the world. Sitting in the midst of fragrant flowers while reading a book or strolling along paths lined with flowers in cheerful colors can help you to wind down after a busy, stressful day. With some planning and work, a lovely flower garden can be yours to enjoy.

Planning Flower Garden Designs

Creating beautiful flower garden designs takes much planning and consideration. You will need to consider the types of flowers and combinations of colors you desire for the garden. You will also need to think about the placement of borders and shrubs as well as seating and ornaments. It is a good idea to choose an overall style for the garden and stick with it. When you begin your flower garden designs project, you should make a scale drawing of the design to help visualize your concepts.

Shapes in Flower Garden Designs

Decide upon the shape and pattern for your flower garden designs. Rectangular flower garden designs are a traditional shape and always popular. Circular shaped gardens add interest to the standard rectangular lawn. Flower gardens planted on a diagonal to the house can make a lawn appear larger than it actually is.

Styles of Flower Garden Designs

There are a number of styles of gardens that you can plant, and many of them are not too difficult to achieve. Some favorite flower garden designs are listed here.

Rose Flower Garden Designs

Rose Gardens are easy to plant and beautiful to see. In addition to modern roses, include fragrant, old-fashioned varieties of roses whose scent will delight. Plant bulbs in the beds and border them with seasonal flowers to keep the garden full of color during the blooming seasons.

Cottage Flower Garden Designs

Informal cottage gardens have an old-fashioned, rustic look about them. These flower garden designs incorporate the use of flowers, plants and vegetables.
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If you’re seriously interested in knowing about Bulb Flowers, you need to think beyond the basics. This informative article takes a closer look at things you need to know about Bulb Flowers.

Once you begin to move beyond basic background information, you begin to realize that there’s more to Bulb Flowers than you may have first thought.

Just about every flower gardener will work with bulb plants at one time or another. Bulbs are loved by gardeners for the ease with which they grow, their hardiness and the fact that they can bloom again and again for many consecutive seasons without the need to replant. With all these advantages, it is no wonder that bulb plants are so popular among both new and experienced gardeners.

Choosing the right bulbs, however, is one thing that many beginning gardeners have trouble with. After you develop and eye and feel for finding the best bulbs, however, you will be able to spot them from across the garden center.

When choosing bulbs for your garden, it is important to choose the firmest and largest bulbs. The size of the bulb is important, since large bulbs are more likely to provide many blooms. The firmness of the bulb is a good indication of its health, and bulbs that are soft or mushy are unlikely to bloom. Bulbs are particularly susceptible to water damage. It is important to choose a bulb that is not to soft, but it is also important to look for cracks or scars. Bulbs with cracks or scars may have become too dry to bloom. Likewise, any bulbs that have begun to spout roots should be avoided, as they are unlikely to bloom properly once planted.

How bulbs are planted in the garden is important as well. Most bulbs are best planted in the fall, most commonly in early to mid October. The goal is to get the bulbs into the ground six weeks before the ground begins to freeze, so obviously the best time to plant will vary from location to location.

Bulbs should be planted in a well prepared soil, and the depth they should be planted will be determined by the type of bulb. For example, crocus bulbs are generally planted four inches deep, daffodil and hyacinth bulbs six inches deep and tulip bulbs at a depth of eight inches.

A simple gardening tool called a bulb planter is great for achieving a more uniform look to the blooming garden. Bulb planters can be used to easily prepare perfect looking rows of flowers. Those gardneres who prefer a more wild and freewheeling look, on the other hand, often dig a single hole and plant several bulbs in it. This approach can lead to spectacular, if somewhat unpredictable, patterns once the bulbs begin to bloom.
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As the cultivated ground of estates grew in size, it gradually came to be divided into compartments. These subdivisions were usually formed of latticework with square or diamond-shaped apertures, more or less ornamental as during the classic era. There were beds for plants raised several inches above the level of the path, retained by a stone coping, and fenced in with wattles, latticework, or open wooden railings. Fruit trees and herbs predominated, for as yet flowers were given no especial prominence in the garden. The main paths or alleys were covered with sand, and usually broad enough for two or three people to pace abreast. Narrower paths were intended to facilitate the weeding of the beds.

Resting-places were provided for those who found walking or standing tiresome. Simple benches cushioned with turf were built into embrasures or against the wall. Earth banked up around the trunk of a tree, grassed over and held in place by wattled osiers, formed a circular seat. In the center of the garden a three-sided exedra constructed of stone or brick, covered with grass and flowers, often formed the most important feature. Arbors or bowers were wooden structures covered by shrubs and vines and usually shading a comfortable seat.

Water in various forms was always, if possible, introduced into the garden. Fishponds, bathing pools, and fountains were common. Usually the central and most ornamental architectural feature of the pleasure garden was a fountain. The earliest
of an ornamental appearance were apparently of Oriental design.
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