Seasonal Garden Designs: How Landscape Gardening Could Help You Prepare For New Seasons

One of the biggest challenges in garden design is accounting for the changing seasons. Some designs will look great in the spring and summer but may look quite ugly during the winter months. Alternatively, some gardens have an aesthetic that perfectly suits the beautiful browns, oranges and reds of autumn, but that can look a bit drab during the rest of the year.

So how can you design a garden that will look good all year round? And what can landscape gardening do to help?

Create A Focal Point

If you want to create a more cohesive outdoor space, then focal points are one of the first principles you’ll need to understand. Creating a good focal point for your garden design will not only help to pull all the elements together but will also give you a better understanding of the visual flow of your garden.

This technique also applies very well to seasonal garden design if you choose something more man-made as your focal point. For example, a fountain or birdbath can make an excellent focal point all year round and will compliment the rest of your garden beautifully.

Make Use Of Hardscaping Techniques

Speaking of man-made garden design, hardscaping techniques are probably the best way to keep control of nature long-term. Good hardscaping always looks nice and is an excellent method for defining spaces within your garden. In particular, this will help you to combat the chaos of autumnal leaf falls, making it far easier to keep your garden looking neat and tidy all year round.

Understanding The Seasonal Cycles Of Plants And Trees

Of course, if you really want a garden that looks great in every season then you’ll want to know as much as possible about the plants and trees you’re using. Generally speaking, a popular technique is to use evergreen trees with a combination of seasonal flowers. That way you get to enjoy the full force of the spring and summer bloom while still keeping some colour through into the winter.

Once again, this will also help you with keeping your garden clean during the autumn. The only downside is that you won’t get those beautiful red leaves. If that’s a priority for you then a combination of deciduous trees and hardscaping is probably the best way to go.

Ultimately, seasonal garden design is all about having a good understanding of your outdoor space to begin with. In this respect, it may take you a couple of years of tweaking to find a look that works all year round. To this end, it’s always good to take regular photos so you can keep track of what works and what needs changing.