Design Principles and Elements: What Language are you speaking?

Everyone has experienced those garden or landscape spaces that just by being in them makes your heart pound and your creativity level go into overdrive. I would dare say that most of you have also been in those unfortunate and uncomfortable outdoor spaces, hopefully not in your own front yard, that make your left eye close sagging and right eye stare blindly off into space twitching as did my brothers when I asked him to try the homemade salsa which accidentally received double portions of salt and no portions of sugar.

So what makes the difference?  Why when you're in some garden spaces you feel peace, comfort, excitement, rest, beauty, or spirituality and in others discomfort, annoyance, stress, discouragement, or even fear?

The differences have little to do with how many weeds they have (but don't let that be an excuse to not weed your garden). No two landscape spaces are the same, but the truly remarkable ones that I see have the same principles in common. And on the other hand, when I see poorly executed landscapes they lack many of those same qualities.

In design there are universal principles and elements which arguably are shared by every art or design medium. That's right, I am suggesting that gardening is very much similar to oil painting, sculpture, photography, writing, and all others. The understanding and use of these design principles and elements are what makes the difference between success and failure in creating an uplifting, peaceful, and beautiful garden. Although differences exist in the way these principles and elements are described and organized they are:

Volunteer Park, Seattle, WA. A peaceful & romantic garden space.
Here we see the use of  Line in the vertical pillars holding up the roof,
Texture in the gravel pathway, Scale & Proportion in the size of the trees in
 relation to the height of the building and Color in the play of chartreuse
and pink cherry blossoms.

• Texture
• Scale & Proportion             
• Balance
• Rhythm
• Emphasis
• Line 
• Form 
• Color
• Unity
• Variety 

Alright, don't freak out! I promise you don't have to memorize these to be more successful in the garden.  Scott Scarfone in his book Professional Planting Design calls his principles of design the "Language of Design." Over the next several months I plan on writing posts where I will help you begin to speak this language and will show you tips on how to incorporate each one. Understanding even a little bit about these principles will help you incorporate them in your garden and, for some of you perhaps, start making heads turn towards your garden... instead of away. Aren't you excited?

The garden is a three dimensional canvas in which a unique experience is created, either intentionally or unintentionally.   Scarfone teaches that in these garden spaces the mind and eye react to create a highly complex psychological and physical experience.  For me the garden is about so much more than what plant grows in the shade, although that is important to understand. The garden is an emotional, mental, and physical experience, just as Scarfone teaches. To go one step further, I believe that these experiences add so much depth and dimension to our existence to even be crucial to our mental health, happiness, and well being.

No matter how amateur or advanced of a gardener you may be, all may incorporate more fully the principles and elements of design. Stay tuned for the series of posts helping you to speak the Language of Design in your garden work. Begin now to create the sort of landscape experience you would like wherever you might garden. What could be more rewarding?