4 - Aesthetic Principles Flashcards
State what is meant by “form” in garden design.
Form relates to both the outline shape and the three dimensional shape of any garden feature, including plants.
e.g. the placing or round, fastigiate or columnar trees, or hard landscaping features.
What is meant my texture in garden design?
Texture may be thought of as the visual roughness or smoothness of hard or soft landscaping. Perception of texture may vary depending on the viewing distance.
Plant texture may be defined as coarse, medium or fine. The larger the leaves and the thicker the stems, the coarser the texture.
e.g.
Coarse texture: Fatsia japonica, Bergenia cordifolia
Medium texture: Viburnum davidii, Prunus lusitanica
Fine texture: Taxus baccata, Pittosporum tenuifolium.
What does the combination of form and texture do in a garden design?
The combination of form and texture helps to give harmony, contrast and interest to a design. For instance using similar forms with contrasting textures.
How does colour affect garden design?
The choice and combination of colour gives different effects in the garden. Leaves, stems, fruits and flowers make a contribution to colour.
Colour varies with the intensity of the light. LIght changes throughout the day and with the season. For e.g. purple can appear drab and uninteresting in a dark corner or in winter light.
Form and texture also change the way we perceive colour. Smooth surfaces tend to look darker, whereas a hairy leaf reflects more light and appears lighter.
What are the properties of colour and how do we use them in garden design?
- Cool colours of greens, blues and violets show up well in evening light, combining to produce a calming, restful atmosphere. They usually recede, making a small space appear larger
- Warm colours of reds, oranges and yellows look good planted in full sun and show up well around midday. These colours can make a garden seem smaller as they appear to advance visually, shortening a space.
What are harmonious colours?
Colours next to each other on the colour wheel.
Harmonious colour schemes are simple and effective.
Successful combinations include yellow-green and green; Orange and orange-red; Red and red-purple; blue and green.
What are contrasting colour schemes?
Colours on the opposite sides of the colour wheel.
These include complementary schemes, split complementary schemes, and antagonistic colours.
What are complementary schemes?
They use colours opposite each other on the colour wheel.
e.g. Yellow and violet; Blue and orange; Red and green.
What are split complementary colour schemes?
Contrasting colour scheme that gives a slightly more muted effect than complementary schemes as tehy use the two colours either side of that directly opposite colour.
e.g. Yellow, blue-violet and red-violet;
Red, blue-green and yellow-green;
Blue, yellow-orange and red-orange.
What is an antagonistic colour scheme?
Clashing colours.
e.g. red-violet and orange-red.
What is symmetry in garden design?
Symmetry is when a design is balanced and in proportion.
This usually relates to a formal garden where each sector of the garden is the same. e.g. paving patterns are regular, evergreen hedging is repeated, topiary balls and stone statues are the same in each sector of the garden.
What is assymetry in garden design?
Assymetry refers to a design which is irregular, unbalanced (in size but not mass) and unequal.
e.g. a group of tall trees on one side of a garden may be balanced in mass by a larger ground area of lower-growing shrubs. Planting will not be repeated in a regular pattern.
What is a focal point in garden design?
A focal point is something that has been placed to draw the eye and foot through the garden to a point some distance away.
It is done to make a garden or part of it appear larger. It is used to encourage visitors to explore and to create interest in a garden.
e.g. Placing a statue or urn at the end of a pergola
Planting an interesting tree at the end of a stretch of lawn
Planting an architectural plant, like Melianthus Major, to for a central feature in a mixed border.
What is rhythm in garden design?
The sense of motion that is created through placing repeated elements in the garden and the flow of continuous lines.
Rhythm moves the eye through the space by repeating hard landscaping elements or plants through the garden or by creating flowing lines.
