Garden in any home is one of the main factor noticed when u enter a house. It gives a beautiful appeal to the entrance of the house and at the same time gives aesthetic idea of the people living in the house. As garden plays a very important role the design of the formal garden should be considered in serious terms.
Formal Garden should have to be designed properly so as to maintain its aesthetic beauty. There should be a formal point decided usually in the center so as to make it appeal to the eye. Whichever shape of the garden may be decided whether square, round or oval it should be regular and divided into number of equal sections to form a repetitive pattern.
If one has a suitable garden and to add an orderly mind, the gardens can be made effective and impressive easily, and at the same time are not as difficult as they see lines to. The epitome of a formal herb garden is "The Knot Garden" which is considered to be purely decorative. In this type busy herbs in contrasting colors are planted to form low hedges which run through and over each other in complex patterns like ropes forming a knot. For the best effect these gardens should be viewed from above so as to see and decided how the art and design is coming out to be.
Knot Garden is a master piece of precision; a formal herb garden can however be both beautiful and useful:
- To start up with knot garden one has to be particular in designing the garden sketch on paper with measurements so as to actually design it without any hassle. Marking of lines should be done on the garden area as well.
- Suitable herbs like santolina, wall germender, hysopp and lavender should be planted.
- It should be kept in mind that busy and small plants should be bought in use. Set them about (3 -4 inches) apart according to the size.
- It should be decided on the planning stage only that which rope runs over or under at each intersection.
- Generally each one goes under and over alternately to give an entwined effect. If one just imposes the circle on top of the loop of diamond, this does not form a true knot.
- In the beginning clip the newly planted ropes back quite hard to encourage the growth, trimming of the plants should be done at regular intervals at the growing season.
- The spaces between the ropes can be filled with pea gravel, shingle, flint chipping, forest bark, or similar materials using either one for the whole garden or several contrasting colors and textures to emphasis the pattern.
Shape must be done regular for best effect; it can be of any shape within those lines. There should be a focal point made in center so as to catch the eye of the passer by. It can be sundial, old fashioned bee hive, a small pool or a fountain, an evergreen tree or a chipped shrub.
Many other factors like shape, direction, from which a garden approach is also considered to play an important role. The dead center of the herb garden is usually a safe bet. But it does not mean that the other direction can not be considered at all. One can try out some easy moved object in different several directions and places viewing it from all angles to see where it looks most beautiful. The natural focal point where eye is most easily led is not always where one may be expected. The rest of the garden should be planned according to the main focal point.
Path should also be used to form the basis of design. Two intersecting paths dividing a square garden into four equal parts is a pleasing, simple, and well tried pattern. The point where the path intersects one can place a position seat, a small pool, or any thing suitable according to the requirement. There are many simpler or complicated designs one can work upon all depends upon he personal taste and liking of the person who is working on the garden. But one main point to be considered is to remember not to make it too messy. Fair use of bold shapes and simple patterns can make a garden look more effective.
