4 Must-Try Garden Design Elements to Create a Unique Garden

Have you ever walked into a garden and felt like you were walking into a magical new world? As soon as you stepped into the space you completely forgot about the busy world outside. I've spent the last year studying old gardening books and looking through photos of historic gardens and I've discovered something interesting. Those historic gardeners really knew how to create a magical space. And today I want to share four garden design elements that I believe can transform your Midwest yard into a charming retreat that you'll never want to leave. So let's start with the first element that I think is one of the most important lessons for creating a magical garden and that is the art of creating a sense of seclusion. Gardeners from the past understood something that I think we overlook today and that is that a garden should feel like a secret haven. You don't necessarily need walls or fancy hedges. You can create a sense of seclusion simply by strategically placing a flowering vine on a trellis or creating a cozy corner with oversized plants or small trees. My garden is definitely the place I go to escape the stress of daily life and I believe that having a place where you can just sit and read a book or enjoy a cup of coffee in private is such a luxury. I've been reading Vita Sackville-West's book, In Your Garden, and I laughed at the description she gave for American gardeners. In an article she wrote on August 13, 1950 about the subject of hedges, this is what Ms. Sackville-West had to say. Our American friends do not like hedges. They do not share our love of privacy and maintain that if you plant a hedge around your garden you are doing something undemocratic or may even have something to hide. My goodness how times have changed. I think that most of us love the idea of creating a private space and using hedges. I think there's really two things that prevent us from doing proper hedging. First is the cost and the second is the reality that many neighborhoods now have those woefully horrible things called HOAs or homeowners associations. We're a group of people that typically have the dullest garden in the neighborhood get to tell everybody else what they're allowed to do. At least that's been my experience. I'm happy to report we don't have an HOA where I live. And as I was looking through old pictures from gardens that I've visited in the past that really inspired me, this idea of seclusion just comes up again and again. All of these gardens have small little areas that are just private and hidden away from the noise and bustle of daily life. The second design element that I think really creates a unique garden design is to create a garden that reflects your own personality and tells your story. In his book, Design in the Little Garden, Fletcher Steele writes, the first object in home building is not, however, to make the place attractive to the neighborhood at the expense of personal comfort and conveniences. Fletcher Steele believed in a common approach to design that the need for creating beauty should go hand in hand with familiar and practical things. As he wrote, the study of those things that are around us, whether flowers or factories, will reveal glorious realms of pleasure in the beautiful aspects of even the most familiar things, if we only train ourselves to see. When I read that, I thought that you know what, you can make something beautiful, even the most ordinary of things. And this is the lesson that I have relearned this winter with my patio. Over the holidays, I visited a local garden center called Fleur Detroit. It is a beautiful store filled with twinkle lights and garden urns and wonderful garden decorations. And the store is set as two separate buildings with this glorious courtyard in between them. And it was the courtyard that inspired me most. For some reason, when I was in this courtyard, it struck me. You know, this space is filled with empty containers, garden furniture, and other items that are being stored and displayed for sale, kind of like our patios are in the wintertime. But this space looked way better than my patios ever looked. And I think this is an important design lesson right here. I asked this question in my latest newsletter. Why on earth am I treating my patio like it's a little junkyard during the winter? Fleur Detroit's mission, according to their website, is bold. And it's something I want to take into the new year. They say on their website, we strive for excellence and the thrill of discovery in everything we do for you. Those words rekindled my inspiration to elevate my outdoor spaces, at least to the best of my ability. So this past week, I cleaned up a little junkyard in the back corner of my patio. And I'm trying to embrace the notion of creating a pretty space where I can sit even if it's cold outside. And making these spaces our own helps to create a space that's truly special. Two of my favorite things in my own garden are two wayside shrines that I built out of old wood. Not everyone would want something like this in their garden, but that's the whole point. This space is designed for me and my family. And adding these shrines added an element of peace and tranquility that I wanted in my garden. And again, these added design elements make your space your own and tell your story. That brings me to the third design element that I've learned this year. I was thinking about those awkward spaces in our gardens like the narrow side yard that transitions between the front and the back. And I discovered that beautiful gardens never waste an inch of space. And they use these transitional spaces really creatively. And that's something that I've tried to adapt with my two side yards. Even though this space is really a transition from the front to the back garden, I've tried to incorporate trees and different decorations so that the space could look more special, even if I don't spend a lot of time in the side yard. And as I was looking through pictures from some historic gardens, I noticed that they are taking advantage of all the spaces in the garden. Just the beautiful arrangements of containers and planters outside of the door. It's a total garden unto itself. So using these transitional spaces to the best of our ability, I think really makes our gardens unique. The fourth design element that can help us have a unique garden is being able to use the vertical space. Here's something that I've learned from studying old gardens. Those gardeners were thinking in terms of layers, especially vertically. When you visit a beautiful garden, you'll notice the garden isn't just about what's at the ground level. It's about using the vertical space to the best of your advantage. And historic gardens are masterful in the way that they use every inch of space, including height. If you're not taking advantage of vertical space, I feel like we're really missing out. Adding climbing vines and trellises, even hanging baskets. And sometimes I forget about adding these vertical elements inside of the flower border. It's amazing what an impact you can have on the flower border by adding a trellis and a climbing vine. Like this image here from Barnsley House with this stunning pink flowering clematis. So I'd love to hear what you think about these four design elements that can help us create a unique garden design. That's it for this video. I'll see you in the next one.