Your Landscaper And The Formal Garden

Landscapers help when it comes to creating traditional, formal gardens.  They may advise you on the design layout and flower choice. But, your landscape is not a painting.  It is a living, continually changing work of art.  With your landscaper's help, you can create a masterpiece.

When you think of formal landscaping, you probably think of an old landscaper's garden.  You see him out in the garden, with tattered hat, toiling away among great flowers surrounding a nice wooden gazebo, completed with roses, nice trees, and water ponds.

This image is very close to what a true formal garden is.

To get started in this creation, call your trusted landscapers to a meeting.  Have a clear presentation of what you want when you set up this first meeting. You might also want to have a few pictures ready; sometimes, words cannot describe what you have in mind.  Make sure you and your landscapers are on the same track before getting started.

Now that you all share the same vision, start hammering out the details.  Flowers are very important when planning formal landscaping.   The colors and smells of flowers in a formal garden help to identify it as such.  So, you need to choose carefully with your landscaper's expertise and knowledge guiding you.

The best formal landscape looks good both day and night.  And, it should also have something blooming throughout the year.  Your landscapers can help you select flowers that bloom at night, as well as day.  They should be planted within close proximity so that you do not have an area without blooms during the day or night.

To help accentuate your nighttime blooms, install landscape lighting in your garden.  This lighting may even focus on a statue or other feature besides flowers. It also provides a measure of safety for those enjoying your garden at night.

Water adds a touch of class and formality to a landscape.  Look for ways to add fountains and ponds to the layout. Generally, ponds should contain clear water, almost like a pool.  In formal landscaping, you rarely include stones or water plants. However, with your landscaper's help, you might be able to maintain the formal quality, if you really have your heart set on growing water lilies.

To successfully create a formal garden, you have to go beyond flowers to incorporate ornaments and furniture in your landscaping design.  This garden decor is nearly as important in the formal landscaping design as the flowers within it.  Your landscapers can help you choose benches and gazebos.  It is important, however, to be sure everything matches.  If the decor is not complimentary - get rid of it.  It will detract from the overall affect of your formal design.

Your landscaping service will tell you how to properly care for the plants once they are in place.  If you are not comfortable with caring for the formal garden yourself, there is no shame in asking your landscapers to assist you with maintenance.