The English garden is a harmonious fusion of the completed landscape and pristine nature. This design direction is great for spacious plots, for open-plan gardens, without burdens and unnecessary buildings. All buildings on the territory should not differ in pretentiousness and brightness. Thinking about how to create an English garden on the site, you should remember the organic nature of landscape design with common style at home, which should give the impression of solidity and reliability.
Key Ideas
The main principle of landscape organization in English style- this is the maximum naturalness of garden compositions, plants and decorative decorations. The layout of an English garden should resemble natural landscapes, without clear transitions and active elements. Priority is given to green shrubs, neatly trimmed lawns and carefully thought-out combinations of a wide variety of colors.
Professional landscape designers and experienced gardeners note a few key trends that any owner of a suburban area should consider before creating an English garden on the site with their own hands. English style in the landscape is:
- Free planning of the territory, with a preference for asymmetric and smooth forms.
- The maximum open space on the site, naturally merging with the natural landscape.
- The perfect harmony of the style of the house and other buildings with a landscape ensemble of plants and decorative elements.
- Lawns are short-cut, without excessive pretentiousness and bright accents.
- Winding, arbitrarily located paths, equipped with natural surfaces: wooden cuts or natural stone.
On the one hand, English gardens are associated with the utmost closeness to naturalness, on the other hand, some are distinguished by obvious conciseness and obligatory originality, dissimilarity to neighboring areas.
When designing an English manor garden plot visually divided into several zones. The suburban area itself along the perimeter can be surrounded by a hedge, even if there is already a fence or other enclosing structure. To hedge did not look artificial and did not contradict the intentions of the landscape landscape; solid planting is interspersed with woody compositions. In this form, the finished site will look like a natural forest glade or natural lawn.
Before you create an English garden on the site, you need to know that the beauty of such a landscape will require considerable effort from you and permanent care. Exquisite lawns need regular mowing and watering for perfection and longevity, without reference to bad feeling and weekends. The English garden is a wonderful result of a large amount of work and high professionalism.
Landscape design
In the temperate climatic latitudes of England, vegetation brought from various countries of the world is perfectly adapted. However, traditionally the main accent, active background and the main pride of the landscape, made in the English style, is the lawn, solid or in the form of several lawns, gracefully connected to each other. Low shrubs and berry bushes complement the green palette of the lawn. bright element there may be a pond, made with maximum reliability to a natural reservoir, with fragrant lilies and luxurious water lilies. Near the pond, you can plant a sprawling weeping willow.
The color palette of the English garden is done in green colors with minor fragments of bright colors. Arbors and large recreation areas in such landscapes are not equipped. As a rule, long benches and special open areas for temporary pastime in the air are placed. For the English style in landscape design are widely used traditional elements: wooden pergolas entwined with lianas and roses, sculptures against the background of flower beds and small ponds. On open veranda at home or under a stylish canopy, they install a classic garden furniture from wood or openwork forging.
The English usually decorate the entrance to the garden ornamental plants or composition from coniferous trees, miniature or dwarf varieties. This important condition, since such plants will not close even after a while beautiful view in the garden or on the front of the house. And on Christmas or New Year the family will be provided with their own spruce, pine or fir, which will be the main decoration of the holiday.
For styling when decorating a suburban area, you can organize sundial, which are traditionally associated with old English gardens. You can make a high-quality copy of any famous watch or independently develop author's elements of the mechanism.
Landscaping work plunges many into discouragement, since not everyone is able to correctly position objects on the site in order to create a harmonious environment. And here nature itself comes to the aid of cottage owners in the form of an English or landscape style. It remains only not to interfere with her, but to help. If you want to create an English garden with your own hands even in a small area, read the article to the end.
A piece of wildlife on the site
You heard right - today we will create a natural landscape on the site, for which it is not necessary to have a large area, even a piece of land is enough. It may even seem at first that there should not be any special difficulties, and you don’t need to put a lot of effort, but this is deceptive.
You definitely need to first learn as much as possible about the features of the landscape and the local flora. It is also desirable that you have a sense of proportion and artistic taste.
Style difference
Elements and details in a landscape garden should be natural in appearance, the main lines of this natural park are smooth and soft. Be prepared for the fact that the English garden is in many ways the opposite of conventional landscaping.
If the latter is dominated by symmetry, clarity and regularity of lines and geometric shapes, in our case, the instruction requires an asymmetric composition. Straight lines are replaced by curvy ones; you will not find geometric shapes here either. Below will be given detailed explanations of all the wisdom.
It just so happened that both the landscape version of landscape design and the romantic style in art developed in parallel. Nature has served as a source of inspiration for writers and artists. From this, a typical English garden has developed, in which there is a perfectly manicured lawn, and trees and flowers are placed so as to create a natural impression.
At the same time, the English-style landscape makes it possible to find yourself in a natural setting right outside the threshold of your home. If you decide to create a landscape garden on the site, you can replicate the atmosphere of the old landlord and noble estates of the romantic 19th century. Having created a natural park in your home, you will always have a place where you can draw inspiration, be in harmony with yourself thanks to the singing of birds and the murmur of a stream.
Style Features
There are many of them, but we will focus on the main ones:
- Copying the natural landscape on the site should be as natural as possible. If - they should be made sinuous, a reservoir with a bridge - to form a single whole with the surrounding landscape, and not stand out against its background.
- English-style garden care should be as invisible to the eye as possible, but this does not mean that everything should be left to chance.. On the contrary, constant maintenance of the territory in the right form is required. The same applies to the lawn, which needs to be cut regularly, the tradition goes back centuries, so there will be nothing special about it.
- Carefully select plants, favoring local varieties that are already well adapted to climatic conditions. Then your English garden will look good at any time of the year.
Tip: in the country, the creation of a landscape style should begin with laying the lawn.
Then around it you need to arrange various compositions - groups of trees and shrubs, lawns, flower beds.
- Experts recommend creating a full-fledged English garden only in a large area.. But don't be discouraged if your site small area, the natural landscape will look great even in a small corner of it.
- You can’t do without a pond - this is a prerequisite for style, even if its price seems high to you. It is also desirable that water lilies grow in it, duckweed floats on the surface, and picturesque thin willow branches bend over it.
Tip: if the site already has a pond, clear its banks and plant plants along its banks to your taste, and then take care of it.
When the body of water small size, several or even one dwarf weeping willow will look good next to it.
The banks of a traditional English-style pond are usually lined with gray stone, there are no clear outlines, and the plants along the banks look like a real natural composition.
- Merge different zones garden can be using winding paths from natural materials- sandstone or cobblestone.
- Traditionally English houses just immersed in flowers and greenery. Therefore, it will be useful to recreate the English style in landscape design to land in the garden and next to the house. a large number of unpretentious flowers.
Good for landscape style:
- roses;
- mallow;
- delphinium;
- pansies.
Look great in spring
- tulips;
- crocuses;
- daffodils.
Tip: plant flowers in flower beds in groups and close enough to make it beautiful combination places with flowers on low and high stems.
Don't forget that lush plants are used in English flower gardens because the climate here is almost constantly humid.
How to choose decorative elements
Any style can become brighter if it is complemented with various decorations:
| Pergolas and arches | Pairs well with landscape garden arbors entwined with grapes and ivy, flower arches and lattices, on which you can also put climbing plants, benches in recreation areas. |
| materials | We recommend using:
You can use the latter literally everywhere - this is a gazebo, and a bench, and a fence, and a bridge over a pond. They will help, in combination with wood, to form a holistic ensemble. |
| Decor |
|
| wall decoration | Most often it is ivy, which can be different types. It is very good if you can use two of them at the same time, for example, with variegated and green leaves, which will add color to the decor. |
Tip: when creating an English-style garden, strive to ensure that each element is in harmony with nature, not conspicuous, but part of the overall composition.
Conclusion
Creation of a natural composition on suburban area both simple and complex at the same time. A real English garden requires attention and care, so before you decide to create it, think about how you will combine it. Otherwise, this does not present any particular difficulties, the main thing is to help nature do everything as it should. The video in this article will help you find more information on this topic.
An English garden is designed to make everything seem natural, to give room for reflection. English style appreciates naturalness. The landscape of the English style counts on maintaining a balance between the ceremony of the English, and wildlife, adding elements of romanticism and mystery to the landscape.
Making an English garden is real, even if you have not been to England. The right use of color, materials, decorative elements, fittings and plants will turn any garden into a well-groomed, stylish and impeccable place.
England's parks and gardens heritage
Our ancestors perceived nature as an unfriendly place. It was England that changed our attitude to our environment. They began to appreciate the world beyond the threshold of their home, realized the importance not only practically, but also aesthetically.
The English-style garden brought many details that seem banal to us.
Previously, the English estate included:
A pond - should have been in everyone English garden, though small, and with sinuous outlines.
Hedge - such a fence was used so that the animals did not have the opportunity to come close to the house, and also not obscure the entire view of the area.
Hilly Lawns - English landscape design characterized by alternation of plains and embankments. The hills reflect the natural landscape better than a flat field that looks dull.
Groves of trees - planted near the house. The trees looked great with the lawns on the hills.
Features of the English style
The English garden is all about old-fashionedness, naturalness of colors and materials, romanticism and attraction to antiquity. The English style landscape blurs the line between nature and modern progress. This is the success of the style, and its constant popularity.
First of all, the English garden is based on geometry that is not conspicuous. Seen from above, the paths meet at the same center, and the rectangular shapes and circles are combined to give the landscape a sense of order, completeness.
Elements that make the garden truly English:
- Hedges and flower walls.
Avoid wild, overly lush borders.
The English landscape is geometric figures, like circle, oval, square and rectangle.
- Several types of plants.
Monoconcept when choosing plants for a flower bed - main feature English style. Don't plant everything, focus on 2-3 species, and use different shades of them. You should have a contrast between the variety of colors and the tranquility of the place around you.
- The same elements in the decoration of the surrounding space and the house.
Repeating materials like brick or stone in columns, garden walls, fountains and pools will help bring garden and home together.
- Lush flowering annuals.
They bloom for 4 months, which they cannot boast of. perennial or shrub. Use annuals in paths, along the edges, or in the center of the flower bed.
Tracks
It is hard to imagine an English garden without garden paths. The material for the tracks is simple and can be found in any household: tiles, bricks, gravel. The paths can be parallel to each other or single, then the ridges and lawns planted between them will be harmonious.
The main rule is to narrow the path if it suddenly leads to a secluded and cozy place, and make it wider if the path fits open space where people gather.
gravel path
English style design is garden path from gravel, it does not imagine high costs and is the easiest to build. A limestone or stone border will give the path a finished look and allow it to fit into an English garden.
The English garden is characterized by paths made of stone, paving slabs. These materials are durable and do not require special care. The shape must be rectangular or square.
Paving slabs are decorative and will be a great addition to an English garden. It will last for several decades.
reservoirs
An English garden is unimaginable without water. In the gardens of England you can see a pond in the very depths of the garden, with benches around. The pond should not be deep, and a hedge or tall shrubs and perennials should be planted near it.
A classic English garden is a place for relaxation, so noisy waterfalls and fast streams of water are not suitable for it.
Perennial flowers, trees and shrubs in an English garden
In order to create the ease of an English-style landscape, you need to plant plants in layers. The tallest ones should be planted at the back, the lower ones should be in the middle, and the small ones on the edge. Observe color scheme. Choose either only cold shades (purple, white, blue, cool pink), or warm ones (orange, yellow, red). So you design a single concept of the English garden.
English people love romantic, old-fashioned flowers. An English garden cannot be imagined without roses (very popular varieties of David Austin), daylily, delphinium, mallow, peonies, foxglove, snapdragon.
An English park cannot be imagined without trees. Yew, hornbeam, oriental thuja, boxwood, magnolia are suitable for hedges. They perfectly tolerate shaping and shearing, suitable for the formation of topiary figures. Will close the fence evergreen spruces, junipers, pines.
We create an English garden with our own hands
With 6 simple steps you can create an English style in any summer cottage.
- Plant several types of plants, only in large quantities.
For example, varieties of roses New Dawn and William Baffin, which, due to their volume, can decorate large areas of the garden.
- Create combinations of contrasting shades.
The English garden needs correct use colors. Lemon and yellow daylilies are in perfect harmony with purple and violet alliums.
- Set a border.
It can be hedges, paths, bird feeders. They fit perfectly into the space, creating the entire integrity of the composition. Fences and wrought iron bars will separate one piece of the garden from another without blocking the entire view.
- Highlight garden furniture.
In the landscape of the English style, instead of the colors we are used to - green, gray, brown, bold, bright colors that grab your attention. A red table and an orange bench will not let you get bored, even when nothing blooms on the site.
And do not forget about the old days - the older things look, the better they are.
Metal swings will add romantic touches to the garden. It is best to place them in a shady corner of the garden.
- Concentrate on the inside view.
Secure climbing plants around columns and pillars. It will look very impressive, as if they will soar in the air. Stylized ruins and statues can be placed in an English garden.
- The sun and partial shade go well with each other.
The English-style landscape features shade-loving hydrangeas planted near the north wall and succulents that love bright sunlight.
