Noted local landscape designer and author Jan Johnsen delivered wheelbarrows of great advice at our January 2000 public event. She introduced her new book, Gardentopia: Design Basics for Creating Beautiful Outdoor Spaces.
Points she made included:
• A sheltered corner always lures visitors.
• Hide and reveal: There’s a mystery to what you can’t see, like what’s around that corner.
• The same for sun and shade: what’s in the shade is mysteriously and partially hidden.
• Use lightweight pieces; people like to move the furniture.
• Rounded forms are satisfying, especially when placed in front of straight edges, like pruned hedges.
• Hard-soft contrast is always interesting.
• Embrace the moss.
• Punctuate the garden with exclamation points like pillars, poles, tuteurs, and tall shrubs like Sky Pencil holly.
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THE GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICA