How to design a garden: diagrams, images and examples

The practical guide on how to design a garden: the primary phases of the project, ideas, and advice on lighting, the choice of plants, materials, and furnishings

 

How to design a garden: preliminary stage

To create a garden, it is always necessary to consider that, although it is an external environment, it has the same importance as the covered areas of the house. The outer space is not an element in itself but constitutes the architectural, stylistic, and aesthetic extension of the home.

The design of a garden or outdoor space is divided into several phases. The first phase usually includes a report on the state of the sites the result of inspections by the technician, in which the following must be entered:

• the limitations due to the type of soil, exposure, and climatic conditions
• the strengths of the garden
• the criticalities that we would like to eliminate.

In this phase, cognitive interviews with the client are essential to understand requests and needs.

These elements must be carefully considered, recorded, and analyzed because they are the foundation of the garden design.

The preliminary phase can be broken down as follows:

• analysis of the client’s needs
• inspections
• direct and indirect photographic/geometric surveys
• retrieval of data, projects, and maps
• investigation and analysis of the place
• location of the site
• characteristics of the neighboring areas
• type and style of existing buildings
• land morphology
• soil type and drainage
• existing vegetation
• climatic and microclimatic conditions
• views and panoramas.

The last step of the preliminary phase consists in drawing up a project program, i.e., a list of all the elements and design spaces that must be included in the project.

The conceptual design of the garden

The conceptual design consists in the drafting of a conceptual diagram, that is, a freehand drawing composed of closed curves, lines, and symbols that represent the various design spaces (defined with closed curves), their arrangement, the relationship between them (represented with arrows ) and their relationship with the context.

The purpose of the diagram is to provide the general organization of the project after having identified a theme.

For this reason, it is necessary to avoid drawing shapes and design elements in a too specific and detailed way: the conceptual design wants to highlight the functional relationships between spaces and features.

A good rule of thumb is to design nearby spaces with similar or dependent functions.

In this phase, the views are constantly introduced: panoramic, focused, or punctual.

The general design

Once the fundamental elements have been defined, we move on to the actual project.

The general design consists of the passage from the concept diagrams to the realization of the 3D model; this is the phase in which it is possible to reformulate the design choices that are no longer considered adequate.

Thanks to the diffusion of new technologies applied to design, it is even possible to enter the model to observe the goodness of the design choices made: this is a considerable advantage for both the designer and the client.

Thanks to virtual reality, for example, the technician can navigate the project and appreciate the details as if it were all already done.

To learn more about the potential in using virtual reality in this type of design and the support, it can offer to the technician in the design phase, read the focus “Virtual reality in the design of a garden use and advantages.”

The phase of project representation and 3D modeling also leads to thinking about the arrangement and combinations of plants, their flowering period, how to organize and structure the usable space.

It is advisable, even before choosing the plants, to think about how to organize the space:

• where to put the lawn and how wide it should be
• were to provide paved areas, paths, etc.
• where to insert flower beds and flower boxes
• where to place the area for outdoor dining
• where to put the swimming pool, fountains, etc.
• were to create a shaded area or an area in full sun
• where to insert the pergola or carport.

Finally, an adequate irrigation system for the greenery, proper rainwater disposal, a lighting system, and the insertion of perimeter walls and fences must be designed.

The executive planning

The next phase, that of the executive or specific garden design, consists in deepening the degree of detail of the project.
It is at this stage that the materials, the tree species, the furnishings are chosen, and the project is accompanied by detailed graphics, construction details, and renderings. The project takes shape, is enriched, and takes form in its final draft.

Furthermore, the technical documents for requesting opinions and authorizations are drawn up.

Lighting

The garden lighting system must be foreseen already in the design phase and requires, depending on the area, a different lighting capacity that will only be possible by resorting to suitable outdoor systems.

Designing the lighting of the garden allows you to make the most of outdoor spaces.

Based on the area, the most suitable type of lighting is evaluated; for example, it can be dimmed near flower beds and ornamental plants, more scenographic for convivial regions, etc.

The light intensity must be evaluated in such a way as to be sufficient to ensure excellent visibility in the evening and not to create problems of excessive brightness or glare. For example, if the garden paths are illuminated, the path marker, lanterns, etc., should be carefully chosen. That best fits the context.

Depending on the area, the most suitable type of lighting will be chosen:

more subdued, scenographic, and atmospheric in the lawn, near flower beds, hedges, or plants
More intense in the areas dedicated to conviviality, sufficient but not disturbing for the view to illuminate the walkways.
Once the light points and their characteristics have been established, we choose the type of lighting.

For the lighting systems, there are three choices to be made:

• type of light
• type of lamp
• lamp style.

For the type of light, depending on the areas, the seasons, and what you want to illuminate, you can choose between a classic and warm yellow light, or a cooler, more modern, tending to white light. The choice will be dictated by the style of the house and garden, by the client’s tastes, or simply by utility choices.
Also, for the types of lamps, a lot depends on the area to be illuminated and on the usefulness that comes from the lighting.

Generally, the following are used:

• spotlights for hedges, swimming pools, or walkways
• projectors for plants
• lamps or appliques for the veranda.

Regarding style, the rule to follow is always to maintain consistency and harmony with the surrounding environments.

There are also remote control systems for the lighting system that allow you to manage the switching on and off of the lights.

The choice of plants

To choose the types of vegetation (trees, shrubs, perennial herbaceous plants, succulents, annuals, etc.), it is necessary to consider:

the climatic conditions of the area
display of the lot
a function that you want to assign to the vegetation (visual and acoustic screening, shading, boundary delimitation, etc.)
The plants must be chosen based on the chromatic and scenographic effects to be obtained. Still, it is always advisable to select the vegetation found in the area, the exposure, and the soil type.

You can aim to concentrate the flowering in a few months (usually two or three), to have a substantial chromatic impact limited in time, or you can choose the plants in such a way as to have scalar blooms throughout the growing season.

In the latter case, the blooms will appear “patchy” throughout the year.

In addition to flowering (color and period), the distinction between evergreen and deciduous trees must also be considered. It is always helpful to insert some evergreen plants in the garden: by doing so, the latter will never be completely bare in winter. Furthermore, the choice of plants cannot ignore the evaluation of their morphometric characteristics, that is, how tall they can become and how large they can develop.

Ground cover types, climbing plants, bushes, and trees for hedges, aromatic plants, flowers, etc., must be carefully chosen and correctly placed.

The choice of materials

The materials must be chosen to ensure the durability of the work, consistency with the design concept, and safe use by users. For example, the flooring can be natural stone or gravel rather than self-locking, artificial stone, wood, stoneware, terracotta, stamped concrete, industrial concrete, asphalt, pebbles, clay, cocciopesto, etc.

It could also be interesting to mix different materials.

Similarly, the pergola or gazebo can be made of wood or steel or both materials: also, in this case, it is advisable to get an idea of ​​the materials, inquiring about their characteristics (for example, if they are freezing, if they rust easily if they must be treated periodically to protect them from the sun or bad weather).

Garden furniture, ideas, and advice

Garden furniture must be able to:

withstand atmospheric agents (prolonged exposure to the sun, water, ice, etc.)
combining comfort and aesthetics
require very little maintenance.
Much depends on the style you want to give to the garden (Zen garden, Italian, English, etc.); this will guide us in the coordinated choice of furnishings, materials, finishes, lighting, decorative elements, and vegetation.

It is, in fact, essential to maintaining a certain stylistic coherence, capable of ensuring a pleasant and captivating final result.

Among the furnishings to be included, it is necessary to evaluate:

tables and chairs
various types of seating (benches, swings, deck chairs, etc.)
children’s equipment (slides, swings, etc.)
planters
pergolas and shading systems
fountains
barbecues, wood ovens, etc.

Irrigation system

There are different irrigation systems: above ground, drip, underground.

The first is the simplest one: the water is transported through pipes, fixed or mobile, and distributed in the area to be irrigated with jets or spears.

The drip irrigation system uses dripping pipes or porous pipes; the underground one, which, as the name suggests, has the system underground, allows irrigation with hidden or covert jets.

The choice must be made about the soil surface characteristics and the type of plants present.

In any case, for the system to be effective, and therefore to be able to adequately rinse all parts of the garden, it is necessary to correctly evaluate some variables such as:

the size and shape of the park, which influences the number of sprinklers and their position
the pressure and flow rate of the water network, which influences the number of sprinklers that can operate simultaneously on a line
the water consumption of the sprinklers, which in turn affects the characteristics of the irrigation line.

How to design a garden: 10 things to remember

Here are some things not to forget for a correct garden design.

Before starting the project, consult the regulations of the Municipality of reference and evaluate any hydrogeological, landscape constraints, etc.);
Start the design with a schematic concept;
To choose the types of vegetation, refer to:
place;
lot orientation;
function to be assigned to the vegetation (visual and acoustic screening, shading, boundary delimitation, etc.);
Choose the materials to ensure the durability of the work, consistency with the project concept, and safe use by users;
Designing equipped areas in the green (rest stops, recreational areas, games for children, etc.);
Provide suitable outdoor furniture (seats, tables, wastebaskets, etc.);
Conceive an adequate green irrigation system;
Provide for proper disposal of rainwater and the systems necessary for the use of the area (lighting, irrigation, etc.);
Provide shading systems;
Do not leave out walls and perimeter fences.