Design for gardens

Gardening Innovations Through the Centuries -- Basic Agenda for Evaluating Your Site -- Outlining Your Goals -- Open Space -- Soil Composition -- Surface-Water Drainage -- Factors of Sun, Shade, Wind, and Dryness -- Major Components of Garden Design -- Formal or Symmetric Details -- Informal or Asymmetric Details -- Naturalized or Rustic Details -- Earth Grading -- Water Features -- Walls -- Fences -- Walks and Steps -- Terraces and Decks -- Outdoor Rooms -- Proportionate Size in Plants and Construction -- Form in Plants and Construction -- Texture in Plants and Construction -- Placement of Plants and Construction -- Color Harmony in Plants and Construction -- Creating a Site Program -- Making a Map -- Exploring a Basic Layout -- Unifying the Design -- Design Principles of Order -- Design Values -- The Stimulus of Color -- Color Fundamentals -- The Color Wheel -- Dimensions of Color -- The Color of Light -- Adjusting Light Intensity -- Effects of Color -- Seasonal Color in Plants -- Evergreen Plant Considerations -- Needle Evergreen Trees and Shrubs -- Dwarf Conifers -- Broadleaf Evergreen Trees, Shrubs, and Vines -- Palms -- Deciduous and Herbaceous Plant Considerations -- Deciduous Trees, Shrubs, and Vines -- Cactuses -- Herbaceous Perennials, Bulbs, Ferns, Ornamental Grasses, and Annuals -- Selecting Plants for Gardens -- Types of Vegetation -- Plant Outlines and Garden Meanings -- Hedges -- Espaliers -- Plants in Containers -- Plant Positioning -- Seasonal Assets -- Effects of Shade -- Soil Moisture Adaptation. Successful garden designs offer a careful arrangement of form, texture, proportion, and color harmony. These basic principles are reflected not only in the plants chosen for the site but also in their interaction with the surrounding landscape and the architecture of the home. In these pages, the renowned landscape architect and horticulturist Joe Hudak provides an overview of design innovations through the ages and concludes with a personal account of his own five-year-long garden renovation project. He offers both philosophical and practical direction for creating aesthetically pleasing and useful outdoor spaces. Whether you are looking to evergreen trees and shrubs to provide dense backdrops throughout the year, or deciduous trees for showy fall color and interesting shadow effects, or herbaceous perennials and annuals for splashes of color, advice is offered for selecting the right plant for the right situation, with emphasis on careful consideration of the desired effect and its appropriateness to the surrounding garden spaces.Rather than presenting a checklist of ornamental plants, Hudak offers basic tenets of garden design in an accessible yet thorough manner that allows any backyard gardener in any region to bring together the pieces for a satisfying and enjoyable landscape. Joe Hudak is also the author of our book, Gardening with Perennials Month by Month.