garden design ideas

  • Need a screen but not a boxy hedge? Layering plants with different heights and seasons of interest creates a bermlike island bed that provides year-round movement, color, and texture—along with treasured privacy.
    Design

    A Garden Design for Privacy and All-Year Interest

    Seven years ago a couple in Carroll, Iowa, built the backyard of their dreams—or so they thought. It ­included an outdoor kitchen, a fireplace, a patio, and a hot tub.…

  • Design

    Step Inside a Designer’s Brain

    When it comes to gardening with trees and shrubs, it does take a little extra imagination to envision what those small nursery plants will look like in 10 to 20…

  • Design

    A Cohesive Garden Built From Uncommon Plants

    If I were to describe my garden as a collector’s garden, what would come to mind? Would you see an attractive, relaxing garden? Someplace you’d like to be? Or would…

  • Design

    Texture Never Quits

    Texture is often referred to as the third element of garden design. We all tend to get overly focused on color and form, but texture is that hard-to-explain “little something…

  • Design

    75 Plants to Pique Your Interest

    If we gardeners are good at anything, it is dreaming about plants and what they can add to our landscapes. That’s why we at Fine Gardening have put together this…

  • Design

    Give Your Garden Mass Appeal

    There is no denying that massing plants makes an impact. Many of the most compelling gardens (think Piet Oudolf’s High Line plantings in New York) feature masses of plants. Massing…

  • Design

    Mix and Match for a Meaningful Design

    Cohesion in a garden can be difficult to achieve. A design can appear either too homogenous or too disparate. The latter is especially true for us gardeners who are collectors.…

  • Article

    Curve Appeal

    When Catherine Feldman first moved to her home in Shaker Heights, Ohio, the garden was essentially a blank slate. She dreamed of bringing the neglected landscape back to life and…

  • How to Create an Inspiring Garden
    Design

    How to Create an Inspiring Garden

    Frank Cabot, a self-taught plantsman and horticultural legend, shares lessons learned over a lifetime of gardening

  • Design

    A Strategy for a Long Border

    Repeating colors, textures, and forms creates a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts