DESIGN WITH ME - TRANSLATE TO PLANTS

The last part of step four in our theme garden design process is choosing plant materials!  First a quick review of the five steps:

1. Pick a theme 
2. Brainstorm
3. Research 
4. Translate ideas to physical form (yes, we're still here, but almost done!)
5. Create the plan

PLANT MATERIALS
This is my favorite part...adding life to the garden.

Planting design is a special skill that should be tweaked over time. As you start, jump in, explore, move plants around, and always continue to tweak.  I'll talk about this more in a future post, but always consider the form, texture and color of plants (in that order).  Planting design is definitely a science and an art, but please don't let inexperience stop you from experimenting.  That's the best way to learn.

There are thousands of plants.  Having a theme and understanding your site will help whittle down your choices.  Please always consider your zone, whether the site is shady, sunny, wet or dry, plus soil quality.  

To choose plants that reflect your theme think about:

1. Were there any specific plants actually mentioned in our brainstorming and research lists?  There were not any mentioned in our lists, but someone did point out later that roses are often used as a symbol for heavy metal bands.

2.  Where there any shapes mentioned that could be reflected in plant materials?  We had circles, rectangles, and v-shapes. Are there plants with these strong shapes?

3. Choose plants based on our color palette.  Our color choices were black, gray and yellow (with possible punches of yellow and orange).  This is often the easiest plant path to follow.   

4. Choose plants that have cultivar names that reflect our theme.  In our case someone suggested Panicum virgatum 'heavy metal' (an ornamental grass) and Allium 'hair' (love it!).

I focused mostly on #3 and #4, plus #1 when making my partial list below.  I have a lot of yellow and gray plants, plus threw in some theme names....like moonshine, knock-out and thriller (from those big heavy metal after-parties).  I also considered textures, height, form, and bloom times.  I won't go into depth on planting design right now....that's a whole other series of posts.  

Below are just some plants that we can use for our heavy metal garden (mine is a sunny location).  There are many more possibilities, but I hope this will give you a good overview of how to start your own plant list.

Wow!  We finally finished step four!  Now onto the final step...create the plan!  I'm going back to the drawing board to whip up a design and will be back with you soon!

DESIGN WITH ME - TRANSLATE TO GARDEN FURNITURE

The next part of step four in our theme garden design process is choosing furniture!  First a quick review of the five steps:

1. Pick a theme 
2. Brainstorm
3. Research 
4. Translate ideas to physical form (yes, we're still here!)
5. Create the plan

FURNITURE
Now it’s time to dress up our space with some cozy furniture. This is a great way to extend your garden into something livable.

Using our lists as inspiration once again use the shapes, colors, and possible other words and objects to assist in the selection of chairs, benches, and tables.

Your furniture can be a little crazy or simply paint a traditional item one of your theme colors.

Looking back at our brainstorming and research lists I've compiled the words below to inspire my selection of garden furniture:

Of course, our colors: gray/silver, black and yellow/gold 
Plus, shiny metal, jeans, leather, drums, anvils, wrought iron, guitars, periodic table (grid), late 60s or early 70s style, chains.

Some possibilities for furniture inspired by these ideas might include:

I love the idea of wrought iron or shiny metal, so included a lot of ideas in that direction, but you can go any angle you wish.  Someone even had a great idea for concrete furniture (love this too!).

Next...we'll think about how to add some artsy details to our heavy metal garden.  Any thoughts?

DESIGN WITH ME - TRANSLATE TO HARDSCAPE

Step four of the theme garden design process is a doozie.  It does take a bit of time to pull together all the physical parts of a garden.  Today let's talk about hardscapes.  

1. Pick a theme 
2. Brainstorm
3. Research 
4. Translate ideas to physical form (yes, we're still here!)
5. Create the plan

HARDSCAPES
Hardscape typically encompass non-living permanent materials.  These can include paving, arbors, pergolas, walls, trellises, fences, gazebos, and whatever other garden architecture you can dream up.

Try to think in three dimensions when considering hardscapes, since you are creating a garden space.  An easy way to conceptualize this is in terms of a floor, walls, and ceiling.

Take a shape or two from the last post and try converting those to a hardscape element, plus think about how our colors can be translated to a hardscape material.

Let's start with the garden floor (paving, for instance).  For fun, let's take the idea of heavy metal posters.  I want to show how you can take one of the shapes from our list in garden STRUCTURE then translate it into a hardscape.  I'm picking a simple shape, but you can also do this with the shape of a skull, jeans, chains or anything from our list. 

Here is another example of paving using a drum as inspiration instead.  I also linked them like chains, plus used three of them to represent the trifecta of heavy metal (speed, power and precision).  Hey, why not have symbolism in layers?  It's a great story to tell your friends.

Now let's think about the walls in your garden. Walls can take many forms, but I've included just two simple fence designs.  

There are also lots of options for ceilings in your garden (including none and just enjoying the sky). I've included just one example of how we could incorporate our theme into an overhead structure.  I was inspired by the flying V guitar.

I could go on and on and on with hardscapes inspired by the heavy metal theme.  Again, take a look at our brainstorming and research lists and let me know if you think of other fabulous ideas.

DESIGN WITH ME - TRANSLATE TO STRUCTURE

Today let's move onto garden structure!  This is still part of step four below.  

1. Pick a theme 
2. Brainstorm
3. Research 
4. Translate ideas to physical form
5. Create the plan

STRUCTURE IN THE GARDEN
Before jumping into the structure for our heavy metal garden, I'd like to give you a broad overview of this concept first.

If you want to look like you know something about landscape design...add structure to your garden.  This is the greatest impact you can make on your design.

The structure of a garden is how one gives form to an outdoor space. Rather than placing things willy-nilly, structure will encourage strong lines and reinforce your theme.

To simplify things, think of this structure on the ground plane.  Imagine looking at your garden from above in the winter (when the plants are no longer the dominant focus). What shapes and lines would you see?

Another way to visualize structure is thinking about the shape of your lawn or patio.  This space should be a strong space that can be easily seen.

To establish strong structure think about:

Now let's think about our heavy metal concept once again.  If we look at our brainstorming and research lists does anything stand out to you that might give our garden structure?  This is what I found as possibilities:

ripped jeans/blue jeans = straight lines, jagged lines
stage/lights = half circle or full circle
drums = circles or two circles for double bass drums
chains = interlinked spaces
motorcycles = circles, spokes
walkmans = squares with squiggly lines for wire
tour bus = rectangle, circles
beer bottles = bottle shape or circle for cap
guitar/flying v = guitar or v shape
posters = rectangle
skulls = skull shape
periodic table = grid
t-shirts = t-shirt shape
trifecta of speed, power and precision = use three of something
late 1960s/early 1970s = use a garden style from this period, probably clean, simple lines

This is a long list of possible structure ideas for our garden and we definitely will not use them all, but I wanted to show you what our initial brainstorming and research lists provide for inspiration. It really is amazing. I won't tell you what my choice is just yet. I want to think about it a bit.

Do you have a favorite above?  Or maybe I missed something you think I should add?

DESIGN WITH ME - RESEARCH

I have finally completed step three of the theme garden process!  Again, here are all five steps as a quick review:

1. Pick a theme 
2. Brainstorm
3. Research (we'll discuss this below!)
4. Translate ideas to physical form
5. Create the plan

RESEARCH
I mentioned in my last post that it's important to make your idea list as long as possible, since that's what feeds the rest of your design.  The research step helps lengthen this idea list.  Research allows you to find out more about your topic....things you wouldn't necessarily know off the top of your head.  It makes your design so much richer.  You can put as much time into this step as you'd like...visit a library, interview an expert or simply Google your topic.  Ten minutes or ten hours, but it's important that you don't skip this step. It often leads to amazing ideas.

Below is my very simple research on heavy metal.  I apologize up front for the condensed version.  I could have written a 25 page paper on this topic, but for this purpose a broad, bulleted overview will do.  

I'd like  to thank www.hardradio.com and, of course, www.wikipedia.com for this information.  Visit both sites if you'd like to learn more.

Now that we have our brainstorming and research lists complete it's time to start designing!  Woo-hoo!  

I'll explain step four: translating your ideas to physical form in my next post, then I'll need your help again to bring this garden to life.

DESIGN WITH ME - BRAINSTORMING

As most of know, I'm currently in the midst of designing a theme garden by following my five magical steps:

1. Pick a theme 
2. Brainstorm (we'll discuss this below!)
3. Research
4. Translate ideas to physical form
5. Create the plan

BRAINSTORMING
Now that we have a theme (heavy metal) it's time to start transforming it into a garden.  Brainstorming is an important step in this process.  

What is brainstorming?

• generating a list of words/ideas around one topic
• free-flow, no bad ideas
• by yourself okay, but more people generate more ideas 

I can't stress this enough...make this list as long as possible.  Please don't write down three things then stop. Challenge yourself to write down 50 words!  If you're stuck, call a friend and have them add to it.  Remember, these don't have to relate to gardening...just your theme.

With all of your help I was able to create a fabulous brainstorming list below.  Please take a look.

I admit this list is a little dark, especially for me, but that's what makes it interesting.  I'm sure my happy-go-lucky style will balance out the rough and tumble a little in the end.  This will be interesting.

I'm so excited about this list and can't wait for the next step: RESEARCH.  The purpose of research is to make the above list just a tad bit longer and richer.  I'll do some heavy metal research this weekend on my own, then get back to you early next week...because I'll need your help again for step four (lot's of help, because step four is the really cool part). 

DESIGN WITH ME - PICK A THEME

Over the next few weeks we'll be designing a theme garden together by following my five magical steps:

1. Pick a theme (we'll discuss this below!)
2. Brainstorm
3. Research
4. Translate ideas to physical form
5. Create the plan

PICK A THEME
What is a theme?  It's the idea that pulls all the elements of a garden together.

Before designing a garden I always encourage the selection of a theme.  Why?

• To focus your design
• To help in the selection of materials (plants, hardscapes, furniture, etc.)
• To tell a story

Designing a garden is similar to writing a paper. Before you write it's important to choose a topic, then have the content support it. You can write about thousands of things, but the topic helps you focus. This is the same in garden design. There are thousands of ways to design your garden, but by narrowing in on a topic or theme, choices become a lot easier. Honestly, it's a lot more fun too and your creativity just spills over.

First let's look at some traditional themes:


Traditional themes are great, but I'd like to show you how to develop a garden around any theme. Our garden will focus on something nontraditional and out-of-the-ordinary. To help us get started I asked for your help on facebook, twitter, this blog and my newsletter to pick a theme. Wow, did I get some great ideas!

Here are some of them: shoes, fashion, heavy metal, pez, photographs, ceramics, music, video games, murder mystery books, jeans, wellies, Christian Louboutan red sole shoes, punk, jazz, Great Gatsby, Italy and quilts. Below are garden themes that can be created from some of these ideas.

The most fascinating themes have no relationship to gardening. When you combine gardening with an unrelated topic the design gets very interesting (I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about it!).

Now to pick a theme (drum roll please...). I'd like to choose something that seems far, far away from gardening (to show that this can indeed be accomplished), be a topic I'd like to learn more about, and finally something that will challenge me outside my illustrative comfort zone (opposite of cute and whimsical). The only logical choice is HEAVY METAL! I'm a little frightened, but excited to get started!

My eleven-year-old daughter would say to me at this point...mom, how are you going to create a heavy metal garden?  My reply..."not sure, I plan to follow the process to find out."  I typically don't have preconceived ideas, I just let the process inspire me.

Please stick with me! I'll need your help with the next three steps. It's time to BRAINSTORM now. What comes to mind when you think of heavy metal? Let me know in the comments below, on facebook or twitter.

For those saddened that I didn't pick your topic, no worries. I plan to design more gardens with you in the future and tap into a couple more of your fabulous ideas.