Creating relief in the garden

Nothing is more monotonous than a flat garden where the eye can't grab onto anything special except a few trees planted here and there on a vast lawn. Learn how to give relief to your garden in order to give it a very personal charm and to create a unique atmosphere.

The essential features to create relief

In a garden, there are simple techniques to give relief based on arrangements that will break the visual monotony of the whole and why not create some surprises!

The higher parts will be used to have an overall view of the garden while the lower ones will constitute a more intimate, more secret zone.

Stairs made of materials that give character, such as old railroad ties, red bricks or slates, wooden terraces, pontoons, Japanese steps leading to a specific point, mounds, embankments, rock gardens help to give life to a garden and to create well-defined spaces.

How to give relief to the garden?

If the ground is hopelessly flat, the solution is to remove at least 20 centimeters of soil to create levels. 

With the soil removed, you can create mounds, beds and rock gardens to install specific plants that will add to the relief of the whole.

It is also possible to dig a pond in the farthest part of the house. This one will attract the eye on the varied fauna that will inevitably settle there.

A curved Japanese walkway can lead to the pond, providing an additional aesthetic appeal. If the pond is large enough, a pontoon or a footbridge can also be used to create a certain relief, even a perspective effect.

With the earth extracted from the hole to dig the pond, you can also create flowerbeds and other features that will make your eyes rest.

Another solution if you wish to avoid all earthworks: the creation of a garden in movement. Some shrubs lend themselves perfectly to being pruned in clouds, in waves, to create a veritable sea of plants. Rhododendrons, camellias or Japanese maples will bring color to the garden, creating a soft and Japanese atmosphere. Play on the movement of the paths by using curved lines and avoid straight lines.

How can you talk about a garden in motion without mentioning grasses? These plants of various sizes and shapes play with the light and undulate at the slightest breeze. A good way to create relief is to plant tall species such as Pampas grass or Cane of Provence in one area of the garden and alternate with smaller species such as Pennisetum.

Blue fescues, less moving, will bring a very graphic touch to the garden, they are wonderful on a white or black pebble mulch.

Playing with minerals is also a very good way to give relief to the garden: textures, shades, shapes can create very interesting contrasts in terms of tones but also heights. Think about it!

Creating a city garden

In the heart of the city, the space dedicated to the garden is often limited. Often reclaimed from the concrete, these privileged locations deserve a design that is tailored to them. Improving the existing space and enhancing it with a few tricks are the keys to success.

Compose with the existing

To create a city garden, you will first have to examine the existing elements: walls, buildings, facing buildings, vegetation already in place, possible ground coverings...

Generally littered with rubble or concrete remains, the ground must be improved. To do this, decompact it, remove the macro-waste present and add organic matter such as well decomposed manure, quality potting soil and compost. This will lighten the soil and make it more fertile for future plantings.

The planting of large trees is not recommended in city gardens of less than 150 m², avoid planting them and if they already exist, remember to have them pruned every two to three years to keep a good luminosity and a healthy space, otherwise mosses, lichens and mushrooms will quickly invade your garden.

Don't forget to also identify the shady areas where you will install plants that can withstand these conditions and the hottest areas to place less hardy plants.

Take advantage of the specificities of a city garden

The absence of horizon is one of the specificities of a city garden because it is surrounded by walls or buildings that can quickly give a feeling of enclosure. To soften this effect, you must work to erase these limits by creating a soft vegetal transition. To do this, use verticality by dressing the walls with climbing plants, then play on the perspective effect by placing the highest plants in the background and the lowest in the foreground.

Create a central pathway from the house to the back of the garden by playing with materials and colors, knowing that light colors make small areas bigger. In very small gardens, you can even install a large mirror on a whole wall to create an optical effect that multiplies the surface area, but be careful, for a successful effect, drown it in the surrounding vegetation by framing it with climbing plants.

To make people forget the small surface area, plant plants that combine several assets and attract the eye. Play with the shape of the shrubs by creating contrasts between slender and stocky varieties, select tortuous varieties or those with remarkable bark that will attract attention in winter, and stagger the flowering. To do this, mix shrubs and perennials, biennials, annuals and bulbs to create a colorful carpet.

Place here and there decorative objects such as candle holders, a Japanese stone lantern, a small fountain or a statue. These elements will catch the eye and make you forget the smallness of the place, if they are placed in a discreet way and by small touches.

Finally, don't hesitate to create alcoves and corners sheltered from view by placing wisteria or rosebushes on an arbor or a pergola, but also by using shade sails or even simple parasols. You will thus create islands of peace despite the urban environment.

Create a Mediterranean garden without watering

Plants that grow naturally in the Mediterranean region offer many options for creating a water-efficient garden. Adapted to drought and heat, these easygoing plants are just waiting to join your garden to give it the Provençal atmosphere it deserves.

Nature of the soil and climate: two essential parameters

Mediterranean plants are adapted to their environment. The soil is often poor, stony and lacking in organic matter. If your soil is sticky, heavy, clayey and retains excess water, it is imperative to drain the soil with gravel, sand or pozzolan in order to grow these plants which do not tolerate this type of soil. Another solution is to create levels, slopes and embankments so that the water can drain away as much as possible and never stagnate at the roots. Restanques are typical of the Provencal landscape, so why not take inspiration from them?

Think also of mineral mulch which retains heat and gives it back at night but which also serves as a cover for the soil, preventing the growth of weeds and keeping the earth fresh. If you do not have the possibility to spread a thick layer of mulch, do not hesitate to put a geotextile felt underneath to prevent weeds from growing and to prevent the mulch from disappearing into the soil after a while. A mineral mulch recalls the spirit of the garrigue and immediately evokes Provence!

Perspective and layout

Take inspiration from magazines or photos taken on vacation to create a typical Mediterranean atmosphere. Think of your garden as a painting with different levels and a few objects evoking Provence. Think about perspective, and create effects that are visible from various points on the property.

Choice of plants

Remember to be well informed before choosing your plants: some are not very hardy, so they should be avoided in cold regions.

As for trees, if your climate is not too cold, you can install an olive tree, which always has a very evocative charm, a holm oak or an arbutus tree, which are much hardier, or why not, a Cypress of Florence. The latter is used in Provence at the entrance of properties to welcome people, it is also a good luck charm for some. Its graphic line makes it an ally of the landscape gardener!

Let's talk about the shrubs that will make up your beds. Outside the Mediterranean zone, forget about hibiscus, lantanas and other exotic plants. Prefer ceanothes (-15°C), rockroses (-10°C), perovskia (-20°C), phlomis (-7°C), heathers (-20°C) or even chasteberry (-7°C).

Classic bedding plants are of course agapanthus, whose deciduous varieties can withstand temperatures below -10°C, but also sage, rosemary, much appreciated in its creeping version to cover slopes and low walls, but also lavender, which is much hardier than one might think! The list is not exhaustive and you can vary the pleasures endlessly according to your tastes and your region.

Exoticism in the garden

Even in regions that at first glance would not lend themselves to it, it is possible to create an exotic and lush plant decor. Let's see how to prepare the ground and choose the plants that will best resist.

Create a favorable micro-climate

To create a dream setting with abundant vegetation, you must first create a micro-climate in the area dedicated to the exotic style. The plants will then be able to grow sheltered from the prevailing winds, which could otherwise cause the temperature to drop too low. A walled city garden, a patio, or a courtyard are ideal locations. If your garden is not protected in this way, install 2-meter high wooden panels to delimit the area to be protected. You can then hide them with climbing or vertical plants to create that lush effect so desired in an exotic garden.

The majority of the plants that will be installed, most of which come from subtropical climates, will do well in well-drained soil, which will avoid a good number of diseases as well as the dreaded asphyxiation of the roots. If this was not the case at home, work the soil by adding compost and sand, or even a draining bed of pozzolan at the bottom of the planting holes.

A wise choice of plants

Many plants can take advantage of the ideal conditions created for them, you just have to choose them hardy enough to survive in your region.

When we think 'exotic' we inevitably imagine bamboo and palm trees. This is a good thing because some species are hardy and can be installed without worry in gardens in the center and north of the country.

The use of bamboos is multiple: the non-tracking varieties like 'Fargesia murielae' or 'Sasa veitchii' with white variegated foliage which resist up to -20° can be planted in clumps in a bed. Larger plants such as the famous golden bamboo (Phyllostachys aurea) or the very ornamental black bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra) will be perfect to delimit the area. Be careful, however, to install an anti-rhizome barrier in the ground to avoid invasion!

As for palms, Trachycarpus fortuneii with its beautiful fan-shaped palms will undoubtedly bring an unparalleled touch of exoticism. It can resist to -20°C once well installed!

Dare, the banana tree in a well sheltered corner. Musa basjoo or Musa sikkimensis are very hardy. The large, soft green leaves will provide you with a beneficial shade in summer while evoking distant lands with sweet flavors.

To dress up the ground or to create a cool area around a bamboo or pebble fountain, think of ferns! There are many varieties, some of which are of European origin and well adapted to our shady and humid gardens. The most adventurous will start growing the tree fern (Dicksonia antartica) which can withstand -5° C if planted in well-drained soil. Very majestic, and able to reach more than 5 meters high in its country of origin, it brings a very particular touch to the garden.

Always very graphic, the phormium and its varieties with purple or variegated foliage, inspire exoticism. Much hardier than one might think, its stump resists up to -15°C. It allows you to create dreamy decorations at the foot of palms or bamboos while adding a welcome note of color in this green universe. The kniphofias will also contribute to this brightness, proud of their orange summer stems. Don't forget to add a few Japanese lanterns, mobiles here and there and large pots containing bunches of large cut bamboo culms to complete your exotic decor.

Decorate the base of a large tree

Often bare, the foot of an imposing tree offers a rather unappealing sight unless its bark is decorative. To make up for this lack, we propose here some simple solutions to dress it up.

Decorative objects

To dress up the base of a large tree, a circular wooden or concrete bench can be a great solution. You will find a beneficial shade in summer to read and will be able to dream at leisure while listening to the rustle of leaves in the wind.

Why not create a wooden deck around the base of the tree? Depending on its surface, you can install a deckchair, a garden furniture or compose a plant decoration based on  tolerating the shade. If the tree is close to a pond, the terrace can be transformed into a pontoon for a bucolic atmosphere!

Another solution, much more original, is to cover part of the trunk with a handmade and very colorful knitted fabric! Of course, you have to be daring, but the result, as surprising as it may be, will give your garden some pep. Don't hesitate to use flashy colors and to superimpose them.

If you like large colored glass candle holders, you can also surround your tree with them, at night, the decor will be magical. In the same vein, it is possible to dress the trunk with light garlands which, if they are ornamental during the day (butterflies, flowers...) will have a double interest.

Mulching

Mineral mulch is recommended by many garden professionals to cover the base of a tree. Play on contrasts with large white pebbles to create a Zen atmosphere, or with pozzolan for a wilder atmosphere.

Artists can create calades by drawing arabesques of pebbles all around the trunk or imagine real paintings based on wood slices of different sizes arranged side by side.

Vegetation

Under a large tree, the conditions are not great for planting vegetation: lack of light, very little water... A real challenge! However, certain bulbous plants such as cyclamen, wood hyacinths or muscarias will do well under a tree.

If the atmosphere is humid, you can try to form a carpet of helixine or even ferns or try planting periwinkle which will cover the ground with its bluish carpet. Some low grasses can also give movement at the foot of a large tree, thus breaking the rigidity of the scene.

Plants to highlight a pathway

Walkways are the link between different parts of the garden. It is important to choose the right plants that will give character to your pathways while gracefully accentuating them.

Choosing plants

The choice of plants that you will install along your pathway will depend on several criteria, notably the climate and exposure of the area to be landscaped.

Always choose plants that are adapted to your soil and that will be able to withstand the situation of your garden. Prefer perennials, so you will obtain a long-lasting decoration.

The best plants to border a path

There are many plants that will perfectly accentuate your pathways, depending on the style you wish to evoke.

To create a natural, low-maintenance setting, consider grasses. Panicums and Stipas are perfect for this purpose, their light foliage and beautiful, long-lasting feathery inflorescences make them the perfect choice for the edge of your driveway, especially if your soil is well-drained and the exposure is sunny. The blue fescue with its ball shape and its particular color will offer a dream setting and will easily find its place in the most contemporary gardens.

The perennial geranium is covered with flowers from May to the first frost. Once again, it is a perennial plant that is very easy to grow. Once well installed, it requires very little watering and it will suffice to cut back the clump in the fall. The variety 'Johnson blue' with its beautiful blue flowers is a must in the garden.

In southern gardens and in light and poor soil, Helichrysum can be considered. In full sun it produces golden yellow flowers and gives off a very characteristic curry scent.

Taller, since it can reach 1,5 m height, the perovskia adapts to almost all situations. It can be used to create borders for paths that are both wild and intimate. At its foot, you can plant bulbs of daffodils or tulips that will open the season with their colorful blooms.

For a beautifully highlighted walkway, think of the graphic foliage of Iris germanica, which give a certain verticality to the walkway. The color palette of the flowers ranges from pure white to black and every shade in the light spectrum. Often velvety in appearance, sometimes deliciously fragrant, these plants are ideal for edging walkways.

For those who prefer a formal garden, consider boxwood, which can form beautiful linear paths with geometric shapes. This plant can withstand pruning and will require very little watering once it is well established.

To create a very English walkway, mix various plants of different heights and colors. Taller plants such as delphiniums, hollyhocks or peonies will be placed in the background while smaller ones such as Ajugas reptans, silver baskets or ophiopogons will be placed at the edge of the path. A romantic look is guaranteed!