How to start arranging a site or the basics of landscape design - the order and their sequence

The concept of “landscape design” has firmly taken root in the territory of Russia, but many perceive it as a kind of purely conditional term, by which one actually does not know what is meant.

In this article, the author, a well-known construction journalist, O.Voronova, explains in detail and in accessible language how to actually start building the site and the local area and explains the necessary work sequence, and experts point out the most frequent mistakes made in the case of the notorious “landscape design” ..

The arrangement of any landscape begins with the correct "landing" of the house - the building must not only be positioned in such a way that it is comfortable to live in, but it must also be entered into a forest area or correctly plan the further landscaping of the "clean field". And here both architects (engaged in construction and landscape) must act as a single team.

Otherwise, it may happen that your house obscures a significant part of the territory - it’s especially offensive if this part turns out to be sunny, where you could plant roses or smash the garden.

According to experts, the house can be deployed at such an angle to the sun that it will not cast shadows at all, but this is aerobatics! So, we need to start with the combined efforts of the two architects.

But this is ideal. In practice, often everything happens in a different way: first they put up a house, and they think about building a garden at the end of construction (or, in the best case, in its process). If you have hired workers and a superintendent, but there is no architectural supervision of the construction site, think for yourself how best to arrange the house.

If you put it too close to the "front" fence, then visually it will put pressure on the incoming.

Builders recommend retreating from the fence by at least 10 meters, especially if the building is tall. But in addition to SNiPs and the advice of builders, there is also a situational need - determine which place on the site is the sunniest, which is most of the day in the shade, and then think about how to position the house.

Work carried out below the surface of the earth, the specialists in landscape construction is usually called work on the minus mark.

Drainage, electrical networks for lighting the plot, wiring for heating hothouses, cables, water pipes, storming, the arrangement of all these systems requires digging trenches, that is, burial.

Very important work on electrical. You should have a plan of networks, so that later, with other works, builders do not accidentally damage the cable. In addition, in the process of operation, for example, a street light can break down, and it will be necessary to know where to dig a cable.

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See also: How to green farm buildings on the site - the choice of plants

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Think about what you want to see on your site in the future.

Maybe it will be a winter greenhouse equipped with infra-red lamps (hence, it will be necessary to electropump), or the system auto-watering. Or maybe after watching television about low-quality products, you want to start a small bird's yard.

To prevent the bird from freezing in winter, it needs heating - this means, again, we are talking about trenches and an electric cable.

Do not forget about the future garden lights - for them you need to dig a hole, pass the wiring there, and then bring it out.

Watering can be made superficial, that is, from an ordinary hose.

But then check where the plumbing connections are located and whether it is not necessary to increase their number. For example, a hose with a length of 50 m may not reach any plantings (we are not even saying that the pressure in such a hose is great, and this often breaks the “gun”).

In this case, it makes sense to divide the site into two or more zones and in each of them draw a conclusion.

To work at a minus mark also cutting soil. As a rule, we are talking about terracing the site, if it has a sufficiently large slope, and you need smooth horizontal surfaces - for example, a wide entrance area.

Sometimes work on cutting or filling up the soil is carried out during the erection of the house box, when it is necessary to level the platform with a strong slope under it.

In general, the "minus" work can be performed just after a cottage box built and the exterior decoration of the building was made.

By zeros

The work at the zero mark refers to the leveling of the ground and the construction of blind lands, paths, entrance areas. The blind area should be done after there is a drainage around the house. However, sometimes the blind itself, if it is wide enough (say, 2 m), can serve as an obstacle to flooding the basement: when faced with a concrete base, the meltwater goes to the ground or flows down inclines to the side, and the cellar remains dry.

Wells for storm drains provide at the stage of "minus" works. But nothing terrible will happen if you simply lay the gutters and take the water out of the blind area.

For fidelity in places of water outlet, you can dig small holes in the ground and fill them with gravel. This is not an ideal option, but admissible.

If you are planning to break a vegetable garden, then it's time to think about how it will be formalized. The times of simple plain-looking hillocks-beds have passed. Now your own vegetable garden is in fashion, but it requires an appropriate arrangement. In addition, it should be easy to take care of. Usually, the beds are updated with a border of tinted wood, painted steel sheet or concrete. The space between plantings is covered with geotextiles, which prevents the growth of weeds, and then pour a layer of sand and gravel. Sometimes rows between rows are turned into paths, spreading them with paving slabs or falling asleep with sand. It is recommended to do this simultaneously with the device of garden paths.

At the same stage, a coastal zone pond and his cup. For this purpose, stones of different sizes and gravel backfill are most often used. It's time to create decorative retaining walls. Note: high, soil-restraining structures are erected at the stage of excavation (you can wait for the finishing of the walls).

And finally, it's time to prepare the ground for the lawn,curb trunks of trees, bushes, and flower beds.

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See also: Improvement and decoration of the site - the necessary advice. Lawn breakdown

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Landscape plus

Perhaps the most pleasant stage of the arrangement of the site is its landscaping: sowing lawn grass or laying of grass rolls, planting of ornamental and fruit bushes.

Trees-large-sized, sold with a huge clod of land and dropped into the landing pit by a crane, must be planted before finishing works in the garden, otherwise heavy machinery will spoil the already formed landscape. Small trees that are easy to carry in hands, it's time to plant.

Next, small architectural forms are installed - arbors, pergolas, benches, fountains. Fill the pond, connect the garden illumination. This is a joyful stage when your site is transformed into a flowering garden. But at the same time it is a quality check of all work done.

Specialist comments:

E.Vinokhodova

Very often, people start to think about the landscape when the house is already built, although it is necessary to invite two specialists at once: an architect and a landscape designer. At the same time, it is necessary to “dance” from the street level and from where the storm sewage will be led. In accordance with this make the blind area at home. If it is higher or lower than the road, the land is either cut or filled.

This is the basics.

It still does not prevent us from remembering the saying: “Seven nannies have a child without an eye”. Often the site begin to equip the workers who build the house. Then landscapes come and plant something, accidentally severing communications. At the same time, no one is responsible for what happened.

Then the landscape designers leave, and the customers are in the dark where any communications go, something fails, and the “survey work” begins, and they are not cheap (especially if there is a “smart home” system). Sometimes there are up to 30 lanterns in the house territory - one of them closes, and it is not clear where to look for the source of the problem.

Here is an example from life. On the site was mounted system "smart home". At some point the lantern was damaged. The computer immediately turned off the entire system, as a result of which the generator started working.

The computer again turned off the system and then the whirlwind began. The hostess was in the city at that moment, and the housekeeper was running about the house in horror.

A brigade arrived, which had no idea where the networks were going, and rummaged through the whole site. From this follows the conclusion: landscape works must be performed according to a pre-compiled project.

But something can be realized, even if you are late with the project and landscape construction. For example, control of street lights can be “planted” on a radio signal, install light sensors that will turn on and off the light automatically. With the help of a radio signal can be controlled and alarm.

When to start (comment of the landscape architect L.Rodnikikova):

In my opinion, the biggest mistake is to start landscaping before the construction and decoration of the house is completed. This refers to both the exterior and interior decoration.

You do not want the builders to have poured whitewash or paint on the soil they brought in just now?

The question arises: how is the local drainage? Solid construction companies do it themselves. With the same brigade, you can agree on the creation of drainage on the site, but then you will need supervision from the landscape. These works can be called intermediate at the intersection of house and landscape construction. Before the laying of networks, the site is formed taking into account the planned deviations of the project, after which the nutrient soil is imported and leveled. Only by making a fuss and putting out the soil, we mark out the future country house lighting, watering, paths and digging trenches.

Do not be afraid of the fact that after the backfilling of the trenches the ground will settle and dips are formed. When filling, it is necessary to compact and pour well, wait for the day 2-3, until the soil settles, shed again, add more land and finally ram. After completing work on the installation of tracks, installation of lighting and irrigation system, plant trees, bushes, flowers and at the very last moment make a lawn.

A common mistake (comment by A. Diev - technologist engineer):

Often, homeowners make a serious mistake - they make paths, a lawn, and then they launch heavy equipment that delivered large-sized plants for planting. We must remember: first the technique, then the paths and landscaping.

Another big mistake is the lack of a common drainage system on the site. As a result, large trees, fruit trees are planted in pits, on the bottom of which they pour broken brick (arranging local drainage), then they prepare a fertile mixture of peat and sand, fertilize, but the root system of trees still rot and the plantings die. This is because the pit with fertile soil and broken brick is surrounded by clay, which does not allow water to pass through.

Most of the suburbs lie on clay and loam. This is a heavy ground that needs drainage systems. Without a drainage system, if the plants survive, they will develop poorly, often get sick.

The order of work - advice from the landscape architect A. Gribkova

At the stage of pre-design work, hydrological and geodetic surveys are carried out. However, they are often ignored, because in the suburbs there are approximately similar conditions, and soil analysis is almost always the same. An experienced specialist on arrival himself will see what the soil is.

At the design stage, various diversions are planned where the water from the house, from the artificial reservoir and the general drainage system, storm sewage will flow. Further, after erection and finishing of the house, landscaping works are carried out.

On the zero cycle in the planning of the site, slopes are set and the tracks are marked, the sod is cut.

Do this in order to destroy the weeds. Some homeowners are trying to cope with weed grass with the help of chemistry, but with the old, powerful turf results it does not.

In general, sometimes it makes sense to wait with the creation of an ideal lawn. If you have already built a house, and there are no neighbors, then in a couple of years, weeds will migrate happily from your neighborhood on your English lawn.

In such cases, we recommend that you plant a lawn, but do not try to make it perfect.

We advise sowing the lawn not later than the end of July, otherwise it will leave unripe and weak for the winter, and in the spring 30-40% of shoots may die. In addition, the germination of seeds is affected by many factors. For example, water lenses. Even if the lens is small, it will still make itself felt in this place, the germination will be worse, and the detachment is stronger.

Trees-large-sized plants should be planted in winter, when the sap flow ceases.

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Reference by topic: Three designs of the garden of the lungs in care

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To the note to the owner of the land:

Make sure that the builders take out the garbage. Sometimes they offer (or do it secretly, taking money from you for garbage disposal) with a bulldozer to straighten construction waste along the site, mixing them with soil.

This should not be.

The pieces of concrete buried in the ground, reinforcement, mesh (the depth of such “harmful minerals” sometimes reaches 2 m) impede the soil from absorbing moisture and can lead to the death of plants and wetting of a part of the lawn.

For the period of construction and finishing workers need to allocate a certain place for dumping garbage. Look in the landscape project, where there is a suitable platform it is desirable that it is near the gate through which the garbage will be exported. Take care that the landfill does not expand.

The basis for the state registration of the property rights of the applicant is an unspecified land plot by law that is any documents that confirm the fact that the citizen receives this right or the right to it.

These are acts, certificates, extracts from the business book, certificates and much more, that is, everything that ever had legal force. The law makes them the only requirement - that they be issued by the state body that was authorized to do so by the legislation in force at that time and in that place. The legislator put these papers on a par with such title documents as a deed of gift, a certificate of ownership, and gave them equal legal force. The law says that it is not allowed to request additional documents from the applicant for state registration of a citizen’s ownership of the land.

What is the distance between the plants when planting seedlings

We often forget that the distance between plants is determined not on the basis of the artist's intention, but taking into account their finite dimensions

The most common mistake gardeners make during planting.

And its consequences appear much later. When buying a fruit tree seedling, we look at the crumbs with loving eyes and firmly believe that it will not add more than 1,5 - 2 m in diameter. But it takes several years, and now four "crumbs", planted nearby at a distance of 2 m, tightly intertwined with branches. At the same time, trees, due to poor lighting and poor ventilation, suffer a lot. And the harvest and did not see. And what if only one tree was planted on this square? It would have to be cut a little and rarely, and the harvest would be higher than from the previous four sufferers. Savings there!

The same thing happens with decorative trees and shrubs. Looking at the very young pine tree, you can hardly imagine it as an 15-meter giant and therefore boldly plant under power lines.

Consider that at this moment you made a long-term request to visit electricians, firefighters and workers for felling large trees in difficult conditions. In the future it will be expensive to pay for it. But this is not the worst. It will be harder to part with the "friend", to whom, over 10 — 15, he has become attached with his whole soul.

A similar situation with perennials in flower beds. We often plant by "blade" and do not believe that in a couple of years it will be a powerful, beautiful plant.

Do not take positions, plant the plants as noted on the plan, when you calculated the distance not on emotions, but on the basis of the final size of the plant. And next to the long-growing species, place those that can be easily transplanted later. For example, for the first time under the young Christmas tree, you can plant stonecrop - if the plot is sunny. And you can generally make a temporary composition of grassy perennials.

When planting herbaceous perennials can be saved. There are rapidly expanding species that literally fill the territory - they can be planted much less frequently. It is a monkey catstitcher, a creeping little tenacious thing, many kinds of stonecrop, jask felt, periwinkle, butterbur. And there are plants with a high breeding rate, which in a year or two can be divided and get more 2 - 5 planting delenok from each bush. These are hosts, astilbeas, nivyaniki, daylilies, phloxes, etc. If you are not faced with the task of completely covering the ground in a flower garden in one season, plant such plants in 2 - 5 times less, and next year simply divide them and fill in the missing amount.

Help

The final dimensions of the plant are the dimensions that the tree reaches 10 — 20-year-old, shrubs — in 5 — 8-year and perennial — in 2 — 3-year.

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Site design - beauty and practicality

Territories allocated to sites rarely have good land. But they are all suitable for creating beautiful compositions.

The main thing is to logically add new compositions to the conditions prevailing on your site. How to do this?

A quiet harbor

It is difficult to master the site on heavy clayey and loamy soils, which have a weak water permeability. Areas with excessive moistening of the surface and arable layer, especially after the rain and spring melting of snow, are usually often flooded.

Here, reclamation works are carried out to remove water. During a prolonged drought, the work done turns into the reverse side of the coin: the area has to be watered abundantly, because the water does not stay on it. Such a land plot is mastered in a complex to avoid possible mistakes.

Water

In areas with a high level of pound water, an artificial reservoir in the lowland is a reasonable decision to help accept the excess water. It is best to design it as a decorative swamp, decorating the passage through it with an old wooden bridge.

The soil after excavation is used for the device of geo-plastics next to the reservoir. Next to it, plant hygrophilous plants, place large stones, plant dwarf trees and shrubs, ground cover plants. The more natural the look of a swamp, the more pleasant it will be to admire them in this quiet recreation area.

Water source

The arrangement of a water source on the site is a priority.

It is necessary to determine the well (or well), where to dig them at the beginning of the development of the site - they will help to accurately determine the level of groundwater standing, adjust the site plan.

The chemical composition of the extracted water is studied by special analysis to determine its suitability for food use.

Look at the root!

When unnecessary trees and shrubs growing in unsuccessful places, damaged by stem rot, dry-top, with very bare trunks are removed from the site, individual branches, branches, trunks, root systems and stumps are selected as decorative elements for design. The remaining stumps do not have to be uprooted - at this place you can make rutarium, supplementing it with dry snags, cones, bark, ornamental and species plants, according to the conditions of this place. The middle of the stump can be cut down or sawed with a chainsaw: drainage and soil are poured into this container, plants are planted.

Before stubbing stumps, take into account the features of the root systems of individual tree species: for example, the spruce has superficial roots, the pine has a powerful anchor root that extends several meters deep.

Stumps are writhing with a winch or tractor, after digging and sawing the thickest roots. Small stumps with roots, branches, twigs, uprooted shrubs are burned in piles 1-2 months after uprooting, large stumps are burned in six months to a year. The remaining ash is used as fertilizer. Small roots (thickness up to 2 cm) rot in the soil after 2-3 years, together with compost or manure (8-10 kg / m²) - 2-3 times faster.

In the summerman's notebook

When buying imported plants, ask not the zone of cold resistance, but the parameters of the temperature regime that this plant can withstand growing in a warmer climate.

If you want to experiment with thermophilic plants, choose places protected from cold winds on the south side of buildings - their walls reflect 1 more heat, there are no chilling air streams.

Hard Rock

Owners of stony sites in the development of soil remove the stones from the site where plants should be grown, store them, so that they do not interfere with other works. Later they are used for laying ro-kariy, rocky hills, in mixborders, near water bodies, entrance to the site, near recreation areas.

Separate large stones on the background of the lawn, conifers, along the paths - especially attract attention. Several large stones on a uniform background look much more spectacular than many small ones.

Do not use a variety of different types of stones in one composition, which also differ in texture, color, degree of processing by natural elements (rock, boulder, cliff). The beauty of the stones is shaded by a single coniferous species, for example, pine ordinary, whose tips of branches are pinched to limit their growth, or its dwarf varieties.

Herb plants are also limited in their assortment - it’s enough to use 5-9 types of plants, among which some play the role of accents, others create a low background, and others give the composition variety in a separate period of summer.

Taking into account the slope of the site in the lower parts along the boundary of the section, the tracks dig open or closed drainage grooves, the depth and profile of which depend on the degree of soil moisture. Water from the drainage grooves is discharged into diversion ditches along roads, water intake wells, garden ponds, in recent cases, water is used for irrigation in drought.

The garden on difficult sites

The garden on stony, peaty, moist, sandy, heavy, littered soils, even on hard surfaces, is made by the method of high ridges.

It performs and decorative function of its ridge form a beautiful composition, fringed with building materials in the style of nearby buildings.

High ridges warm up better, they are easy to take care of.

A lot of labor and material costs are required for the development of a dacha.

If the labor enthusiast of many summer residents is all right, then additional material wealth will not hurt anyone.

In the hope of increasing income in the southeastern zone of the garden, a crown mock is planted - it is believed that it will bring good luck in financial matters.

Instead of it, for the wealth and prosperity of the family, thyme is planted, combining it with stone placers.

Symbolic guards on both sides at the entrance to the house - cacti in pots - we hope that they drive away evil intentions and protect the house from thieves.

Saw and strew

When clearing areas of woody vegetation, do not let all plant waste into wood or ash. On the recreation areas in the summer garden areas, wooden coatings made from cross sections of thick branches or tree trunks cut to a height of about 8-15 cm are useful.Any tree in dampness quickly becomes worthless, so clay soils and lowlands are not for this material.

Hard and soft types of wood are suitable for making cuts. Durability is famous for black alder, aspen, oak, linden is quite hard, ash is ash, moderately hard breed is birch. If you do not remove the bark from the saw cuts, after a while it leaves, forming gaps - you can stumble while walking around the site.

Treated with antiseptic spills are put into sand-gravel material, laid on the drain, tapping with rubber hammers: their faces should be in the same plane, do not hang out, do not fall through. A more robust construction is obtained if the spill is poured with a mortar of concrete up to half the height, after its hardening, fill pebbles, sand, gravel, bark or chips with spills.

Most of the "soft" materials spread legs. Every few years, the sites are refurbished, clearing debris, re-ground the wood with deep penetration compounds, pour in soft materials. Such a platform will last at least ten years.

The purpose of decorative garden lighting is to enhance the attractiveness of the landscape, creating an atmosphere that emphasizes the beauty of plants, their shape and silhouette. Thanks to the reserved light, the garden acquires a unique charm, creates a romantic mood.

Sour happiness

The peat soils of suburban areas are rich in a large content of organic substances, but they have their drawbacks: they have poor thermal conductivity, they thaw for a long time in the spring, they suffer more often from spring and autumn frosts.

For good agriculture, the presence of a large amount of peat in the soil is not enough: it is rich in nitrogen in a form inaccessible to plants. Eliminating the deficiency, the soil is flavored with manure and mineral fertilizers containing urea and superphosphate; improve the structure of the soil, scattering under a deep digging of 1 square. m - sand (4 buckets), clay (2 buckets).

On the treated peat soils, berry bushes — blackberries, edible honeysuckle, gooseberries, raspberries, Japanese henomeles, strawberries, and strong-acid reactions — can withstand cranberries, blueberries, marshmallows, and blueberries, blueberries and lingonberries. Cold-resistant garden crops are managed, heat-loving crops are grown under a film; zucchini, potatoes, corn, carrots, radishes, tomatoes grow well.

© Margarita Grigorieva

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The composition of the garden

Guess what you are talking about. About showy plants? Stylish accessories? Original objects? No, our heroine is композиция, which primarily affects the attractiveness of any country site.

Let us reveal the most important landscape secret to a truly beautiful garden. She is a gray cardinal of design, if you want - a sort of magic wand that turns a space cluttered with plants and accessories into an object worthy of admiration, and sometimes even envy. Agree, in the design of the garden, you can invest a lot of money, but never get the desired result. That is why today we will tell what to look for in the process of arranging the dacha plot and how to avoid offensive mistakes.

To begin with, it is important to understand what a composition is. This artistic balance between all elements of the garden, which we perceive as uniquely beautiful. Subjectively? We agree, therefore, we propose step-by-step instructions for the transformation.

Step 1. We are looking for a center.

In the garden, such an element is called the active dominant. It can be located in any corner of the site, and its center is called solely because of the bright "appearance", which catches the eye. It turns out that the object should have a solid size and stand out against the general background with form, texture, color, originality of design, uniqueness. - in a word, by any extraordinary parameters. Tip: do not throw around, let your site be one, but a worthy compositional center.

Step 2. Define elements of subordination.

In this "company" invite a variety of, but always noticeable objects. Remember: each of the “candidates” should have something in common with the compositional center and “work” on the same idea. “Common interests” can be manifested in the repetition of color, shape, elements of decoration or plant varieties. The main thing is that secondary “heroes” should not drag the blanket over themselves. Tip: the number of elements of subordination can vary from 3 to 5, but less important "extras" can be any number, but they must live according to general laws and obey the "center".

Step 3. We connect the house and the garden together.

To begin with, we recognize that the house plays a major role here, which means it sets the tone. There can be a lot of “threads” between two objects. One of them is the “echo effect”, that is, the repetition of the “house” motifs and elements in the design of the garden. “Related” materials and elements of decoration, selected colors and shapes will firmly link the house and garden, and the plants will add a harmonious alliance. Important: in the construction of the house, be sure to provide for transitional elements - terraces, steps, podiums, trellis, pergolas, through which the garden will penetrate the house, hell - into the garden. For example, the terrace can be decorated with vertical

gardening, arrange containers with flowers around the perimeter, and arrange a flower bed at the foot. The terrace is a part of the house, and in this situation - and part of the garden too. The second “thread” is proportionality. This means that the dimensions of all garden elements and all planning lines must be correlated with the parameters of "house" characteristics.

Step 4. We observe the rule of harmonious composition.

Objects should not have a complex and bizarre form - this prevents their adequate perception. For example, it makes no sense to make a butterfly-shaped platform - such an outline will not be read at close range and will bring disharmony into the garden landscape. The best forms will be those that you can easily draw in the cells: a square (or a rectangle), a circle (or an oval), S-shaped or drop-shaped objects. Elements with such outlines in the garden always look spectacular and harmonious.

5 step. Choose the right color. The garden is by definition multicolored, which means that there is no strict rule for the combination of three colors that “works” in the home interior. But this does not mean that the selection of colors can be completely arbitrary - when determining color priorities, do not forget to look at the palette, typical of country houses, garden structures, finishing materials and accessories. But the plants can be any, it is only necessary to choose the right color combinations within the individual garden areas, corners, flower beds, but not the garden as a whole.

Want to create a spectacular color composition - use the harmonious combinations defined by the color wheel, which designers usually use. The best is one of the three options provided. The first is nuance harmony, that is, the use of shades of the same color in the design of the garden.

On a circle, these are components of one segment. The second is tonal harmony, or the use of colors located on a circle next to each other next to each other. The third - contrasting harmony - provides a choice of colors located on opposite sides of the color wheel. Important: any of the three options can be represented as a dyad (two colors are combined), triads (three colors are combined) or quarts (four colors are combined).

One more division should be taken into account - warm and cold tones. The representatives of the first group have a high proportion of red and yellow, and the second - blue. White, gray and black are considered achromatic. that is, not carrying specific colors. There is also a group of neutral colors that serve as an excellent complement to bright and rich colors and balance everything too catchy.

They can be used in any of the harmonies, with any principle of combining colors, but not in place of, but with them. To neutral are light gray, light bluish gray, beige, sand, cream and light yellow.

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LANDSCAPE DESIGN - IN ONE MACHINE!

A successful standard house project, stylish kitchen design, a cozy interior in the living room ...

For the majority of active busy people ready-made design solutions - magic wand.

Is there something similar in landscape design?

Agree, there are no two identical sections, just as there are no identical budgies. For the owners, anyway. But - the same, arranged in a row sections of townhouses ... Or - the standard "cutting" of 10-15-hectare patches of land in the cottage village, the optimal setting of the house, where the garage is located on the shady side three meters from the fence ... It seems that everything is one to one, but no!

At the neighbor gate to the left. It would seem - a trifle, but the path is not the same, and plants, respectively, more or less fit around. Surroundings, entrances and exits from the house, differences in relief - everything matters. Therefore, parrots are not parrots, and a project designed for one garden will never exactly fit another. Although, probably, in a hundred years, landscape theorists, having looked at the dull photos of our creations with an unbiased look, will find many similarities. This is good. And the bad ones will say: "Something our grandmothers sculpted all the gardens in the same way." And all because our gardens, differing in details, have a very similar structure. And if we crave for universal solutions, then they, most likely, will concern the principles of the spatial construction of the garden.

The basic principle is this: if you want to get a cozy garden - plant a perimeter in the middle. This question pops up frequently and for various reasons. Do you want to close your neighbors? From the dusty street? From the wind? Do you want to admire the greenery in the garden, and not the cell walls, called the “fence”? Do you want to create a comfortable moist environment, pleasant to breathe? Do you want to grow rhododendrons and tender conifers? The answer is the same: plant the perimeter. And what exactly to plant - here options are possible. Hundreds of thousands of options. But they are quite amenable to systematics, where the main parameter is the size of the plot.

If we face a small courtyard townhouse, oddly enough, there is nothing better than the notorious hedge of thuja. Because, firstly, it can look very architecturally, with a green wall, turning the garden into a real open room. Such a solution is very logical for a small space where, with all the desire, you will not create a natural landscape. Secondly, it takes up very little space, which is also significant. Thirdly, thuja is easy to cut, allowing you to maintain the desired height and width without compromising the appearance and condition of the plant, as well as for relations with neighbors. In addition (usually forgotten), it serves as a great background for a variety of plants that nestle inside: rhododendrons, host, astilbe, hydrangeas, delicate cereals, silver wormwood and shrubs with light foliage. By giving a dark velvety uniform surface, the thuja provides them with a contrasting and noble background.

But for the garden a larger solution is no longer suitable. Indeed, what kind of room will turn out in 15 acres? It was on such sites that the thuja discredited itself as a material for an external hedge. The rectangular perimeter remains a cage, only green. Yes, even gold - we do not like cells. And the plants that can be planted “against the background” turn out to be disastrously small when viewed from a distance (and it appears in a large area). And those that are larger, also can not be planted, they will close all the expensive thujas. Therefore, whatever one may say, for planting the perimeter of the 10-20-well site, plants are needed more powerful, wider, and simpler, so that it is not a pity to partially cover them with forward-dissenting fellows. Besides,

they are no longer planted in a hedge, not in a ticker, but as if in a forest edge, something far away, something ahead. This helps to bring down the feeling of a rectangular area, bringing its outlines closer to a more natural version. In general, the forest edge is the closest natural analogue of our tree-shrub mixborder (this is exactly what these landings are called), only in a somewhat “cultivated” version.

So what do we plant as background plants? In country cottages with gardens and greenhouses from time immemorial, everything was limited to tall shrubs, both decorative (lilac, chubushnik, viburnum buldenezh), and fruit (irga, chernoplodka). But a dacha is a dacha, with its own aesthetics, about which it is necessary to make separate poems. If the site is located in a cottage settlement, then by mutual consent of the neighbors, the fence is planted with trees. According to today's realities, the pine 3-3,5 m tall is in the lead. The invigorating scent, fluffy needles, accessibility and relative cheapness of planting material earned her a nationwide love. Slightly diluted with fir-trees (not everyone loves them) and deciduous trees, the pine edge at the moment transforms the landscape. If the area of ​​the site 20-30 is hundreds or more, single trees are indispensable. Here you have to plant them in groups and small arrays, again, so that there is no hint of the fence line.

And the next step is planting everything that we dreamed about, according to the assortment of the garden center, from Azalea to Jaskolka. Moreover, note: we have a perimeter! And this means that inevitably one part of the mixborder will turn out to be shadow, and the other sunny. It follows that no matter what plant we purchase, there is a suitable place for it. Agree, this is very convenient. And even if you suddenly want to make a gravel garden with cereals or a rockery, you can easily make a smooth transition: the shadow - ferns, hoofs; partial shade - mountain ash, hydrangea tree; the sun is juniper, and there, you look, and the pebbles went, mountain pines, lavender ... We planted as taught, in tiers, with lowering the height of the plants from the trees to the front edge, approaching tall plants to the arbor, surrounding the throat tree with a playground, going down with a sweetberry and sedge to the pond. So little by little we master all the areas, leaving a lawn of the required size in the middle of the plot.

And, by the way, about the size. Well, when from the planted trees to the front edge of the flower garden on average remains from three to five meters. With such a width, the plants will not be crowded afterwards, and they will not be the whole team under the overgrown tree crowns. And, of course, to give the "natural" outlines the front line can be made arbitrarily rugged. We plant catkins sage - we crawl out in an array of about five to seven meters or more. Beautiful fluffy branches of a pine to the ground - we admire it and don’t sit down at all, we are going to zero.

Such a single and continuous array of plants makes the garden very organic. There are no more restless "hills", it is not known how they appeared in the middle of the lawn. There are no lonely phloxes collapsing - they are deep in the mixborder, in a large array, supported in front by low spireas. There are no junipers that have been recklessly planted by the little ones at the very path, disturbing to walk and constantly trimming - they are dumped and give an enviable annual increase.

Another great mixborder around the perimeter is that you will always have a decent view from the window. Many gardeners make a mistake by planting peonies and a cornfield at the blind area under the window and neglecting the plantings at the fence opposite.

What do we see from the inside in the middle of the room? What is in front of us at eye level. The blind area with nevyanik falls into the invisible zone. Of course, we also plant plants around the house. But they are not for the view from the windows, but for external viewing. If the dimensions allow you to lay a bypass track, then between it and the blind area is a mixborder, only smaller. The path around the house can smoothly bend, moving away from the blind area at a distance from one meter to three or four.

What do we get as a result? No matter where in the site we are, we find ourselves in a cozy space among plants. Behind the house, drowning in greenery, and in front, left and right ... no, not a fence, but a magnificent "artistic" edge. So, literally in one fell swoop, we turn the plot into a garden.

© Author: O. Khleborodova

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© Author: O. Voronova (famous journalist in the field of construction topics). Photo E. Luchin. Landing Dimensions - Posted by Svetlana Devyaterikova

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