Improving your garden's setting

Flower & Garden Magazine, Jan-Feb, 1998 by Dianne Hogendorn

Like most gardeners, I am always seeking ways to make my yard look more attractive. I study pictures in books and magazines and visit gardens, both public and private, in search of ideas I can transplay to my own yard. I've come to realize that much of a garden's beauty comes from its background or setting. The most successful gardens can transport you from the everyday world with its share of noise, hassle and ugliness into a secluded realm where beauty and serenity reign.

What does make a handsome backdrop or your plantings? It needn't be a spectacular mountain range or ocean view. In fact, such dramatic backgrounds can divert the eye from the garden itself. Something simple is best if you want your flowers to be the focus of attention. One of the most pleasing settings for a garden is a two-tied background of shrubs and trees. If some of the plants are evergreen, the effect will last year-round.

Plain walls and fences also make attractive backgrounds and take up far less room than shrubbery -- an important consideration in a small yard. A fence with some vines to soften its bare look takes up less than a foot in width. If you are lucky enough to have an unusual natural feature in your yard, such as a rock outcrop, this can also make a fine garden setting.

So far these ideas may sound quite easy to achieve, but a closer study of the gardens we admire reveals something more elusive -- an absence of clutter. Most of us share our yards with modern technology in the form of parked cars, trash bins, air conditioners, gas and electric meters, antennas and utility wires. None of these objects adds beauty or otherworldliness to a garden, yet we would not want to dispense with them.

Another problem arises from the fact that we are usually dependent on the concept of the "borrowed landscape" -- most often our neighbors' yards. Home landscapes in America are traditionally open, flowing into each other with few barriers. Such openness can be very attractive if everyone on the street maintains their buildings and grounds. Yet, even in the best of circumstances, your garden may have as its background your neighbor's bric-a-brac, children's play sets in bright plastic, barbecue grills and swimming pools surrounded by chain-link fencing. In many densely developed neighborhoods, people are now opting for some enclosure, which allows them to control the quality of their gardens' background at least up to slightly above eye level.

An objective assessment of your yard is the first step toward improving your garden's setting. A camera is a useful tool for this task. Snapshots of your yard can be surprisingly helpful in spotting clutter that needs to be masked or eliminated.

Even the nicest yards often have a few trouble spots. One of my neighbors has a lovely, well-kept yard that is framed by trees and shrubs, some of which belong to the people on either side. Near the garage, however, are a compost bin, a woodpile and other paraphernalia of daily life. This utility area was the first thing visitors saw as they entered the back yard. Recently she enclosed the area with a fence; a new planting bed is taking shape around its edges. Now nothing distracts from the garden's beauty.

Those who live in cities may think that we country dwellers have it easy in creating backgrounds. Yet I have another friend who has spent several years planting trees, shrubs and hedges to block his view of a metal chicken barn across the road. This type of screening takes patience as you wait for your plantings to grow; larger specimens might be worth the extra expense. My friend's experience exemplifies another facet of background alteration: it is more difficult to screen views of tall objects.

A problem common to all locations, rural or urban, is the presence of utility poles and wires. A strategically placed tree is an obvious, but not always attainable, solution. Another way of drawing attention away from utility lines is to create a focal point in the center of your yard. This might be a gazebo, trellis, birdbath or other garden structure. An eye-riveting island bed can serve the same purpose. Directing the viewer with judiciously placed paths and benches can also help to emphasize the attractive parts of your yard and gardens.

Houses can make good backgrounds for gardens if some care is taken. Simple facades, without the distractions of fancy shutters, awnings and window boxes, allow your plantings to dominate the scene. Utilitarian objects such as meters and vents can be masked with shrubs or vines, placed so as not to interfere with their function. Still, the wall of an outbuilding, garage or shed sometimes makes a better background because of its lack of distracting elements.

Color, too, comes into play. One of my friends changed her house paint from yellowish beige to a rosy shade of beige. Her pink flowers suddenly stood out, inspiring her to convert her garden to mostly pink and white. Now house and garden harmonize beautifully.