Garden Design
Article Series: Elements of Garden Design
In the spring 2018 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin, we began a new series of articles exploring the basic elements of garden design. The idea was to not only to discuss and summarize the design elements, but also to show them using lots of photos of actual gardens and planting beds.
Structure, by Phil Wood
Color, by Daniel Mount
Texture, by Janine Anderson
Scale and Proportion, by Richie Steffen
Unity, by Barbara Blossom Ashmun
Time, by Corinne Kennedy
Related Links
Designing Colorful Island Beds in the Garden, by Barbara Blossom Ashmun (Fall 2018)
Seattle Japanese Garden: Designed in the Stroll-Garden Style, by Corinne Kennedy (Summer 2020)
Designing the Centennial Summer Garden at the Arboretum, by Jason Morse (Summer 2017)
Shelagh Tucker’s summer-dry garden, Seattle (Photo: Phil Wood).
Humor: The Garden is a Dangerous Place
Gardening is a scary pastime, or so writer Barbara Blossom Ashmun claims in her article in the latest Arboretum Bulletin. In her many years as a garden professional and hobbiest, she has been attacked by bald-faced hornets, poisoned by plant sap, sent to ER because...
Bigleaf Maple: A Native Tree With Much to Offer!
As the warmth of summer fills our days, the canopy cover of trees provides welcome respite from the heat. With a spreading crown and thick branches covered with a profusion of foliage, mosses, lichens and ferns, the bigleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum) stands out as a...
Marvelous Woody Mints of the Arboretum
The mint family, Lamiaceae, is a familiar one for gardeners. We plant lots of low-growing herbaceous plants from this group - such as salvias, basil, and bee balm - in our kitchen gardens and ornamental borders. But you may be surprised to learn that the family also...