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).

Landscape Architecture Students Renovate a Water Channel in the Arboretum
AFTER: The Woodland Garden drainage pipe and water channel following the renovation.In early March 2023, students from the University of Washington Landscape Architecture Department completed a winter-quarter design-build project renovating the Woodland Garden pond...

Get to Know the Arboretum: 5 Projects, 5 Programs, and 5 Plans for the Future
Storytime at the Fiddleheads Forest School in the Arboretum. (Photo by UW Botanic Gardens)The Arboretum Foundation works in close partnership with UW Botanic Gardens and Seattle Parks and Recreation to support, manage, and advocate for the incredible green spaces at...

Restoring the Hydrology of Arboretum Creek
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