Botanical Garden Design Ideas

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So you want to know how to build a botanical garden in your yard?

Before you start digging carefully consider what you really want from the garden. You may soon discover that an average size garden cannot easily provide the requirements for a botanical garden.

Why?

The primary role of a botanical garden is to focus on providing a plant collection with some scientific basis. These gardens are not designed for the outdoor domestic needs of singles, families or a couple.

Prior to any design concept it is important to acknowledge that the look of your garden will be influenced by the more mundane domestic garden items such as a children's play equipment, potting shed, household bins, clothes line and so on.

The plant collection needs to fit around a family's requirement. If it is the other way around the plants are likely to be destroyed and the garden will look a total mess.

Sure a botanic garden can provide a children's playgrounds and outdoor seating areas but these activities can often be separated from the plant collections.

A botanical garden is basically a well cared for and well-designed (sometimes not even planned out) garden that is considered a public place for the whole community to enjoy. Mostly you will also be able to see cards with the scientific or botanical names of plants, flowers and trees. The key to creating a botanical garden right in your backyard is determining what these plants and trees will be called in any nursery, getting them and start designing! At home, however, you can include the plants you find the most attractive and there are no rules that state you have to keep plants that do not appeal to your tastes.

The most important task you should keep in mind when creating your own botanical garden is the application of a focal point. There should be a corner, a flowerbed or an amazing tree that ultimately attracts the attention. An ornamental flowering tree is a good example of a beautiful focal point and flowers and bushes of your liking can successfully surround these. To create that "lush" and tropical look, you should make sure you incorporate flowering bushes and trees and if you have a big backyard, you can create smaller, interesting focal points with these that lead up to your main attraction. Using bamboo adds to the tropical feel and can even be used to create "walls." Colour is crucial, especially when creating the "botanical garden" effect. This can be done by adding different rose bushes and trimming them to the correct heights to fit in different places. Hibiscus flowers with their huge blooms, Lilies or Gladiolus also add immense and beautiful colour to botanical gardens. When you plant them in heaps or "mass plant" them, you can create a magical effect.

Plan ahead and determine where the most shade and sunlight falls in your garden. Make sure you plant certain flowers and bushes according to their needs, because you can ultimately waste a lot of money by replacing plants over and over. Make sure you also know what the seasons do to your garden. In winter, for example, it is great to have evergreens and plants that keep their berries so you will have colour all year round. When it comes to grass, it is best to use Zebra or Pampas (tall grasses) to fill space or to place here and there. Letting plants and grass grow more freely creates a more natural look.

Do not let a smaller yard discourage you, because smaller yards can in fact look cosier. Creating walkways makes a yard look bigger and adding a bench in the middle of tall plants also gives your garden an intriguing feel. It is also important to not only think "botanical," but also to be consistent with a style and climate appropriate plants, like Mediterranean or English Country. A botanical garden should ultimately be place where trees, flowers and shrubs are "cultivated for exhibition" and that is what you should recreate: a beautiful place that keeps you and visitors in a good mood.