Roy's Garden: Cultivate a relationship with your garden design

Photo by Roy Mangel

By Roy Mangel

A harmonious relationship with our garden is not everyone’s cup of tea, but more often than not I am told in consultation that people would like to come home to a peaceful sanctuary. Many people want to walk through their garden and smile when they look in every direction. No matter if it is after a long commute on a rainy winter day, a sunny evening eating alfresco, or lazy afternoon reading a gripping novel, the ability to draw in the simplistic energy of nature from your patch of outdoors is priceless. I describe this as a relationship with your garden.

But finding a healthy relationship with nature seems to be anything but simplistic when you are creating your garden. Often it is the Western standard to simplify by having a large lawn and small border beds. Yes, this is simple and quaint in many instances. But where is the flow, the balance, the magic? Where is the sound of the wind and birdsong when you are strolling through the trees? Where is the serenity of water flowing down the face of worn rock? Where do you find the strength and peacefulness of waterlogged fronds or leafy branch bending wistfully toward the earth after a hard rain? 

For me the most important aspect of this relationship is where and how we access our outdoor space. I am a big fan of a practical place to sit or lie down and enjoy what nature has to offer from within. Not everyone is looking for the same garden experience. You will find what you are looking for when you decide on the relationship between space, form, and structure of your garden elements...

• When you leave room for the plants you choose to grow to their potential.  
• When you give them the proper light to grow at their own pace so they need not to be shaped or pruned into submission.  
• When you cultivate your soil and allow for the unseen world to grow below the surface.  

Photo by Roy Mangel

Although it may be a good start, it is not as simple as opening up a Gertrude Jekyll book on how to create the perfect garden. Your space is unique and must be designed from your perspective. My advice, however drab a beginning for an outdoor project, is to visit the library, and open a few books. Read them in your garden or at your window. Spend time between chapters in the space around your home. 

Walk, sit, even lie down on your grass or non-prickly weed patch. This is your training. Make some decisions and write them down. Understand that ideas may not be great decisions to be implemented and the parts may be revised as you arrive closer to your destination.     

Your garden may contain many parts. My hopes are always that consideration is given to the individual parts of your garden. Most especially, consider your visceral needs from the start rather than trying to cram them into a predefined space. I understand that in reality we all have our predefined canvas. But it is easy to get stuck when you think in terms of boundaries. Harmonious relationships are found all throughout the open spaces between the earth and the sky so it is imperative to think multi-dimensionally. 

Photo by Roy Mangel

Remember that you should be part of the space as well. For some that means to look from the outside, for others it means to sit or stroll within. As you design your garden it is often helpful to understand that ever so truly it is the parts that make up the whole.   

Roy Mangel is the owner of Shoreline landscape design business Elements of Nature, Inc.

He is the designer of the recently completed Densmore Pathway.