How to set spectacular accents in garden compositions using sculptures

In order for the garden to be attractive, bewitching, filled with mystery and not a second spent in it seems boring, care should be taken not only about the general design, allocation of spectacular zones and elements in the internal structure, but also about the decoration of each individual object, composition and zone. For each path, platform, flower garden, pond, lawn, hedge, narrow fence, etc. ensembles, you should think about the internal arrangement, crowned with a spectacular, eye-catching and mysterious element. Accents need to be placed even in the smallest garden ensembles, but this is not always easy to do. Let’s try to figure out how to choose and arrange the elements crowning the design, using the simplest means.

Garden sculpture for your garden plot from the Primachenko art studio workshop.

The perception of the garden, its image and completeness largely depend not on its size and complexity of design, and even less on the cost of materials used in the decor. They are largely determined by the little things that are striking first when you walk in the garden. In order to set off spectacular and catchy accents that will create a unique individual look, it is not at all necessary to use expensive stone sculptures or complex designs, plant exotic cultures: sometimes a simple stone or a seemingly most trivial plant can give the composition a real shine, if, of course, matched correctly. Thoughtfulness and attention to detail is the main guarantee of success. If you equip the garden correctly, move from general planning to arranging each individual ensemble as an independent object with its own internal structure, you will not have difficulties.

The main thing in choosing accents is harmony. They should ideally fit into each individual composition, emphasize its merits, distract attention from insufficiently expressive combinations and interest, attract eyes. If we are talking about a small garden, then for emphasis you need to use one form, but in large gardens you can play with different variations of motifs in separate areas of the garden. But remember that if we are talking about a series of objects or one zone, then the accents in different compositions should overlap with accents in neighboring ones. But this does not mean at all that the accents themselves cannot be varied, because the size, color scheme can be changed at your own discretion, but it is advisable to make the type of contour, lines common. So, if you use a square border, then look for an alternative for each ensemble, if we are talking about accenting with a standard or climbing plant - use the same central accent for each composition.

Choosing an accent is quite simple: it should stand out against the background of the composition, be the first to attract eyes, but at the same time maintain its style and character. The emphasis must be contrasted with the ensemble, which acts as a backdrop for it. There are two strategies here - to play on the contrast of heights by introducing an element much higher than the environment into the drawing or use color and textures that would shine as a bright spot against the general background. Let us give an example on a small round flower bed filled with lavender and catnip. If we are talking about the contrast of height, then you can use a boxed bush of boxwood, if we are talking about color - a bush of low bright green milkweeds or a nyvyanik, or you can even combine the two strategies in emphasis in the form of a white-flowering rose bush or a high gypsum sculpture.

The main emphasis tools are the introduction of straight lines, geometry and symmetry. They allow you to achieve harmony through repetition and simplicity, conciseness, which advantageously emphasizes the diversity of garden vegetation. Circles, ovals, semicircles, curls, rectangles, rhombuses, trapezoids, polygons, card motifs - the imagination in working with geometric shapes is almost unlimited. Geometric forms are introduced thanks to sheared plants, distinguished borders, paving methods, sculptures, supports for plants, furniture, etc. The most spectacular accents are those that do not repeat the main contours of the object in which they are located, but rather contradict it - round borders on a square platform adjacent to to the straight path there is a semicircular recreational area and a pond trimmed in the shape of a ball in a tree in a square paved area, etc.

But this does not mean at all that geometry and symmetry must be introduced wherever possible. Geometric accents make sense only in those gardens where it is possible to introduce quite strict, well-visible lines, create a single concept in paths, flower beds, supports for vines, borders, dry walls, hedges. If you intend to introduce a geometric accent in only one place in the garden - think about whether to do it at all. For example, if you reign in circles repeating in the contour of the lawn, all flower beds, turning into a hedge bent, fending off in the form of ribbed curbs, recreational areas and a pond, present in the windows in the hedge and plants trimmed in the shape of a ball, sunny hours, a round table on the terrace - accents with a geometric motif will sparkle, turning your garden into a small fairy kingdom. But if a circle is just a flower garden form that is not underlined by a border and is not repeated anywhere else, then this is not an accent, but only the shape of an object, which certainly will not make an accent crowning the design.

The accents can be not only geometric - a soloist plant with a certain crown shape that stands out above the general background, introduces three or five tall plants arranged in a “ladder” into the ensembles, uses the method of planting plants in stripes or ornamental, a plant located in the center that stands out in the color palette Each ensemble has a sculpture or a stone flowerpot, a support with a vine, etc. are also ways of interconnected emphasis. In the role of accents, you can use topiary figures, not necessarily with geometric contours, and cadre cultures arranged in a repeating rhythm throughout the garden, and fountains or garden benches. Accents do not need to be placed in the very center of the object or composition: they can be placed in the form of guards, entered at the corners, at the beginning or end of zones, paths, flower beds, arranged with an offset from the visual center to visually increase the space.

If you use plants as accents, remember that you need to choose crops that preserve decorativeness not only throughout the season, but also preferably in winter. An absolute favorite among plant accents is evergreens, although flowering vines and shrubs are also often used. In addition to traditional conifers and boxwood, you can use winter green shrubs (ivy, holly, cotoneaster, gorse), suitable for cutting perennials - common Dubrovnik, narrow-leaved lavender, Carpathian bells, cypress santolina, remont strawberry, soft cuff, etc.

Borders, which depending on your needs and style of the house and garden can be with smooth contours, and with more blurry lines, high or low, can offer no less variety of forms. Steel tapes can be used for a modern garden, and as an alternative to other styles, traditional bricks, decorative border tiles, twisted fences, sheared or freely growing vegetable borders.