Garden Design for the City Lot and the Small Suburban PropertyALTHOUGH the rules and principles of composition apply universally to all landscape designs, the city lot and the small suburban property present some rather special problems. Both offer difficult growing conditions and therefore must rely on a restricted list of plant material and more architectural features than does the average suburban property. In the city, plants must struggle against adverse conditions like dust, dryness, shade, and noxious fumes. Space, too, is limited in the extreme. Many robust, quick-growing trees and shrubs cannot be accommodated because of space limitations, and yet only robust and quick-growing plants will survive the conditions. Here it is imperative to design so that these obstacles may be at least partially overcome. Usually, in the long run, the city back yard evolves into a combination of a pleasing pattern of pavements, walls, steps, and perhaps a pool or wall fountain, with a minimum of planting. Flagstone, brick, and gravel pavements can be used to cover most of the area, thus eliminating troublesome grass spaces. Walls, lattices, fences, and hedges can take the place of informal shrub groups. These accent the lines of the design and do so in a minimum of space. Creating different levels in the
different parts of the scheme often helps
to make it interesting, and these changes
of level provide an opportunity for the
introduction of short flights of steps,
themselves an interesting feature. Only
a few plants, used mainly as temporary
decorative units, to be replaced when
they become unhealthy or scraggly looking,
are called for. Potted material is of great
value in such a situation. The plants do
just as well as though set in the ground;
and the pots or tubs, window boxes, or
urns in which they are set, have a definite
decorative value. back
to the garden planning home page. |
|||
|
