If you’re tired of seeing the exact same old temperate gardens in the magazines, then allow this trip of six botanical gardens from Florida to Arizona function as breath of fresh air. I’ll show you what works about the gardens envisioned and even demonstrate how you can use their suggestions to your own garden regardless of climate or budget. Even if you already know a thing or 2 about garden design (and I’m certain you do), you’ll still love perusing the photos I have taken of some really magnificent gardens.

Fairchild Botanical Garden
Miami
More info

1. Use color bravely. Notice that I stated to utilize color bravely instead of recklessly. The intense and clashing colors here would be at odds implanted together in different gardens, however they look perfectly balanced and pleasing in this, thanks to a limited color palette and plant choice. The Green cycads (Cycas circinalis, zones 9b into 11) in the rear allow the eye to break, even though a mass of purple heart (Tradescantia pallida, zones 9 to 11) mimicked the composition by punching purple slopes round shining orange bromeliads (Aechmea blanchetiana, zones 9b into 11). A silver Bismarck palm (Bismarckia nobilis, zones 9b into 11) stands enjoy a white statue for the greatest in contrasts.

Hint: A gardener beyond the tropics can receive this look by choosing plants for their contrasting colours (ajuga and hostas, anyone?) And planting them en masse to exciting effect.

Desert Botanical Garden
Phoenix
More info

2. Borrow viewpoints. “Borrowing an opinion” means to leave your garden open to a particularly pleasing view past the property line. In the case of this planting revealed here, the scenery actually extends into the garden itself using barrel cacti (Echinocactus grusonii, zones 9 to 11) and other Arizona natives, creating a seamless transition between the land and the mountains beyond. The round cacti catch the golden light of the setting sunlight, borrowing a picturesque perspective and stealing the scene.

Hint: Not everyone has a vista of mountains past the backyard, however there are likely to be trees in adjacent properties which you may use to your advantage. Disguise eyesores such as other buildings by planting shrubs, leaving just enough room to catch glimpses of trees throughout the garden. You would be surprised by the outcome.

Disney Animal Kingdom
Orlando, Florida
More info

3. Showcase a set. You would not expect to realize a world-class assortment of primitive plants and ferns in a theme park, however, Disney’s Animal Kingdom is no ordinary attraction. Tree ferns (Cyathea cooperi, zones 9 to 11) and cycads smother the forest floor beneath towering magnolias and monkey puzzle trees (Araucaria araucana, zones 8 to 11). Dinosaur footprints stamped into the stained concrete betray your sense of logic and allow your imagination run wild. And if you break out the binoculars and take a short hike, you’re likely to discover enough ancient plants to create a seasoned archaeologist do a double take.

Hint: Maintaining a group of themed or associated plants in a more sensible-size garden may lead to a cluttered mess if you’re not careful. To keep your daylily or hosta set cohesive, utilize repetition — select a constant edging plant or ground cover for the foreground and also a mass of trees to the background. This can help lead the eye through the garden.

Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens
Jacksonville, Florida
More info

4. Practice restraint. To see the soothing effect supplied by a mass of the exact same plant, look at the planting of culture garlic (Tulbaghia violacea, zones 7 to 11) in the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens’ “Savanna Blooms” exhibit for instance. This plant palette is primarily South African species grouped together in naturalistic drifts. Each curve in the trail reveals another river of colour, make it a swath of orange Bulbine (Bulbine ‘Hallmark’, zones 9 to 11) or a billowing cloud of blue plumbago.

Hint: You may not think you have enough space just for a single floor cover, but it is likely that you simply do: Turf grasses probably already cover the bulk of your lawn. Practice restraint in your own garden by restricting your plants into a handful of colours or by choosing a dependable plant and using it throughout the garden. Plan your garden before you fill up your shopping cart in the nursery.

The situation for mass plantings

Desert Botanical Garden
Phoenix

5. Direct the opinion. Or direct the trail too for that matter. This modern zigzag walkway in the Desert Botanical Garden brilliantly brings visitors to the garden both physically and visually, allowing them to slowly take in the whole scene. Two saguaro cacti (Carnegia gigantea, zones 9 to 10) stand as sentinels and frame the opinion of this shorter, hairy cactus like large, prickly gateposts, however thanks to the jagged path, it takes your eyes somewhat longer to even process that it is the end of the journey.

Hint: To direct opinions in your own garden, use negative space such as a mown lawn, low-growing floor covers or pathways which lead the eye toward a focal point, be it a garden construction, a statue or a specimen plant. Frequently the eye already has a path to travel on but there’s nothing in the destination.

Leu Botanical Gardens
Winter Park, Florida
More info

6. Accent a pathway. Picture this picture without that glowing green paddle-leaved Heliconia (Heliconia species, zones 9b into 11) indicating the curve of the trail. Pretty boring, right? A curving pathway introduces a valuable opportunity for a gardener to emphasize a small something particular in which it is guaranteed to be viewed, a tactic that has been put to great use here. It does not really matter that bare dirt, mulch and weeds surround the heliconia, since the plant is intriguing enough to distract you from the unattractive particulars.

Hint: This attention-grabbing trick can be put to great use in your home garden along with other plants that are exciting, especially to distract from an uninteresting or downright ugly view. Whether you plant a tree with an intriguing form, a perennial with stunning flowers or a leafy foliage plant with unusual hues or extra-large leaves, by now the visitor has completed looking at your preferred accent plant, then he or she will have already moved on round the bend. Nothing more to see here …

Costa Farms Trial Gardens
Homestead, Florida
More info

7. Garden just like a painter. The trial garden in megagrower Costa Farm’s nurseries may not be a botanical garden in the strictest sense, but inventive plantings similar to this painterly flower bed make the short trip from Miami rewarding. Here you may see many elements of a well-designed flower bed, from massed multiples of the same plant in natural shapes to trendy colours and tall dark foliage planted in the rear of the bed to create the other colors stand out. The effect when viewed overhead is like that of mythical landscape designer Roberto Burle Marx’s painterly garden designs. He’d really create abstract paintings and design gardens according to his art.

Hint: everyone can integrate an artist’s signature when designing a home landscape by treating the garden like one large canvas. How? Here’s a hint: Artists paint using brushstrokes instead of random splotches, so plant so. A good painter plans a work of art with imagination and wild abandon before perfecting it into a completed product, and the exact same is true for gardens.

Desert Botanical Garden
Phoenix

8. Tailor a tapestry. I’m not implying that these cacti are touchable by any means, but their frosty texture brings something really special for this planting in the Desert Botanical Garden. This patchwork of purple prickly pears (Opuntia violaceae var. Santa-rita, zones 7 to 11) and teddy bear cacti (Opuntia spp( various zones) is best seen and not touched, though you may create similar effects by utilizing combinations of plants using similar colours.

Hint: A plant’s texture is best characterized by how fine or class its leaves look from a distance rather than how it really feels.To create your very own drought-tolerant and silvery planting, look to succulents like hens-and-chicks (Sempervivum spp) and stonecrop (Sedum spp, various zones) or herbs such as lavender (Lavendula angustifolia, zones 5 to 11) and thyme (Thymus spp, zones 3 to 9).

See related