Details often determine a purchase: the stitching on a jacket, the buttons that are neat onto a toaster or the smooth metal trim on an iPhone. Gardens are the same — these tiny touches of brilliance at the details finish the image.

Should we look carefully in the best garden layouts, we can observe how the small things matter most. From the construction of timberwork into the inclusion of textural materials and the novel use of crops, details are worth attention.

Jeffrey Gordon Smith Landscape Architecture

The neutral gravel and paving in this beautiful courtyard infill mix seamlessly with the building. The blue-green planted containers flanking front doors are the very clever finishing details. The colour of those planters follows the dark green of the leaves to finish the design. Containers can make a stunning, witty or subtle statement in almost any garden.

Landscape Architects, integration Design Studio

Check out the additional touches which make this design stand out: the pebble foundation of this pond and the planting between the pavers. The pebbles in the pond floor provide texture and depth. The planted gaps in the paving repeat the openings between the steps.

Terra Ferma Landscapes

Gravel, pebbles and cobblestones are great garden design details. This clever pebble rill links many areas of the garden, dividing the paving and generating a textural transition.

Pebble rills and arid streams are helpful when a water feature would be nice but safety reasons won’t allow it.

Exteriorscapes llc

Here, pebble-filled gabions support these planted rill-style beds. This design detail not only adds a new feel, but also produces a smooth transition from the steel of the rill into the gravel beneath.

Switzer’s Nursery & Landscaping, Inc..

It’s always important to keep with all the mood and style of surrounding buildings when installing a pergola, but it does not imply its construction has to be primitive and easy.

The beautiful details of the pergola remind me of this furniture made by the Scottish artist Charles Rennie Macintosh from the late 1800s. The jointing is really a delight and adds interest from the garden even if it is not coated with climbers.

Phi Ventures Ltd

The through jointing of the crossbars in this pergola not only has a slightly Asian feel, but also the additional plus of the beautiful shadows that the crossbars cast against the other timbers.

Lazar Landscape Design and Construction

The amazing construction of this rill supports in this garden produces a sculptural look with a practical use. The bolts and method of construction show clearly for additional texture and manifestation. Keep in mind that you don’t always need to conceal the building method from the garden — rather, create a characteristic of it.

See more about garden rills

Lazar Landscape Design and Construction

This easy strained wire fence supports recently planted grapevines. It is a basic structure that does its intended job, yet it becomes much more with the accession of this beautiful post caps.

Jeffrey Gordon Smith Landscape Architecture

Decking can feel really stark in a garden layout because of the nature of the substances and the amount of space. This decking is considerably softened by raising each deck over the next and by edge planting grasses.

Debora carl landscape design

Yellow-red succulents look as though they are trying to escape by means of this modern pole fence, resulting in to the eye through the space while still forming a physical obstacle.

Plantings can often take us by surprise — especially when their shape, colour or texture is employed as a particular detail at a garden’s design.

This classic, minimalist patio shows how little traces of plant detail can transform well into excellent. The box balls at the formal raised planter replicate the rounded container plants around the table, linking both areas and unifying the design.

Kenneth Philp Landscape Architects

Many of us are confronted with the problem of unsightly drains or drain covers in our gardens. The spreading foliage of Baby Tears, Soleirolia soleirolii, turns out a drain cover into a standout characteristic. The designer used a mixture of the conventional green Soleirolia in addition to the gold number Soleirolia soleirolii ‘Aurea’.

Planting note: Soleirolia develops in bright or partial shade requirements and is easily controlled by judicial pruning.

Urban Nature / Troy Silva Design Group

Container gardening isn’t always about flowers and bright colours. This very simple container reinforces the layout’s contemporary style, whereas the green-gray of this succulents contrasts perfectly against the steel.

More:
Garden Design Principles: Texture
Unsung Garden Hero: Fantastic Foliage
Garden Design Essentials: Form and Mass

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