On the countryside there is a special freedom of creativity - the owner can realize any idea, build in their own space around the house. Sometimes come across such possessions, where the slides, fountains, sculptures, arbours are collected, but there is no integral picture that makes the dacha ensemble memorable. To create a truly interesting image of your garden that can please and amaze you, before drawing up a design project, building and land works, acquiring plants and garden accessories, you need to study the styles of landscape design and stay on one.

Vertical, horizontal, volume and four elements

All components of landscape design successfully fit into the rule of "combine top, bottom and shape", and also symbolically support 4 natural elements (wood, water, stone, air) while filling the landscape. An additional component that gives the ability to draw any geometric shapes, emphasize accent objects, is light.

	Air	Water	A rock	Tree	Shine
Horizontal	Panoramic view	Ponds Reservoirs Streams	Garden paths Access lanes Parking areas Patio	Decorative Shrubs Sweeping plants	Track lighting Artificial illumination of reservoirs
Vertical	«Shine в конце тоннеля» — приглашающее к прогулке световое окно в конце аллеи	Cascades Waterfalls	Retaining walls Columns Stone arches	Full-size trees Verticalное озеленение	Separately standing lights
Scope	Open spaces (lawn, paved area)	Scopeные фонтаны	Garden furnaces Sculptures Fireplace	Topiari MAFs (gazebo, pergola, latticed canopies)	Shineовые фигуры Shineовое оформление зеленых насаждений

When designing a landscape project, it is necessary to link vertical and horizontal planes, emphasize the necessary volume, create a single space where nothing will be discordant with a common style solution.

       

What determines each style: compare features

The starting point for creating a landscape of your own hacienda can be any little thing. The main thing is to correctly classify it, to determine whether it is a style. Love for sand trails of travertine can push on the design of the garden "a la Italy", the view that "the rose is the finest of flowers" will prompt the use of English classics, the obligatory presence of the aroma of lavender - a direct reference to the sun-saturated Provence. The main characteristics of garden layout and filling elements will help to narrow the scope of the selection of the style.

The severity, the use of rectangular forms in the breakdown of the garden are different:

1. Regular (French);
2. Japanese;
3. Mauritanian.

The smoothness, roundness of the lines is inherent:

1. English style;
2. Country;
3. Russian modern;
4. Chinese;
5. Etchikolu.

The lushness of flowering vegetation, the riot of colors inside the geometrically rigid layout are typical for the Moorish garden space, the classical English garden, on the contrary, implies an ideally-calibrated range of colors of cold shades, a large amount of greenery, a general color restraint.

       

Historical styles - echoes of bygone eras

Any historical style of landscape design is a reflection of the appropriate time, colored by national color. The thorough replication of the palace gardens today is not topical, it requires the scope of possessions, the staff of gardeners and tireless cares, but using typical techniques, arranging the necessary accents, selecting suitable plants (originals or local analogues) allows creating a small scale object that fits into the style frames. The use of characteristic types of paving, site planning, hedge trim, the arrangement of mandatory areas draws a spectacular style image.

       

English style: cold stiffness in landscape entourage

A classic example of the English-style landscape was observed by the heroine of Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice" in the richest manor of Mr. Darcy. The garden was regular and luxurious at the same time. More mundane landscape patterns of this type of design are inherent in the smoothness of the outlines of man-made elements (areas, paths, marking the boundaries of plantings, contours of reservoirs), restraint in the selection of plants, their color range. Preferably cold shades of inflorescences, a combination of pink and blue, the absence of screaming accents. Particular attention is paid to green plantations and lawn: in addition to careful year-round care (haircut, trimming, replacement of extinct specimens), there is a thorough screening of species according to the type and color of the foliage. As a result, the English garden looks very well maintained and harmonious.

When composing typically English compositions from perennials, the color and dimensional rhythm is important, the proportional combination of plants among themselves, the multifaceted planting, the timing of flowering.

       

Dutch coziness: canals, mills, tulips

The image of the Dutch garden directly correlates with the nature of the inhabitants of this country and its natural conditions. Forced to conquer the advancing sea for a living, the Dutch really appreciate the land, their gardens are very small. The main features of the Dutch disposition, reflected in the landscape:

• Practicality - the area is used to the maximum, ordinary trees are replaced by dwarf forms;
• Reasonableness - to each element its place (carefully calculated zoning);
• Accuracy - the garden is kept in perfect order;
• Love of life - voluminous spots of bright colors, the use of garden figures and mini-objects;
• Pride - the most effective part of the garden is the parterre in front of the house to cause admiration of passers-by.

A rustic, tasteful country life

Деревенский стиль (кантри) ландшафтного дизайна характеризуется некоторой небрежностью, налетом старины, отсутствием идеально выверенных пропорций. Кажется, что художник легкими мазками набросал живописный эскиз, который вдруг ожил. Tree, камень, ивовая лоза, камыш, глина – все природные материалы найдут здесь применение. В кантри стиле приветствуется строительство деревянных беседок, создание рукотворных прудов и ручьев, свободных от правил цветников, где соседствуют разнообразные растения. Элементы декора, задействованные при создании сада, полного сельского очарования – это плетеные заборчики, глиняные горшки, кадки с цветами, яркие садовые скульптуры, колеса и старинные телеги, вьющиеся растения, аккуратные обрамленные грядки, – все то, что так мило сердцу замученного городского жителя и моментально образует идиллическую картинку.

Chinese Garden - inlaid casket with a secret

Special features of the Chinese style in landscape design are the grace of lines, the richness of colors, the desire to make from the simple complex without violating the natural harmony. The space is artificially stretched due to the long length of winding footpaths, the inclusion of water compositions into the landscape (calmly calm ponds are replaced by cascading steps), the separation of the garden with light walls with cut openings (the "moon gate"), intriguing the visitor, inviting him to further travel.

The landscape focus of the garden is stressed:

1. Curved lines of bridges, echoing with the roofs of arbours, pagodas, decorative gates;
2. A skillful combination of two opposing energies: water and stone;
3. Centered garden composition;
4. Use of plants with naturally rounded forms or the use of topiary.

       

Colonial style: organic, accurate, dignified

Colonial style combines two different cultures - imported from outside and aboriginal. This is a sample of mutually enriching synthesis, when the European multinationality of the colonizers, the limited choice of building materials, the variety of exotic local flora resulted in an amazing symbiotic style, which is characterized by warmth, slight carelessness, soft coziness. Pushing the gate of the infield designed in a colonial style, I want to exclaim: "Home, sweet home!". Smooth lines of bright flower beds, round outlines of woody compositions repeat in the paths of garden paths made of bricks, slab stones, impregnated wood. The echo of the practical application of the first settlers of land plots is zoning: there must be an orchard and garden part, which is often decorated as a decorative garden in a regular style. The garden with sun-drenched terraces is behind the house, protected from outside views. It is full of colors, but the visiting card of the colonial design is a low wooden fence "like a grandmother", painted with simple white.

       

Moorish style: a mystery with seven seals

Closed from extraneous gardens in the Moorish style fully meet the definition of "pleasure for the eyes and relaxation of the heart." Surrounded by desert and high walls, oases are filled with bright colors with a strong smell, sparkling water of fountains and canals full of green foliage. Eastern luxury has to naked, enjoy life, uninterrupted pleasures. The Mauritanian style implies the unity of opposites: everything that the human hand has created is straightforward, strictly, has clear boundaries, everything that is presented by nature rages in its pristine beauty. In artificially divided into 4 squares, the paths are lined with tiles, creating complex ornaments, and green plantings of different heights are used as screens that hide the private life of the owners. The ornament of the garden is fruit trees, and the queen is a rose. Most preferred varieties that have a lush multilobed inflorescence and a thick aroma penetrating into all corners of the garden.

Lavender Provence: a touch of antiquity is mandatory

When the word "Provence" is recalled pictures with endlessly disappearing into the distance in rows of purple flowers, but the Provencal garden is a small, cozy, cute space near the house. Typical features of French rustic design:

• Aged, shabby wood for garden furniture;
• Weathered stone of retaining walls and flowerbeds;
• Cobbled paths, on which creep overgrown plants;
• Required figured garden with herbs;
• The abundance of lavender on flowerbeds, in terracotta pots, separating the recreation area with a forged bench from other garden areas;
• Crooked plants, braided arches and pergolas, as a way of shading from the hot sun;
• A number of fruit trees with flat crowns, formed with a special kind of trimming, along the wall of the house.

Features of the layout: French regular style

Mirror display of parts of the garden along the central axis, the clarity of borders, shorn hedges of various heights, long neat alleys, curly flower borders - that's what distinguishes the French park ensembles, the creation of which is elevated to the rank of art. Classic elements of the regular palace style are:

1. Fountains with sculptural groups;
2. Front parterre in front;
3. Reservoirs изогнуто-симметричных форм в каменном обрамлении;
4. Rows of sheared exotic trees in massive tubs, which are cleaned for winter in greenhouses;
5. Ideal extensive lawns as a binder of all space;
6. Flower beds forming a complex geometric pattern;
7. "Green" secret rooms, labyrinths, amphitheaters.

Romantic travel in Italy

Warm wind, sun, saturated aromas are the distinctive features of the Mediterranean climate, which are reflected in the Italian design of gardens. The classic palace garden park is the symmetry of the layout, the trimmed trees in the vases, hedges, clearly delineating space, straight paths, raised ponds, fountains and marble sculptures. The picturesque nature, the richness of flowering plants are balanced by a strict composition of man-made changes in the landscape. In contrast, a small garden with a touch of romance is easier to design - its characteristic features add a cheerful color:

• A stone patio with furniture, combining wood and forging, is designed for noisy family meals;
• The bench under the pergola, covered with roses or grapes, is perfect for an afternoon rest;
• Open terrace, set with flower pots, in the late evening will give the opportunity to admire the stars.

Japanese garden: low-key purity of style

The main features of the landscape in the Japanese style is asceticism, compositional accuracy, restraint. Nothing should distract from the contemplation of natural harmony or immersion in one's own thoughts. An indispensable combination of water, stone, living plants creates a special, miniature world where time flows very slowly, where a person is given infinity to watch willow branches or flying flower petals leaning over the lake. When developing the design of the Japanese garden, the stylistic solution will be:

• Asymmetrical planning of the site;
• The calculation of specific points: any movement through the zones of the Japanese garden should represent the viewer an ideal picture;
• Lighting the recreation area with stone lanterns;
• Accommodation of beautiful groups of stones, paving paths with separate flat stones, framed with lawn or pebbles;
• The use of plants sung in Japanese poetry: maples, cherries and plums, chrysanthemums, willows, pines, pions.

       

The garden of our time: from complex to simple

A modern landscape designer is provided with a large palette of style tools. New directions have an individuality, but do not require strict standards. The absence of rigid restrictions allows you to mix variants among themselves, complement them with each other, and implement interesting ideas. For example, today one of the emerging styles is fantasy. Under the influence of "Travel back and forth", "The Witcher", novels about barbarians, sorcerers, treasures of gnomes, customers dream to see at their site Hobbitaniyu or dense forest. Yes, sometimes adults also want to live in a fairy tale. The task of a specialist is to realize this desire, filling the surrounding space with mysterious corners under the shadow of woven branches, unknown paths leading to a quiet backwater, "old-fashioned" buildings. The cellar from Shira, the children's house - the Baba Yaga hut, the gazebo with the oven, like the tavern tavern, will successfully denote the ownership of the possessions to the "kingdom beyond the world's ends".

       

Alpine meadow + alpine hill = alpine style

Alpine style of landscape design replicates the natural beauty of European mountainous regions, so it is used on sites with a serious bias. The central accent is the use of stone of all sizes from boulders to pebbles. The place will have everything: cobblestones, paving, slides and rockeries, "dry streams", cascading reservoirs, where water splashes on stone slopes, rocky observation platforms. In combination with green lawn grass, the stone looks most natural. A separate zone of the site can be given under the alpine meadow: the flowering motley grass waving by the wind will echo the aromas with spicy greens (thyme is planted at intervals between fragments of the alpine hill where, expanding, it fills the cavities along with heaths, creeping cleanses, and subulate phloxes). The classic location of the house at the top of the site reveals a panoramic view of the kaleidoscope of colors characteristic of this style.

       

Minimalism: better less, yes better

A small section can be issued in any style, but minimalism can make it not miserable, but worthy. "I cut off all unnecessary," Michelangelo answered the question of how he creates his marble sculptures. The task of minimalism is similar - to remove the unimportant, so that the true nature of the garden manifests itself in restraint. The format of the garden space calculated with engineering accuracy is the main idea. Scandinavian approach to the selection of shades (preferable neutral, natural tones), thoughtful composition, clearly defined boundaries - these are the distinctive features of design with a sense of dignity. The forms characteristic of minimalism are simple, due to the reduction in the number of decorative accents, space expands, the eye rests on the greenery and the mirror-like surface of the water.

Garden in Art Nouveau style

The main rule of landscape design "the style of the house determines the shape of the garden" in modernity becomes a dogma. The main structure is the center of the whole space. From it, the zones of the site diverge, internal features of the building are copied in external objects. Modernism refers to the landscape category of garden design: there are no right angles, clear lines. A distinctive feature are smooth contours, natural curves of garden paths, plant compositions, water objects. The garden breathes peace, the repetition of contours in various elements (small architectural forms, decor objects, flower beds, lawn borders) creates a leisurely rhythm that sets the contemplative rest. The effect of appeasement is enhanced by a restrained color scheme of green plantations and flower beds.

Iris is the central flower of Art Nouveau, it appears in paintings, stained-glass windows, forging, parquet, wooden carving of the interior design of the house, and beautifully decorate the garden. Elegant flowers on proud peduncles - the very embodiment of style.

       

Hi-tech: the future is already here

Getting into the high-tech garden, a person feels like a hero of a fantastic novel on a huge space ship, where everything is provided for a long stay. The main features of landscape design of high-tech style:

• Use of rectangular shapes, expressed boundaries;
• Filling open areas with a grassed lawn, stone tiles, pebbles;
• The main materials: stone, concrete, glass, plastic, processed wood;
• Restrained colors;
• Use art objects from metal, stone, glass, mirrors;
• Water objects without vegetation, enclosed in rigid frames.

The most powerful tool for creating a high-tech style garden is light. Backlight places accents, depending on the work of light groups, various light patterns appear.

Экостиль - complete oneness with nature

Developing a project in eco-style, the designer solves the problem of maximizing the natural advantages of the site and minimizing interference in the landscape. It is necessary so to place all the buildings so as not to disturb the ecosystem in miniature. The most significant is the stage of preliminary study:

• it is necessary to draw a diagram of the terrain with the marking of heights, the fall of shadows when moving the sun, the existing large trees in order to preserve them;
• to analyze the pros and cons, on their basis to propose a plan for landscape change;
• to study the plants growing on the terrain, to make a dendroplane of the necessary green plantations.

What is the master, such is the style

In the process of choosing from the variety of artistic methods of harmonizing the countryside, it is difficult to make the very first decision. It is necessary to build on your own preferences, because the garden is a reflection of the soul of its owner. When the style is defined, the further process will go faster: you need to accurately observe the style description, follow the advice of landscape designers, and competently look after the created space. Then, coinciding in appearance with the dream environment of a country house will become a source of pride, and garden care will bring pleasure.