Landscape Designer, Matt Leacy of Landart shares his three essential ingredients for creating your ultimate exotic garden escape, from integrating pathways to achieving the feng shui balance.
Matt says, “I’m not a feng shui expert as such, but from a design perspective I know what makes a garden look and feel good.”
We’ve seen the photos, and think Matt is definitely someone we’ll be taking advise from!
- Pick the Plants
Stepping into the Spring and Summer months, it’s time to make your outdoor space one of tranquility – a spot you’re drawn to to spend those lazy Sunday afternoons. For plants that thrive in the warmer months, look to a mainly green palette with thick foliage plants and oversized leafs with pops of accent colour. Calocasia will provide your garden with bold foliage, while the Abyssinian Banana Palm will give your landscape the dark green palette with a touch of claret for variety. Adding to those textures and hues, think of incorporating Phormium or Cordylines, available in a variety of shapes and colours they are perfect inclusion to suit your style, scheme and climate. Or a European fan palm gives a lush backdrop. A spot of silver or grey never goes astray, try helichrysum or teucrium.
- Set the path
“Ensuring a garden path creates a journey to the front of the garden or house, rather than a direct line is another design practice I try to implement that has positive feng shui”
Start to think about your garden’s best assets. Create a focal point which can be emphasized by defining the way people move around and within the space. For something that is unobtrusive and will blend well with natural tones – try hardwood timber decking or a natural stone, like limestone . Use feature/ accent lighting within the garden to highlight your chosen plants and the pathway and set the mood.
- Let it flow
Matt says, “Water is always a good calming element to include,” so let’s talk water features. As the weather heats up, cool your garden space with the calming sound of running water in small or large scale water features, incorporate a water feature (waterfalls, fountains etc.) as part of your pool and surrounds… From pre-existing materials such as interesting urns or basins, there are a range of options to create a low maintenance, inexpensive garden pool.
“Integrating fences so they don’t cut the garden landscape off and create hard barriers is another principle I follow. If a wall or fence is seen it because it is part of the design to guide the eye and offset other features. This includes the front boundary fence – in my opinion this should be broken up with planting or built with more earthy materials that soften and complement the house”
With this in mind, look to boundary/ screening plants such as Strelitzia Nicolai and Slender weaving bamboo to give that touch of privacy, or transform that dreaded old fence and enhance the atmosphere.
Aim to create natural, flowing shapes that compliment your space and structure. Instead of creating rigid, linear sections plan to encourage movement around the given area.
It’s as easy as one, two, three…
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