There are two ways of achieving balance in your design. They are through:

• Symmetry
• Asymmetry

Symmetry

Imagine you’re at the grocery store trying to balance oranges on a simple two-sided scale, how you would place them?

One way would be to put two of the same sized oranges, one on either side.

This is the concept behind the symmetrical style which is used for most formal gardens with their geometric mirror-like repetition of one side of the design on the other.

Asymmetry

Another way to balance that scale we were talking about would be by putting an orange on one side and on the other side putting two or more lighter oranges – well, maybe they’re really tangerines – that in total equal the weight of the other side. So you have a smaller amount on one side and a larger amount on the other side.

But the whole thing balances the scale.

This is the concept behind the asymmetrical style which is used for most natural and Asian style gardens.

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