Repetition is a technique to produce unity in the garden.

Plants, building materials, and color are repeated so they produce a feeling of order and cohesion.

We spoke earlier about integrating garden structures by repeating color or building materials.

Use repetition effectively in your design by:

• Using a single type of groundcover over an entire garden and then use specific plants in the ground cover to provide varying interest though out the year. The repetition of the groundcover gives a unified color and texture on the ground while the plant accents give interest. The groundcover holds the whole design together.
• Repeating several similar varieties of the same general species of major shrubs so the masses have a similar feel.

Home Garden Tip: When developing your landscape design idea, avoid grouping different shrubs, groundcovers, structures or objects that are not related to each other in form or color. This will produce busyness and a feeling of disorder in a space.

Finally, to complete your home garden, you'll need to know the basics on...

read on...