6/23/09 CREATING GARDEN ROOMS

Tuesday, 7:30 AM. 56 degrees, wind W, dead calm. The channel is obscured by fog, and the sky is overcast with foggy clouds. It is a quiet and peaceful morning.
Garden rooms are an ancient landscape concept, still viable today. They are spatially separate areas of the landscape (landscape and garden are often synonymous terms) devoted to different aesthetic concepts or different activities. Properly executed, even the smallest property can be made much more interesting, functional and beautiful when divided into “rooms.” One does have to respect and enhance vistas and borrowed views. I offer examples from Garden View, even though they may not be the most exemplary.

• The very secluded front garden, with small deck, stone patio and swing.
• The very informal perennial garden, with borrowed views.
• The porch, with lots of plants and furniture and lake view.
• The work area on the side deck, with potting bench and grill.
• The picnic area with fire pit, bench, table and old apple tree.
• The quite formal, small “herb garden.”
• The lower level patio, with tea table, swing, and garden and lake views.

A small lawn ties several of the “rooms” together.

Outdoor rooms can be improved and embellished over time and offer great satisfaction and usefulness. Garden rooms can be delineated by trees, shrubs, and hedges and by walls, fences and other architectural features. They do not have to be completely secluded, but can flow into each other if appropriate. This concept has been handed down from Roman gardens, to Italian and French and English manor gardens, and of course Islamic gardens. Even cottage gardens make use of garden rooms, as do tiny Dutch gardens and many modern American gardens. Give the concept a try in your own garden and landscape, whether small or grand.