Design for Gardens

Successful garden designs offer a careful arrangement of form, texture, proportion, and color harmony. These basic principles are reflected not only in the plants chosen for the site but also in their interaction with the surrounding landscape and the architecture of the home. In these pages, the renowned landscape architect and horticulturist Joe Hudak provides an overview of design innovations through the ages and concludes with a personal account of his own five-year-long garden renovation project. He offers both philosophical and practical direction for creating aesthetically pleasing and useful outdoor spaces.

Whether you are looking to evergreen trees and shrubs to provide dense backdrops throughout the year, or deciduous trees for showy fall color and interesting shadow effects, or herbaceous perennials and annuals for splashes of color, advice is offered for selecting the right plant for the right situation, with emphasis on careful consideration of the desired effect and its appropriateness to the surrounding garden spaces.

Rather than presenting a checklist of ornamental plants, Hudak offers basic tenets of garden design in an accessible yet thorough manner that allows any backyard gardener in any region to bring together the pieces for a satisfying and enjoyable landscape.

Joe Hudak is also the author of our book, Gardening with Perennials Month by Month.