How Lawns Contribute To Garden Design

Extracted from an article by Garden News Editor Ian Hodgson.  This post looks at the importance of the lawn in garden design.

The design and development of domestic gardens has taken huge strides in the last seven decades.  Garden Design has been fuelled by three factors.

1. A widespread change in attitude to the creation of outdoor space.
2. Concerns about the health of our planet.
3. The realisation that gardens and garden making can bring to the quality of modern life.

Changes have also been driven by the rise of the professional garden designer. As well as the development of new horticultural technologies and processes.

The momentum has also been fuelled by widespread opportunities to present ideas.  The RHS Chelsea flower show,  books, TV,  internet and social media to name but a few.

The lawn has played an integral part of those changes.

The importance of lawns in garden design

The lawn has long remained an important aspect of the designed garden. From a practical standpoint it provides a soft, usable surface for recreation, including everything from sitting,sunbathing and play, including football and other active games. Along with the patio it is an important focus for family life, facilitating wider and more active communal interaction.

Restful on the eyes

As an aesthetic, the lawn provides welcome visual relief from busy plantings. The verdant monotone emphasises the use of colour in other parts of the garden.

Close-mown turf  links garden elements together in a way that other materials just can’t do. The lawn provides cohesion, unity and injects a sense of purpose and intent to the design.

Molding the shape and outline of an area of turf can  influence the way we engage and interact with the garden. Curved outlines create a tranquil, peaceful effect.  We feel invited to meander and explore.

Strongly geometric lines, such as squares or rectangles emphasise a sense of importance. They are often associated with formality.
A circular lawn acts as a focal point and is a useful way to disguise an awkward shaped plot.

A narrow strip of lawn can act as a pathway, inviting exploration and drawing our gaze to a distant object or horizon. Alternatively it can act as a sight line, creating a vista to a focal point or far horizon.

By playing with perspective through exaggerating narrowing or widening of turf pathways; you can create the illusion a distant object or view is further away or nearer than it actually is.

Turf readily lends itself to being used three-dimensionally.

1. It readily disguises awkward changes in level that would be difficult and expensive to manage with rigid paving.
2. It can be used demarcate subtle changes of height where steps link a series of grass-covered terraces.
3. Taken to its creative zenith it can be used to create extraordinary features or land art. Such as the sinuous landforms at ‘ The Garden of Cosmic Speculation’ by Charles Jenks in the Scottish borders.

Effects can be simple to create.

The way the turf is mown will create pattern and drama. Crisp, geometric lines from a cylinder mower will reinforce architectural designs, or instill a sense of movement on the ground.

A rotary or hover mower will create a unified surface.

Turf cut a varying heights can also be used to create an astonishing array of  effects.  The contrasting colours and textures of long and short grass are fascinating. More so if the longer grass is diversified with naturalised bulbs, wildflowers or perennials.

Wildflowers make a great alternative to a grass lawn

Interested in garden design? You may like this idea to save maintenance and support wildlife.

Wildflowers instead of formal lawns