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Simplicity: Why Less Is More in Garden Design
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Simplicity: Why Less Is More in Garden Design



Is your garden feeling a little chaotic? You might be missing the one thing professional designers swear by: simplicity.

In this video, I’ll show you why less really can be more—and how simplifying your garden design can actually make it more beautiful, more functional, and easier to maintain.

You’ll learn:
🌿 Why simplicity is not boring
🌿 How to avoid overplanting and clutter
🌿 How to use clean lines, repetition, and structure to create calm
🌿 What “lines of force” are—and how pros use them to guide garden layouts
🌿 Simple ways to tie your garden design to your home’s architecture
🌿 My favorite tips for editing your garden with intention

Whether you’re starting from scratch or editing an existing space, this video will help you see your garden with fresh eyes—and give you tools to design something stunning.

Mentioned in This Video:
Plant Perfect Activity Book: https://prettypurpledoor.com/plantperfect
Design Your 4-Season Garden Course: https://www.prettypurpledoor.com/course
Garden Styles Video: https://youtu.be/c-GE-0XP8aU?si=6NsSOGeprP22RitS

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👋Hi! I’m Amy and over at PrettyPurpleDoor.com, I help home gardeners design landscapes that are uniquely you.

👉️Take my Design Your 4-Season Garden course: https://prettypurpledoor.com/course

👉️Why Traditional Cottage Gardens Don’t Work (Free Class):
https://prettypurpledoor.com/cottageclass

👉️3 Garden Design Secrets Revealed (Free Class): https://go.prettypurpledoor.com/secretrevealyt

👉️Free Garden Design Guides: https://prettypurpledoor.com/guides

👉️Shop my Favorite Gardening Tools on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/shop/influencer-506a9c5b

Please note: I may earn commissions from qualifying purchases if you shop through links in this description box.

today I wanted to talk about the concept of simplicity and there’s a reason that professional designers lean into this thought or idea of simplicity it’s not because they don’t like plants and it’s definitely not because they want their gardens to be boring so today I’m going to go over some tips and tricks that designers use and just kind of explain this concept of simplicity in a way that doesn’t lose your own personality and your unique vision in your garden because simplicity doesn’t mean less beauty it means more impact now I’m not saying that everyone needs a simple plain boring garden so please don’t come for me in the comments if this is not for you this is just a fun topic that a lot of designers use to create order in a space and I thought it would be fun to talk about today with you and if it doesn’t resonate with you that’s totally fine too everybody can have their own unique space and their own unique garden i’m just trying to explain different concepts to help you out along the way and my intention was to film this outside since it is spring but unfortunately the weather here in Pennsylvania has been crazy amounts of rain so every time I’ve tried to go outside and film it just starts pouring rain so I’m going to insert some clips here so you can see what my garden looks like and I’m sorry again that I’m inside but the weather is just not cooperating with me when thinking about simplicity the first and best place to start in my opinion is with function what do you actually want to do in your space and I know I say this in a lot of my videos but I always design with function first so are you trying to create a place where you can entertain do you want to just relax with a cup of coffee do you want to support pollinators writing these things down and just having an idea of how you want the space to function before you start planting is a great way to get really clear on your vision so start by defining the purpose of each area and treat your garden like it’s an extension of your home with zones that support how you live or little garden rooms so that you’re using the outside space as much as you would the inside when you design around function first you automatically cut all of the fluff and you focus on what really matters to you and it’s going to really simplify things the concept of repetition also creates calm and cohesion in your garden so you can do this by repeating the shapes of your plants like horizontal or wide plants circular plants pyramidal plants repeating those plant forms over and over again another way to use repetition in the garden is to repeat different materials that you’re using so maybe your walkway has a certain brick pattern and then your patio has a different format of the brick pattern because you’re unifying it with the same material it will all flow together and it’ll create a more simplistic look to your garden without really losing any personality to it another thing that you can repeat and what I teach in my course is how to use color color echoing repeating the same colors throughout repeating masses of plants in the garden is a great way to make it look more simple especially when you’re viewing the landscape as a whole and not up close with each singular plant this creates unity and rhythm in your space and it looks really beautiful when you mass plant so instead of planting one of everything group the same plant in clusters or drifts this is not just great for aesthetics and the way that the landscape looks it’s also a lot easier to maintain so again we’re simplifying here repetition brings calm into your space and helps your design feel intentional and not scattered about as much as repetition may feel boring to some of you and I totally hear you this is a concept that designers use all the time to make the space look and feel professional so even just repeating a lot of the same hardscape materials if you want to use a lot of different plantings simplifying the hardscaping around those plantings and use the same materials can really help to simplify things next up is using clean lines in landscape design lines aren’t just decorative elements of the landscape they actually define the rooms of your garden and the different spaces in your landscape your patio your lawn and your pathways should all feel purposeful using shapes like rectangles or gentle curves creates clear edges and structure in your garden even if you’re creating a cottage style garden with lots of different plantings all mixed together those clean lines and edges can really help to simplify things and another thing that’s really cool is you can also take cues from your home’s architecture so if you have any fancy elements that are above your windows you can use the roof line the trim and that will make your landscape feel like a true extension of your home you can also align your garden beds with windows paths doors or even the corners of your house so aligning the outside rooms with the edges of your landscape or line up a beautiful focal point with a window or have a path coming straight out from your door these are things that can really add to your landscape and make it feel a lot more designed and simplified this idea ties into a concept I often teach called lines of force which is all about drawing invisible lines from key architectural features and using them to guide your design layout i talk about this in the plant perfect activity book that I have and on lots of my blog posts and other videos so instead of placing your beds and paths randomly in your landscape use those pieces of your house like the corners the doors and the windows to create a grid in your yard you can go out 90° you can do horizontal lines you can even do 45s and draw these grids and just see how things can line up with the actual house this really creates a lot of flow and structure in your space even if you’re not drawing a completely full plan just knowing this can help you position things more intentionally and keep your design simple clean and cohesive and I’m considering doing a video about lines of force just a complete full overview of this so if this is something that’s interesting to you leave a comment below and just remind me to make that video for you now let’s talk colors and materials one of the biggest mistakes I see with home gardeners DIYing their landscape is always trying to use too many colors or too many materials in one space and the result in my opinion is visual chaos you take from that what you will a lot of people like a lot of colors again I don’t want any arguments in the comments about this i’m just talking about professional designers and how they design the space and as a designer my suggestion would be to try to limit your color palette choose two to three main colors and stick with them in my design your horses and garden course I teach a lot about this and how you can echo color so if you’re choosing a purple you don’t always have to go with the same bright vibrant purple you can do lighter purples you can do darker burgundies and everything inside that color family so there’s actually a ton of variation between all the colors on a spectrum so you’re not really as limited with color as you may think and it simplifies things it makes it easier to choose plants because you know the palette that you’re using and it also kind of forces you to think about different things like the leaf texture of your plants and the forms that you’re using because you can’t just rely on color to break things up i also recommend doing the same thing with materials like your pavers edging and even your containers keep things simple and once you choose a color palette repeat it over and over again throughout your garden that consistency is what will bring the whole design together you can still have variety just find creative ways to use the same materials and the same colors in different places to make it feel like it’s one space and again I know this isn’t for everyone so take what resonates with this video and leave what doesn’t another way to use simplicity in your garden is to use a theme whether it’s a cottage garden modern minimalism or a pollinator friendly planting you can even go so far as to choose your favorite baseball team or football team and use materials and colors that are based on that and that helps guide your decisions on plants materials and layouts we do exercises like this in a garden designer membership group that I’m in called the Garden Design Collective and one time we designed an entire landscape based on the theme of roller coasters it was a group effort and we all kind of chose the materials and the colors and the shapes and everything based on different elements of roller coasters it came out really really cool so this is a really fun exercise even if you’re not going to do it in real life it can be fun to try to create a themed garden around a specific topic or something else that you like a theme gives sort of an envelope to your creativity it gives some structure to the creative piece of it so you can express your personal style without turning it into a jumbled mess and this is my absolute favorite tip for any of you who are creative out there is to put some boundaries on your creativity i use an example in my three gardening secrets training and it’s just about throwing a birthday party for a little boy and when you just have that much information it can be really difficult to figure out what type of party favors am I going to have what’s the decorations going to look like but if I told you that this boy loves red he wants to be a cowboy and his favorite game is pin the tail on the donkey you can very quickly see how the theme of that party will come to life and this is sort of the same thing that I see in gardens is once you get a couple ideas in place and some overall theme that you’re going with everything else just kind of falls into place and you can still be really creative within that theme and how you design things but it puts some boundaries on it and it makes it a lot easier as a creative person I use this all the time and it really does help me when you start with a theme it’s also a great time to start with the bones of your garden such as the patios the paths and the lawn areas before you even think about adding any plants start with the structure first and then fill in with the details later and make them all mesh with that theme that you chose before we wrap up here are just a few bonus tips to keep in mind as you try to simplify your space first is to leave some breathing room open areas help your eyes rest and make focal points stand out in general the ratio that I recommend is 1/3 garden space to 2/3 open space now an open space can be a lawn can be a path can be a patio and things like that so that’s a good ratio to shoot for just to get started this isn’t set in stone or anything there’s lots of variations to this but at least it’s a place for you to get started my second tip would be to avoid visual noise instead of lots of little objects go for fewer bolder pieces or you can try grouping smaller items together instead of spreading them out throughout your landscape similar to how you design a house and you’d put a bunch of your little chachkis onto a tray and kind of group them together you can try that same concept outside for a similar result and my third tip is to think in layers not stuff use a mix of structural plants seasonal color and textural accents you don’t need more plants you just need the right ones in the right place a simple design lets the beauty of each element of your design stand out and it gives your eye a place to rest as you’re looking at the entire landscape when your garden is too busy or too cluttered it can feel a little chaotic even when it’s full of lots of things that you really love overall simplicity isn’t really about doing less it’s about making better choices when you’re designing your landscape so focus on function repeat things that are working use clean lines limit your palette and don’t be afraid to edit yourself what’s one area of your garden you’re ready to simplify let me know in the comments below and if you found this video helpful I think you’re really going to love the one I made about garden styles where you can learn the different materials and plant choices that will make your garden look naturalistic cottage traditional or modern and how to mix those styles together so I’m going to leave a link to that video right here and I’ll see you over in the next one [Music] [Music]

34 Comments

  1. @joelgriffitts1385

    As a plant collector, I appreciate the idea of using hardscape (stones, path material) as an element of rhythm and simplicity, to offset the less repetitive plant palette. I tend to lean on foliage and not flowers for color and texture, and that itself is a sort of theme that reassures the mind that the arrangement isn't complete chaos.

  2. @adrabruzzese7610

    Inside my home is pretty much monochromatic and my personal favorite garden type is formal gardens with only white flowers but my house is a plain white box, so Ive gone crazy with color mostly perrenials in the garden so theres always alot of green as well. I think if you have a good eye you can mix many different colors. I love pinks, pinky reds, purples, oranges, orange yellows, and yellows. Plus i have a bunch of veggies, fruit trees/bushes, and ornamental trees mixed in, in a very small urban plot. Its very cottagey and never looks messy or congested. My hardscape is very cohesive and all potted plants are in black pots. If i had only one color to choose against a white box I would just do all purples. Thanks Amy! Great video.

  5. @TBMWolverine-2023

    I’m really interested with the alignment/stealing ideas from your homes architecture point that you brought up near 4:57. My home is unusual in its shape to the road so I’m struggling with how to frame it. The two edges are closer to the driveway than the front door (from a plane it would look like an upside down V just less exaggerated) but the middle hip of the roof is much much taller than the 2 edges….its hard to describe as you’re probably seeing here. Do you have a course that drills down into that concept much more?

  6. @sorbabaric1

    Great video ! It will help me get balance from my love for informality, quirkiness, and color. So I don’t end up with a jumbled mess.

  8. @deano1018

    As always, you offer great advice. Now I need to do some editing. 😂 My garden is jumbled and I have some decisions to make. My garden started as cottage style and now it’s just too much. Thanks!

  10. @christina_henck

    Lines of force 😊😊 Would love to see that! Ans great reference images with layering and great tips for color clustering etc. Thank you!

  13. @XandriaPolish

    I have narrowed my palette. Predominantly purples. Ive purchased 6 purple azaleas now to pick my accent color(s). I’m bw pinks or oranges. Can’t decide if I want restful or dynamic. 😊

  16. @ThekimG313

    Your video is very helpful, my landscape preference has been simplified to a modern style with a slightly Mediterranean feel using pebbled rocks and my potted herbs as the greenery! I’m using symmetry and it’s really easy on the eyes as you said. Thanks I just subscribed 😊

  18. @debbydoodler33

    Yes to the lines of force video! You always have such helpful videos and are an excellent teacher 😊. The roller coaster garden is such a great concept! I take my kids to a nearby amusement park in the summers and am always looking at the plant selections lol but how fun would it be to echo the rides with the plants? 😂

  28. @chinnythechin

    I’ve been taking this to heart this past year as I work on landscaping more of my yard. I’m repeating a lot more and planting in much larger quantities. I just bought 18 Purrsian Blue nepetas to line my front walkway and also a flat of 21 Magic Carpet spireas (all 21 for $30 total on clearance!) to plant in drifts.

  29. @startwiththeheart

    Amongst a lot of garden channels on Youtube yours really stands out as one of the very best, You give useful well thought out information that's to the point. with good visuals to help explain what your trying to convey, thank you for sharing!

  30. @KB-hs7vh

    I would love a lines of force video! I have learned so much from your videos. Thank you for putting in all this work to share your knowledge with us! 🙏

  31. @pongop

    Thank you for the excellent lesson! I wasn't familiar with Lines of Force, so thank you for sharing that, plus all the other great concepts, ideas, and examples!

  32. @allyboo65

    Fantastic tips!! I’ve taken some beautiful flowers back to the garden center only because they just didn’t “go” with what I already had. I loved them but it was only going to make it look messy not more. You are very inspiring! ❤

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