Tips for Designing Gardens | Garden Home (1713)

On this episode of Garden Home, host P. Allen Smith will discuss tips for designing gardens. Allen visit beautiful gardens and gathers tips for design gardens in order to inspire you to create a beautiful garden home.

Topics Include
Art in the Park- Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas
Fly’s Eye Dome- Allen W/ Dylan Turk
Garden Design: An Entrance to Your Garden
Texas Garden Layout
Garden Design: Composing Your Garden
Garden Design: On the Low
Spring Tulips
Spring Greens
Pairing Flowers with Veggies

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P. Allen Smith is a landscape and garden designer, horticulturist, preservationist and television host. His passions span the subjects of community, health, sustainability and history. He has designed the grounds at many of the nation’s most notable estate properties, townhomes, and commercial complexes. And, for over 19 years, he has shared his green knowledge and insight with the public via ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, his own PBS television, and six book titles. Currently, Allen is focused on residential, commercial and community designs that are beautiful, improve our contentedness, and our social and physical health.

To learn more about:
…Allen’s horticultural interests and secrets, sign up for his weekly newsletter: https://pallensmith.com/

…visiting Allen’s Garden Home above the Arkansas River, see https://pallensmith.com/tours/

….Allen’s favorite plants mentioned in his social media, see: To review many of the plants Allen mentions in his posts and that are planted in his own garden, see https://pallensmith.com/gilbert-h-wild-allens-favorites/

….retaining Allen’s Garden and Landscape design firm, see http://www.pallensmithandassociates.com/

…Allen’s Garden Home-inspired intergenerational community in Monroe, LA, see https://www.gardensofsomerset.com/

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(So go check them out!)

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Who doesn’t we’ll have a beautiful garden one that’s thoughtfully designed whether its large or small you know when I design gardens I think of well what do you want it to look like in the end so thinking of the end and the beginning is so important whether you’re creating a

Large estate like this representative this drawing done in the 18th century or a tiny plot in your own backyard it’s all very important you want to consider the elements of design texture form color also how do you move through the space paths and so forth that’s what we’re going to explore today One of the most familiar uses of art in our homes is to hang a picture on the wall right but what about art in the garden now there’s a whole different dimension that comes with that time Allen Smith and welcome to the show so what is art in the garden well a piece

Of garden art can act as a focal point to draw the eye to bring the whole space together it can also be used to punctuate specific areas like the end of a pathway for instance or edging some steps but again you may want to emphasize a feature such as a doorway or

A gap in the hedge with a view beyond quite often gardens or works of art in themselves they have all the elements of design such as structure color rhythm etc many of them are very specifically designed and others just simply evolved now finding that perfect piece of art to

Accent your landscape or garden well that’s a whole other story but we’re here at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art for there’s some beautiful examples that will surely inspire us to find ways to integrate these works of art each of our own landscapes Scot the landscape and garden seer actually as a gallery for art don’t think they do I think you know how important nature was we talked about those four pillars we talked about them years ago art architecture nature and education it just took a while for the

Grounds to be able to be that canvas and now they’re there right and it’s grown in so beautifully and now accepting something new sculpture in the gardens it’s just it’s making a much richer dive into enjoyment both elements of art in the garden can do so much to animate the

Space that it can teach it can inspire the biggest impact that sculpture for us here at Crystal Bridges makes is you have to come to a belief that something isn’t going to take away from nature it’s actually gonna draw people’s eyes to the gardens and that’s what a

Homeowner can do they can take an area that maybe isn’t attractive that you never want to go out to put a sculpture at the rear of your property and see how it draws people saying it doesn’t have to be anything fancy either it doesn’t it can just be something colorful that

That draws your eye to that oh yeah see lots of examples where art enhances a space but there are times where too much can go on and it almost looks like a distraction or even litter in the garden so how do you create balance there well

I think that you start to clutter if you dominate you know too many plants too many colors or even too much artwork find that special piece draw people’s eye there it tells a story if you did that over and over with fifteen pieces it kind of loses its impact Scot in a case like this where we got this beautiful Lagoon what was the idea behind adding these Chihuly floating balls I think native plants you know they have their good times and the bad times what better way to bring out the texture and color that we talk a lot about at

Artwork it makes the green a little more greener and the leaves a little more wider and you see all that well there’s also an animation that’s going on there too because these these orbs are moving around which I think creates visual interest oh you can do this at your

House everybody everyone has a fish Pollan this is a perfect homeowner project your landscape fish pond art this is just on a larger scale Scott it’s always a pleasure to be here at Crystal Bridges and to see how it’s evolving over time and to get your perspective well it’s fantastic having

You here I I think that every year this garden changes and that’s the best thing about Gardens it goes through its life cycles you make for a richer experience by adding o’er and that’s what we’re talking about today When considering art or ornament in a garden scale is really important as you can see behind me this is buckminster fuller’s dome and it’s really large and fits the space assistant curator Dylan Turk tells us more about this fascinating object Dylan I have to know what’s been the reaction of having the

Flies I hear her on the grounds of Crystal Bridges amazing what spaceship landed I landed on the North Lawn lots of different comments oh yeah so when Buckminster Fuller created this I mean what we’re taught kind of timeframe were John 60s yeah he started this in 1966 the project this actual

Casting happened in 1979 I see yeah and his whole idea was that we would live in that it would be a house makes it even more interesting yeah it’s not a piece of garden art although it’s very striking out right right it wasn’t fully realized but yes he was thinking a house

You know what’s so interesting about it is it’s called the Flies and was he inspired by nature and actually by flaw yeah all of his designs he was looking at the patterns and systems of nature and then one day he was looking through this magazine and saw this blown-up

Picture of an actual fly’s head and he said oh wow that looks like a dome what happens if you’re in it what happens if this is your structure and that started down the path to create this so why don’t we go inside and see the world as

A fly would yes watch your head yeah okay yeah Now this would make a very spacious house I know I’d love this to be my living room so he had three different floors designed for this or at least in his head yeah in this Eddy and he thought actually the top floor would be an open-air garden okay so you could

Grow and have that actual interaction man Ephrem own heart love it so you you really do interface with nature it is only 50% structure the rest is open air and I think that’s been huge for us is now it’s making us a look at our landscape and I know every one of these

Is a frame and today with so many people being able to come here and interface with this this this idea how it hopefully will inspire them to think about how we how we live yeah how we house ourselves it’s huge and that’s one of our main goals of having this how do

We need to live and do we need to accept that this a traditional way of living is always the best way and I think that when people walk up to this and you tell them it’s a house it I mean it’s really out of the box it’s a circle yeah it is

Yeah shape of the earth right yeah so it’s it’s exciting You know there’s something really special about an entrance to a garden I love coming through a gate walking along a path and see lots of beautiful flowers and that’s what I’ve tried to create here it’s a beautiful time of year because so many of my plants are working together to create an outstanding

Combination so why don’t we go a little deeper and let me help you understand the combination and why I put this together I started in the back with tall plants and I come all the way to the path with low plants in the back I had that amazing incredible hydrant job but

As you step down I just want to point out some of the taller plants there’s cleome seniorita Rosalita and for a little contrast I’ve thrown in some of that color blaze coleus there are Sun coleus and here I’ve used lime time and just look how its chartreuse foliage

Contrast to the tall spiky flowers of the angel face blue angelonia in the middle zone of the bed here you can see this lovely little Lantana it’s called banana Rama Lantana it’s a great performer during the hot hot Sun just below it you’ll see supertunia Bordeaux and indigo charm supertunia to

Finish up the composition with this soft fur off the edge we’ve used this wonderful lobularia this is called Snow princes and again it really takes the heat and believe me when we’re at the peak of summer on the west side of the house this bed gets a lot of Sun but

Because of the genetics and these plants they’re resilient and they keep on blooming When designing your Gardens layout you may want to consider any focal points pathways and certainly the existing architecture this beautiful Texas garden is a prime example of that level of attention to detail Jack I have to say one of the things that strikes me about this beautiful garden is the very strong

Framework and and this framework created by blooming shrubs well as eliazar the plant it’s but there’s the most of and they’re beautiful there’s a lot of different varieties so something for everybody what’s fascinating to me is these big azalea’s almost create a series of garden rooms you can’t see

From one place to the next so you create mystery absolutely and the fact that the paths curved through the gardens you never know what’s gonna be around the next video that makes it fun it doesn’t it’s like an adventure wandering through this garden it’s just fantastic and I’ve

Noticed some of the other plants that you’ve used in this palette to create this effect the Japanese maples are gorgeous this time of year very very pretty they’re they’re pretty in the fall too but I think they’re even prettier in the spring yeah they add so

Much of this palette that’s laid on this canvas of colorful shrubs I noticed a big patina blooming where you see the reflection in the water that is one of the key elements of this property is that you do get a reflective image of everything that’s blooming and so you

Get double colour WT WT yeah that’s marvelous and some of the other plants as we walk around I’ve noticed Laura pedalo you’ve used a good bit of that as well you know that’s something that’s newer to our landscape here we didn’t used to have it it’s something that was introduced probably about five

Years ago and it really adds to it it’s one of those plants where you get the beauty of the leaf or foliage color and then of course you get that Ferengi little balloon which gives that extra pop yes I don’t like any garden can be complete without a little touch of

Whimsy and when you discover that amazing wisteria display that’s so much fun to walk under there well this time of year all you have to do is follow your nose because the fragrance is incredible it is incredible is there a particular part of this garden that you

Consider a favorite you know I have to say that wisteria area is one of my favorites yeah it’s fun to wine through there you almost feel like you can get lost in it yeah and this time of year it’s like you said this smell you could

Just want to stay down there for hours yeah yeah and you know the beauty of a garden where you really think through the framework and you get the framework just right then you come in and you do this layer of well here in the spring you’re doing tulips and then later these

Shrubs serve as the backdrop for your annual display absolutely the you know the different varieties of shrubs and not just the azaleas but all the other shrubs the Hollies and everything else Jun refers they all add different textures and shapes and it’s all very important to the landscape don’t you

Think for someone who’s beginning a garden thinking about the shrub display is probably one of the most fundamental things they need to do because it’s the main stage right and what you want to do is is have a different variety of shapes and sizes and textures and and have that

As your backdrop and then you know insert your color out in front of it yeah As a garden designer one of the things that I really like is symmetry it’s a I guess a classical principle if you look at classical gardens they’re balanced and their symmetry and in this garden you can certainly see it What I’ve created is a destination a place to come and sit and relax and just listen to the sound of the water and hear the birds but in this space what I’ve done is I’ve created an curved hedge with openings in it with a focal

Point in each of the openings in the way of an eagle and along the base of this hedge I’ve created a flowerbed which is full of white sunpatiens in the center is an oval fountain and surrounding it our planters filled with boxwood and again with white some patients just look

At these mounds of white if they look like big scoops of ice cream don’t you think with the containers and beds in place I can just change these out from one season to the next for instance in the early spring I’ve used blue hydrangeas in these large containers

Then in the summer when the temperature goes up and the Sun is the brightest I feel these containers with Sun patients because they can really take the heat and the Sun and just look how abundant they are the beauty of classical design is it embraces symmetry and the symmetrical

Nature of it brings harmony which makes you feel good while you’re in the space when it comes to the flowers well they’re just the icing on the cake I want to introduce you to one of my favorite plants it’s a sedum it’s this one it’s called lemon coral isn’t it gorgeous it’s one of those constant comment plants when people come to visit the garden they always ask about this gorgeous sedum it’s a part of a larger

Design of plants here that I’d love to share with you This sedum lemon coral spills out over the edge of the bed onto the pathway I just love it it’s like molten lava but in this chartreuse green and then backing it up is this beautiful Adam called hardest blue and behind it is a Lantana which the butterflies and hummingbirds love this one’s called

Luscious marmalade and then just behind it back there it’s hard to beat that wonderful color blaze apple brandy love the variegation that you can find in the leaf these plants really know how to put on a show in your garden As a garden designer there’s nothing I like more than creating beautiful and colorful tapestries of plants here I’ve created one on the corner of this bed it’s anchored by a large evergreen a boxwood in a container but around it I’ve intentionally kept the plantings low starting with this beautiful

Lobularia called snow princess all of those tiny little flowers almost look like a bank of snow and here next to it blooming and that beautiful blue color is well a gerrate an artist blue I love that clear blue color and next to it is intensive blueberry phlox and along the

Front is Goldilocks rocks it’s abidance and it blooms all summer long now at the back of this bed I’ve used a variegated coleus this one’s called color blaze alligator tears it’s the perfect backdrop the key here was to keep all the plants low but very colorful and visually impactful in

Combinations like this they really deliver the goods Bulbs provide a great way to play with color combinations in your landscaping you see you can use a combination of warm and cool colors to create contrasts by planting daffodils with muscari or purple hyacinth if you want more Sun look try tulips with complementary colors like yellow and orange or pink

And purple third idea is color blocking planting in large masses of the same color to create a big visual impact try any of these suggestions to create visual interest in your traditional beds or containers and for more information on bulb combinations visit my website you I believe art is everywhere certainly in the garden particularly this time of year everywhere I look there is beauty Take a look at the way we did some planting here having a little fun with lettuce varieties what you see here is color blocking using romaine lettuce this is red romaine planted next to green romaine and by blocking them you get this sort of well bold presentation

There are about five rows of each of these colors and then behind me I offset the green on the opposite side and here we have the red in the center so as you can see you can get creative and have a lot of fun in the garden if you look at

The next raised bed over you get this sort of blend of both colors of red and green through that beautiful red sale lettuce so certainly I’ve convinced you that these lettuces are a feast for the eyes but they also are great for the table now one of the ways that I like to

Harvest romaine is that you can come around and you can just pick the outer leaves just like this just pulling them off you can see I’m just taking some of these that are just on the outside and leave the internal leaves these are more

Mature and it just is a way to kind of keep lettuce coming along in the garden now the other way is to at some point just take the entire head of lettuce where I just cut it off right at the ground like this now that’s the way we

Usually see it in the supermarket and you can take this in and you can create a lovely salad with it or you can strip off a few more of the leaves like this and then I’d love to take these and put a little olive oil on them and garlic

And roast them on the grill makes a delicious salad with maybe a little Caesar dressing on top give it a try and bring a little art to your garden Hi I’m Nina Collins and I’m one of the master gardeners from Pulaski County and you’re here at our project at heifer international I’m originally from LA and my mother is from Arkansas so we’ve always had a garden in the backyard and she’s also had beautiful flowers in the front yard

And so gardening has always been a part of my life this year we’ve incorporated flowers because we wanted to do something different we wanted to do something that would be aesthetically pleasing to the eye when you’re growing basically vegetation and herbs it’s all green so we wanted to you know give

Incorporate a little life into it and have more fun so I’m so excited that Allen was able to send us over some flowers and it’s really opened my eyes to what you can actually do with flowers as far as vegetation what we did with the bed is we wanted it to be

Aesthetically pleasing to the eye he was kind enough to send over some pink flamingos and the sky-blue petunias and sent over these beautiful firecrackers so we wanted to balance let’s say that we had two pumpkins on the side we might incorporate flowers in the middle just to give it that balance it’s really

Exciting we get to you know try different things with myself I started off with herbs and then it incorporated to vegetables and now I’m in love with flowers [Applause] Thank you for joining us in today’s show as we’ve seen part doesn’t just have to be something that decorates our landscape or serves as a focal point it can be something that’s all provocative and also useful so as you’re thinking about your landscape those things that you see regularly think about their use

Make sure that they bring you joy and in some way they interface with nature until next time I’m allen Smith You