| Thursday Tips & Techniques: Whimsical Gardens |
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| Written by Heleigh Bostwick Thursday, 12 July 2012 | |||
 Tired of the same old, same old when it comes to garden design? Try flipping through a few children’s storybooks for ideas. Stories like The Secret Garden, Alice in Wonderland, and many of the Beatrix Potter books such as The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher (great inspiration for water gardens!) all take place in garden settings, some more fanciful than others. If there are kids in the house, some ideas might include a playhouse designed as an English cottage, pint-sized organic vegetable and flower gardens for smaller children, a "dinosaur" habitat planted with ostrich ferns and a few tall shade trees, and stones that double as seats scattered about. While giant rabbit holes and topiary chess pieces scattered across the lawn may not be everyone’s idea of a relaxing backyard garden, there are other possibilities. Whimsical elements such as a garden shed designed to look like a guesthouse, oversized skeleton keys dangling from a weather beaten garden gate or an unexpected clearing in the beech trees filled with bluets, certainly do add unique character and charm to the garden. You don’t even have to be a parent or have grandkids to enjoy a whimsical garden but you do need a sense of humor and streak of creativity. Checker board turf anyone? Photo source: www.coronet-turf.co.uk/ Alice in Wonderland  |
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