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Themed Landscape Design Part 3: The Gardens of Spain and Italy

Posted on September 27, 2013 by Larry

Part three of a series on themed landscape design explores Spanish gardens and design elements of Italian gardens. First off, let’s cover Spanish gardens.

Spanish Gardens and their Design

Plan a Spanish Garden | (928) 356-8167 image courtesy of Loizeitung — Plan a Spanish Garden | (928) 356-8167
image courtesy of Loizeitung

What is a Spanish garden from a landscape design perspective? According to Wikipedia: “A traditional Spanish Garden is a style of garden or designed landscape developed in historic Spain, incorporating principles and elements of garden design from precedents in ancient Persian gardens, Roman gardens and Islamic gardens, and the great Moorish gardens of the Al-Andalus era on the Iberian Peninsula. In the 20th and 21st centuries a ‘Spanish Garden,’ or new gardens in Spain, have continued, interpreted, abstracted, or departed from these traditional planning and aesthetic motifs.Traditionally, the paradise garden is interpreted with a central cross axis, in the four cardinal directions, with long ponds or water channels (a rill or stylized qanat) where water reflects and flows, set in a walled courtyard. [READ MORE]

When you call in a landscape design professional to plan a Spanish garden, ultimately, you want to remember that with such a garden, less is more. Like a Zen garden, Spanish gardens are based on simplicity. But what about one of the roots of such gardens?

Italian Gardens and Designing Tips

An Italian garden, also known as a Roman garden is based upon a walled off central courtyard. They are designed to be refuges from the outside world, and are meant to be peaceful and serene spots as a result. You don’t want an Italian garden in a planned community as your HOA would almost certainly object.

When you are planning to make some changes to your landscape, think about what fits your home as well as your lifestyle. An English country garden is beautiful, but it needs a LOT of water, the same with a rose garden. Xeriscaping is beautiful in it’s own way, but it isn’t for everyone, particularly if they’re nostalgic for back home. Ultimately, whatever you decide, the right landscape design company can help.

This concludes our three part series on themed landscape design. Be sure to read part one and part two as well.

Green ServPro LLC
600 W. Ray Rd. Suite B2
Prescott AZ 85225
(928) 356-8167
http://www.greenservpro.com

Home and Garden, Landscape Design

Themed Landscape Design Part 1: The Gardens of Asia and the Far East

Posted on September 14, 2013 by Larry

Part one of a series on themed landscape design will explore the gardens of Asia and the Near East. First off though, let’s explore China and Japan. Be sure to read part two of this series as well as part three.

Setting Up a Chinese Garden As Part of Landscape Design

Themed Landscape Design | (928) 356-8167

First off, though, what’s the difference between a Chinese garden and a Japanese garden? Chinese gardens are themed landscape designs that are over three thousand years old. Chinese gardens can be vast, like for those of the Imperial Family, or they can be small and intimate places that are designed for both peace and as a temporary respite from the outside world. Whether large or small, however, a Chinese garden is supposed to convey a message that harmony should always exist between nature and mankind.

In a way, a Chinese garden is like a living story, separate from the outside world. Walls always enclose Chinese gardens and there are a combination of paths, rocks, flowers and pavilions. Sometimes, there are water features as well. By moving through the garden, visitors get to see a series of scenes. All Chinese gardens, like their Japanese counterparts are very serene places. A Japanese garden does differ from a Chinese garden in a lot of ways, as far as themed landscape design goes.

Themed Landscape Design: Japanese Gardens

Japanese gardens originally were Chinese gardens, but over time, they started to develop their own unique style, and have been unique for over two centuries. A lot of Japanese gardens for example originated with the Shinto religion, and as such have several common threads. First off, there are unusual rocks in a Japanese garden, as well as white pebble paths. The white of the pebbles symbolizes purity, as well as simulates a dry riverbed. One thing that is interesting about these gardens is how diverse they are.

The Moss Garden in Kyoto is a classic Japanese garden, as is Kinkaku-ji, and so is the Zen rock garden of Ryōan-ji, and each of them is vastly different from each other. Some of them are just for asethetics, and others for meditation and contemplation. And you can also have one on your property too, as part of landscape design with a theme.

Green ServPro LLC
600 W. Ray Rd. Suite B2
Prescott AZ 85224
(928) 356-8167
http://www.greenservpro.com