Balance
FORMAL BALANCE
With unity and segregation still in mind, we next consider balance or equilibrium. In American gardens we tend to rely on formal balance because most of our garden sites are level, or nearly so, and boundaries are made up of straight lines and right angles. To relate house and garden we use axial lines. These closely connect the architectural mass of the house, also composed of straight lines and right angles, to the garden. So it happens we usually end up with a formal pattern.
Many beginning gardeners are repelled by the idea of formality. They fear rigidity. But a formal garden can be simplicity itself. Generally developed on a central axis, it uses straight lines and segments of circles to secure the basic pattern. It is easy to maintain and pleasing at all times, just what most gardeners want.
In a formal garden equilibrium is secured by grouping plants symmetrically on each side of the axis or path to provide equal interest. The stronger the axial line the more definite these balancing masses should be. Balance may also be obtained with color or texture as well as form. If you have a pleasing group of yellow and white tulips underplanted with blue pansies on one side of the garden you should have an identical, or nearly identical group, on the other. It is not necessary to use the same variety of tulip, but there should be present an equal amount of the same color, as well as balance in height, texture, and size of group. This same idea can be followed throughout the seasons with different individuals or groups carrying on the succession of bloom.
To continue, if you have peonies on one side of the garden walk as accents, repeat them on the other side. If you use strong combinations or contrasts of colors for accent, like veronica and lilies, repeat them across the central axis. If on one side you have used white phlox, use it on the other side, or use some other white flower, which blooms at the same time. The size of the groups may vary, but the sum total of weight on each side of the axis in color or texture should be the same. You might have, for example, two small groups of deep pink phlox on the left, and only a single group, equal to the sum of the two small groups, on the right.
There is one variant of this placement rule possible in formal gardens. We have been thinking here of the terminal-motive garden where the center is a long straight path or grass panel. The central-motive garden with four or more equal areas surrounding a central feature is even more formal. Each of the beds must be planted the same way, balanced across the main and secondary axes, and also cornerwise. Here the feeling of balance may be heightened by the use of such strong accent plants at the intersections of the pathways as matched pairs of clipped evergreens, peonies, hemerocallis, or strong color groups. The important thing is so to arrange the planting that you have a feeling of equilibrium as you stand at the principal vantage point and look into the garden. Next to unity, no other principle of compositions will do quite so much for a garden as nice regard for formal or symmetrical balance. (Plate 9).
1. Tilia tomentosa                       9. Deutzia lemoinei
2. Juniperus virginiana                10. Stephanandra incisa
3. Thuya plicata                          11. Spirea arguta
4. Pseudotsuga taxifolia               12. Deutzia Pride of Rochester
5. Chamaecyparis pisifera filifera  13. Spirea prunifolium
6. Abies nordmanniana                14. Cornus mas
7. Lonicera morrowi                     15. Cercis canadensis
8. Philadelphia coronarius
Plate 9. Formal balance depends on the use of exactly similar masses each side of an axial line.
2. Thuya occidentalis globosa
3. Hemerocallis Mrs. J. A. Crawford
4. Hosta glauca
5. Salvia farinacea
7. Phlox Mrs. Jenkins
8. Penstemon Firebi
9. Dianthus plumarius
10. Iris pallida
- Segregation – Segregation, in gardening, serves the same purpose as a frame for a painting, or a pedestal for a statue. It sets apart and at the same time holds together the composition within.
- Unity – In the garden pattern all parts of the design, path, bed, or border, must be interrelated. The whole must hang together. Anything extraneous detracts from the quiet satisfaction of a unified scheme.
- Balance – In American gardens we tend to rely on formal balance because most of our garden sites are level, or nearly so, and boundaries are made up of straight lines and right angles.
- Accent – Always remember that an accent is in reality an exclamation point, and use it that way. Place accents so as to create interest through contrast in form, foliage, or color.
- Sequence and Rhythm – These principles are employed to create a feeling of logical follow-through, a leading up to the climax of the garden. They produce interest throughout the entire scheme.
- The Garden Climax – Towards this point everything else leads, the garden paths, the beds, and the planting in them. Here are placed the most effective groups, the best plants, the richest compositions. All clearly say, This is it!
- Principles of Plant Arrangement – The two kinds of design, plant arrangement in the garden and flower arrangement in a container, are closely related, yet skilled arrangers often fail to develop the possibilities for charm and beauty in their gardens. Actually it is only the application which differs.
- Next Page: Accent
- Return from Segregation to: Landscape-Guide Home
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