Gardening - exterior design

Spring cleaning isn't just for shoe closets and windows. Most people's backyards and gardens could use a good decluttering, too. The same basic design principles that lead to striking interiors make for beautiful gardens.

Montreal garden designer Allan Becker says the style and proportion of so-called "hard objects," including ornaments, furniture and containers, need to fit the mood and scale of the garden. Pergolas, fountains and sculptures add architectural dimension to flower beds. They serve as visual exclamation points, or act as buffers. A birdbath, for instance, is a perfect element for filling the empty visual space between flowers and fence.

But, like too many tchochkes in the living room, they can stifle a garden's style and spirit when overused. In their zeal to beautify their gardens, many gardeners make the mistake of overstuffing. In her list of garden no-nos, Margaret Roach, a former editor at Martha Stewart magazine, includes gnomes, wishing wells and lions, "especially in plastic." Her garden blog, awayto garden.com, also discourages white plastic furniture, red-dyed mulch and gravel or decorative lava rock.

Becker, who writes his own blog (allanbecker-garden guru.squarespace.com), says decorating a garden is a matter of personal taste. Some people think garden gnomes are cute. Others like "found art" - recycled objects such as old kettles or kiddy wagons - tucked in among their nasturtiums.

But Becker says too much stuff just ends up looking like junk.

"You shouldn't have too much out there," he says. "Before you buy any ornamental object for the garden, study its style and spirit." Joe Swift, the British garden designer and author, says the crispest, most stylish gardens stick to a restrained palette. They rely on simple geometry and carefully edited plant selections and materials. The number of colours in the flowers and the decor are kept to a minimum to avoid looking "fussy." "A common mistake is to try to make the most of the space by cramming it with 'features' such as pots and water fountains," Swift writes in his book Joe's Urban Garden Handbook (Quadrille, 2008).

Be "ruthless and picky" about garden decoration, he warns. Don't haul things out from the attic or the garage and plunk them into the garden. Don't make impulsive purchases.

Here are a few design basics for planning, or rethinking, the "hardware" in the garden: n Don't use more than one ornamental object as a focal point in each garden area. That means a single birdbath in a flower bed, or a sculpture. But not both. Two identical objects, such as flower-planted urns, flanking a path or entrance, would also work.

* Choose a style and stick to it. A rustic garden can handle recycled objects, says Becker, but a manicured garden can't. Neither can a minimalist garden.

* Limit the colour palette. Choose containers and ornaments in tones that blend with the surroundings, including the house's brick, paving stones and windows, shutters and doors.

Keep paint and stain colours for decks and railings within this palette, too. Swift says too many colours will always look messy.

He recommends avoiding white furniture altogether. Swift says pure white in the garden is "extremely demanding" and rarely compliments other structures or plantings. Off-whites and creams, though, help to bring in light.

Black, on the other hand, can look wonderfully dramatic as a backdrop. But it needs plenty of green foliage to balance it out.

* Place ornaments off centre. To create visual interest, keep things asymmetrical.

Half the secret of positioning a feature, says London garden designer John Bookes, is juxtaposing it with other objects, such as a tree, a bench or even the view of the neighbour's garden.

"Traditionally, a feature, usually a statue, was placed right in the middle of the garden," Brookes writes in Small Garden (Dorling Kindersley, 2006). "But few outside spaces today have the kind of symmetry that calls for this type of classical positioning.

"Placing a feature to one side of an area is one way of lending movement to a layout, however small." n Get the size right. In general, Brookes says the larger the object the better it will do the job of providing a focal point within the garden.

Becker says front-garden containers are often too small for the proportions of the house's façade. They should be big enough to be seen from the street.

Smaller pots work best in a series. Run a line of them down the side of a staircase. But make sure that it's an odd number.

"Even if you have six stairs, you should only have three or five pots," Becker suggests.

Balance height and width, too. A tall urn requires tall plants.

* Camouflage. Use temporary screening, such as rolls or panels of willow, hazel or bamboo, to block off unsightly views or divert the eye from "major negatives" like the neighbour's peeling garage wall. It's inexpensive and easy to install.

* Jazz things up. Swift says most gardens look a little tired between seasons. A splash of colour or texture in the form of a strategically placed flower pot or a grouping of concrete balls, for example, can temporarily inject energy in trouble spots until things grow in.

* Repeat yourself. Repetition and simplicity in the choice of materials and plants create a powerful and tranquil mood, Swift says. Suspend a row of three lanterns from the balcony. Or hang five birdhouses from a tree.