Welcome back to garden ninja today I'm
going to taking you through the differences
between the formal and informal garden
design to better help you when it comes to
designing your own gardn there are quite a
few differences between formal and informal
gardens so I thought really useful today
to take a pencil and start drawing out
the two different styles of design to you
an idea of where they differ you can go
to see the characteristics of both
formal and informal garden design so
starting with formal garden design
folder gardens are based on symmetry
sometimes they may use a grid or axis
which all the garden is planned off their based
on geometry neatness and order making
sure symmetry either the beds the
planting or hard landscaping maybe for people that
like super neatness to control mother
nature and to adapt all the planting
plans to fit your needs so formal gardens are
usually know as quite high maintenance
and require quite a lot of design to right
if you're thinking of the palace of Versailles
Knot Garden Stately homes where the gardens
are laid out symmetrically in a
geometric pattern
you've probably seen formal gardens in
formal gardens on the hand so much
broader spectrum of garden so we're
talking about more natural look
maybe using asymmetry where there's a
balance on one side against another that
isnt perfectly symmetrical the use of
different geometric shapes curves and
planting groups means that in full
gardens are much broader style when you
hear of things like cottage gardens
japanese gardens Mediterranean styles
they're all styles of informal gardens and
it's a much broader scope you have to be
careful with informal gardens because
it's a broader scope and the more
natural
sometimes you can design lazily thinking
it looks natural but really it just cuts
corners. So I'm going take you through two
example plans to show the difference between a formal
garden and informal garden so you can see
the rules should be following to ensure
designs
success what I'm doing here starting
sketching formal garden you will notice all
the measurements precise and in
proportion with the house now although
this design is not going to win The Chelsea
flower show will be commended by Cleve
West s it is here is an example to show
you how the proportions and balance laid
out in the formal garden so we got here
for symmetrical beds the pathway running
in a crisscross between the two this design
could be folded like a napkin and still
provide symmetry which is key with
formal gardens I have included some
standards for the middle of each of
these beds to give the unity to the
planting scheme some low hedging you have
also finished it with small water
feature in the center its edge to
something like maybe Lavender o show the
proportion scale again it's always in
balance
and here it is a very basic but proportional and
balanced formal garden design could be
folded on any axis perfect symmetry. The
informal design is very different
by using large geometrical circles and
breaking up some of the square edges
using a curvy design i'm using circles
to hide something harder square of
the design trying to keep it more
natural
now I know the path just draw is a
pretty weak curve which is design
no no, this is just a quick
rough drawing to give you an idea I've
included some herbaceous perennial
borders a round lawn in the center some
paved areas here using consistent
paving and a few trees to give an
example how we may lay out an informal
garden design. So here we have it my really
speedy two designs side by side they
probably won't take me longer than 10
minutes and that does show in the designs
it does give you a good idea to formal
garden design phases the in-form and the
differences that you might see
so there we have a whistle-stop guide
between formal and informal garden design
now obviously these are only very basic
designs and there are hundreds if not
thousands of different permeatations but
why not have a look at some of my other videos on youtube
or subscribe to my channel to
find more helpful guides to both garden
design and gardening? I'm garden india thanks
for watching and tune back soon.