A rustic garden's appeal is its orderly imprecision.
A rustic garden may be carefully planned and executed to appear charmingly imprecise. You can explore many ideas for an outdoor, natural feel for your rustic garden. It can contain the elements of any attractive and functional garden, including walkways to provide a flow of movement, and changes in elevation to give it variety and visual interest. Your rustic garden will undoubtedly include ranges of texture and color. You can create a rustic garden featuring areas of shade and areas bathed in sunlight, mature trees or trees in the process of maturing. Keep a focus on natural design and variety, and your garden will be a focal point of rustic charm. Does this Spark an idea?
Free Flowing
One way to create a rustic garden is to plan for a slightly wild look. Types of plants do not need to be restricted to one area. Native plants can be integrated into more traditional perennial plant beds. Instead of planning for a traditional garden's uniformity of appearance, consider the wildlife, butterflies, bees and birds you hope to attract. Plant small and plan for spread. If your garden has a focal point such as a rustic potting stand, an old weathered wheelbarrow or a quaint barn wood shed, so much the better.
Bridges, stone troughs for drainage and stepping stone paths can accentuate the charm of a free-flowing rustic garden. Add a rough-hewn bench under a mature tree to give a sense of permanence contrasted with water elements providing meandering flow.
Themed
The term rustic refers to country ways as opposed to urban, city styles. Your garden can be rustic and still have a specific theme. Whether your home reflects the charm of the Deep South, if it leans toward a New England colonial look or the classic Key West conch cottage, your rustic garden can blend with your style.
Your garden can feature regional vegetables and herbs in large sprawling arrangements or well-regimented raised beds. If local antique stores feature dairy farm memorabilia or other local industry reminders that reinforce a theme, use one or two for some charming decorative elements.
Coral shards, bleached driftwood and glass floats can complement a tropical sea-coast garden, for example, but the trick is to let the garden's own colors, varieties of height and textures carry the weight. Make sure you don't let the regional accents dominate the garden's natural beauty. After all, natural design is what rustic gardens are all about.
Utilitarian
Water is the heart of any garden, including a rustic garden. For utility, especially in areas where xeriscape gardening saves limited water supplies, install rain barrels. For show and visual interest, open downspouts on a classic Territorial-style home in the Southwest can pour directly into a rain barrel. For greatest water conservation, water can be contained in enclosed downspouts and routed from the barrel into pipes that feed troughs or beds.
You can plant in whiskey barrels and stacked, creatively balanced ceramic pot shards. Clay chimney-type pipes standing upright and bound together can become an herb garden. A galvanized metal livestock trough from a feed and ranch supply store can be a garden bed or even a fountain when equipped with a pump and a fountain head. It can be cleverly disguised by a conglomeration of pots with plantings surrounding it.
Tags: rustic garden, create rustic, create rustic garden, focal point, garden including, garden will, natural design