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PART TWO: CHOOSING A STYLE FOR YOUR GARDEN

CONTEMPORARY GARDENS

Photo of contemporary garden by Jenny Mealing

Contemporary gardens are usually minimalist with very clean, well-defined lines. Often the hard landscaping is confined to one or two colours. Decking can be a feature of a contemporary garden but it works best when stained and varnished. Hard landscaping materials to think about might be slate or granite paving and plain white-washed walls. Your contemporary garden will have the feel of a 'room outside' so you can include artwork, sculpture and even soft furnishings like cushions. Lighting is key as well since you want to be able to use the garden at night. All in all the contemporary garden approach is to style the garden very much as you would one of your indoor rooms.

With a contemporary garden, there will be no doubt that it has been designed - there should be no happy accidents such as you might find in a cottage or traditional garden. They work best in urban environments and, if you want a contemporary garden, you need to consider if it will match your house. Something else to think about it is whether your wonderfully trendy garden will appeal to future buyers of your home.

Planting in the contemporary garden consists of architectural evergreens and flowering plants. Flower colours will usually be chosen according to one section of the colour palette only - in other words, you could have cool colours like white and blue or hot colours such as yellow, orange and red but you probably wouldn't mix them. For a really modern look, you could try single colour planting.

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