A magical garden awaits you. It longs to be tucked into a quiet corner of your backyard, placed there just for the pure enjoyment of it. The appeal of a secret garden is vast-it offers a private, secluded nook for relaxing, breathing in fragrant floral scents and retreating from the hustle and bustle of the outside world. With a little planted artistry, this special garden can become the best-kept secret around.
Shrouded in Privacy
Walled courtyards and tiny urban terraces tucked behind apartment buildings are ready-made secret gardens, naturally shielded from passersby on the street. In a larger garden, the secluded nature of the backyard makes it a perfect spot for hiding a secret garden.
To create a treasured sense of privacy, install "walls" with a combination of planted materials and hardscaping. Consider large hemlocks for an instant dense hedge, a row of boxwood shrubs or columnar evergreen bushes like Hicks yews. Pair living walls with a structure such as a fence, trellis, the side of an existing shed or an old stone wall.
Enhance the private feeling of your enclave by adding a "ceiling" to your secret garden, with a vine-draped pergola or arbor. You could even add a real door or a gate to further obscure the room within; pieces of architectural salvage, such as a weathered wood door or a wrought iron gate reclaimed from an older home, will lend an element of intrigue and history.
Lushly Landscaped
A bare wooden fence and an empty trellis will beg to be planted with a climber that weaves in and out of small crevices and holes, clambering up towards the sky. Morning glories, climbing roses, clematis, wisteria and ivy all make good choices for growing on supports.
If your secret garden is a back corner of your property, the soil may not be the best your yard has to offer. Or you may not have any soil at all if the space is very small or the available ground is paved over with the brick walkway. In these cases, containers present a marvellous solution. They can be filled with colourful annuals, fragrant herbs and even vegetables. Best of all, they can be moved around to camouflage bare spots along a trellis or an opening in a hedge.
Special Features
To make your secret garden even more of a destination, add an enchanting water feature. If you wish to keep the area especially restful, choose a reflecting pool with still waters, or even a small birdbath. Alternately, the splish-splash noises of trickling fountain or small waterfall would mask the sounds of quiet conversation and keep your garden a secret place where quiet tete-a-tetes between old friends are overheard by not a single soul.
Sweet Scents
Fragrant plants add a distinctive magic to the secret garden, creating a special space that' markedly different from the rest of your yard. Fragrance also encourages visitors to stop and linger, inhaling the sweet scent of roses, peonies, lavender, jasmine, honeysuckle or gardenia for example. If you have empty spaces between pavers, don't want to maintain a traditional lawn area, plant a carpet of fragrant herbs like thyme or chamomile.
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