Is Your Outdoors Miniature Garden Design Balanced?
Today as I began writing my blog, this question came to mind, " Is your outdoors miniature garden balanced?" How can you tell? My favorite technique is to stand in front of a garden and glance at the entire landscape. If your eye is drawn to one specific section of the display, then the visual balance needs to be improved.
Instead of seeing individual parts of a puzzle, the desired outcome to a well-balanced design is viewing the garden as a complete area where all the puzzle pieces fit together. This can happen by using an asymmetrical, or informal, balance where plants or mini garden accessories are irregularly placed on either side of a central point, so the weight, color, or shape on each side appears to be equal. Balance can also be symmetrical, or formal, by creating mirror images.
Let's open the fairy garden gate to learn about the world of formal balance.
The term "formal" gives the impression that this type of balance would be time consuming and difficult to achieve. In reality, formal balance is quite easy to do. Consider a focal point and copy the same plant or accessory on each side. An example would be an entrance to the fairy garden. Begin with a Vine Gate as the focal point and then add two identical Antiqued Columns to each side of the gate. Next, add the Iron Fences as mirror images and watch the entrance of the miniature garden transform into a comfortable and welcoming feature. In addition to the garden accessories, plants can offer a sense of formal balance.
Creating a harmonious design, the Lemon Cypress Cone uses color to settle the Primrise Fairy Cottage within the landscape and to pull the design together. The Fairy Vines, on each side of the Ramproof Stone Arch and Gate, are another example of symmetry, while the curved shapes add motion to the design. Sometimes symmetry can become too rigid and uncomfortable; by adding color and a few curved lines into the landscape will be pleasing to the eye.
Notice how the curves in the circular staircase provide a feeling of movement, while the duplicated staircase pulls this fairy cottage garden together...not as little pieces, but as one design. When you are planning your miniature fairy garden, consider the design principle of balance.
Miniature Gardening offers a variety of accessories, fairies, plants, garden tools & furniture to create enchanting miniature landscapes for containers or your yard. We carry the largest online selection of plants for miniature and fairy gardens and of unique handcrafted miniature hardscape paths and patios. Visit our website: http://miniature-gardening.com