How nice would it be if you could retreat into your garden and find peace all year long, without having to work hard for it as well? Is this even possible? If you find a few plants that require minimal maintenance and continuous bloom, and if you can plan your design properly, then this certainly is possible. You don't even have to be an expert gardener in order to make this possible. The following tips should help you create the garden of your dreams.

What Space Do You Have?

Try to look at your garden as if you had a birds-eye view. Look at it from above by making a sketch of what is there. Make some photocopies of this sketch and try out some things that you like in terms of garden d©cor, plants and so on. Make sure you take some time looking at existing garden designs in order to find some inspiration as well.

Pick a Theme

There are lots of different themes and styles you can choose. They are first divided into three categories, being formal, semi-formal and informal. Then, you can choose the sub-categories, such as country garden, Japanese garden, organic garden and so on. Once you decide on a theme, you have to stick to it or you will end up confused and the look won't work. You may like both wooden wagon wheels and bronze angel sculptures, but they really don't look good together.

Functionality

Remember that a garden is a functional space, so you have to make sure that it can be used for the things you want to do. If you regularly entertain guests and have barbeques, for instance, you may want to have a decked area as well. If you prefer to sunbathe in a private area, you may need some high shrubs placed away from the sun so that you don't find yourself covered in shadow.

You now have all the information you need to create a perfect space. Go to a garden centre and take a look at some of the plants that don't need a lot of maintenance and that flower all through the year. Evergreens are a logical choice, but you could also pick laurels, which are slightly less spiky in their design. Also, consider plants that flower in different seasons. Chinese lanterns, for instance, look like sticks during the summer but have gorgeous orange flowers during autumn.