Components of garden

Components of garden

Components differ greatly from one garden to another under normal circumstances. A garden is your opportunity for positive action to resolve personal concerns and problems. Like any garden owner, you must include certain necessities in your garden. Begin a list of your essential components. As you plan your garden, research for the native flora and fauna of your area. By growing native plants in your garden, you can help feed local birds, insects, and mammals and help prevent the extinction of more wildlife. 

1. Lawn

2. Shrubs and shrubberies

3. Climber and creepers

4. Trees

5. Flower beds and borders

6. Ornamental hedges

7. Edges (or) Edging

8. Drives, Roads, Walks and Paths

9. Rockery

10. Carpet beds

11. Topiary

12. Trophy

13. Conservatory (or) Greenhouse (or) Fern house (or) Fernery.

14. Sunken Garden

15. Garden adornments

16. Arch and Pergola

1. Lawn.
     The lawn is the green carpet for a landscape. It provides a perfect setting for flowerbeds, a shrubbery, or a specimen tree. It is a basic feature for home ground development and an essential feature for any other type of garden. 

A lawn in front of the home

Grasses suitable for lawn making:

Common Name	Scientific name
Buffalo grass or shade grass	Stenotaphrum secundatum
Korean grass	Zoysia japonica
Bermuda grass or Doob grass	Cynodon dactylon.
Korean velvet grass	Zoysia centifolia.

2. Shrub and Shrubbery.
     Evergreen and deciduous shrubs of all shapes and sizes are the building blocks of the home landscape. It is useful as single specimens, mixed borders, beneath the tall trees, and as a ground covers. The category of shrubs includes lilacs and ligustrum with upright, tree-like trunks, and fountain-like forsythias that form huge mounds of arching stems, and dwarf boxwoods that make compact bush balls and creeping bearberry that hugs the ground.

Shrubs form part of the framework of the garden and create a very pleasing picturesque effect if they selected and planted in favorable conditions and require only routine care. Shrubbery is a border planted with different kinds of shrubs and a shrub border is one where only one kind of shrub is used.

Flowering Shrubs:

      1.Hibiscus- Hibiscus rosa-Sinensis.
      2.Nerium Oleander.
      3.Ixora.
      4.Bougainvillea.

      5.Spanish jasmine or Royal jasmine or Catalan jasmine.

 Foliage Shrubs:
      1. Copperleaf or Copper plant- Acalypha wilkesiana tricolor.
      2. Fire croton or Garden croton- Codium variegate.

3. Climbers and Creepers.
        Climbers and Creepers are used to grow against or over walls, trellises, arches, pergolas, pillars, or any large trees. Climbers may be weight or light depending upon the woods it produces. Creepers are those plants that are unable to climb vertically on their own because of their week stems.

Climbing plants over walls

Some examples of Climbers:
1. Bougainvillea.
2. Creeping Fig (ficus) or climbing fig- Ficus ripens or Ficus pumila.
3. Rangoon creeper or Chinese honeysuckle- Quisqualis Indica.
4. Asian pigeonwings or bluebell vine or butterfly pea or cordofan pea.

Creepers:
   Creepers are those plants that are unable to climb vertically on their own because of their week stems.

Examples of Creepers:
1. Morning glory.
2. Moss phlox or creeping phlox - Phlox subulata.

3. Periwinkle- Vinca Minor.

4.Flower beds and borders.

            Several flowering annuals and herbaceous perennials can be grown in beds and borders. Flower beds are simple designs that can be laid out on the outskirts of the lawn along the foundation of buildings, the path leading to the entrance of the house, and on sides of footsteps. Flower Borders are continuous beds of more length than width containing plants of heterogeneous character as flower beds which are composed of plants of one kind only. These borders can be on the sides of the path, walks, or in front of shrubberies and trellises with climbers.

                                                               Flower bed

5.Ornamental hedges.
    A good live hedge is essential to enclose a garden. Ornamental hedges planted in the garden with attractive foliage or flowering shrubs. These are pruned to maintain a height of 50-65cm. This will help to divide the garden into a number of parts each will have its own distinct features.

                                                               Hedges

6.Walks and Paths.
      All these should occupy minimum space and not too many in number. Paths may be made of earth, brick, concrete or paved. Paved paths are effective in a formal garden. Paving can be done on flat stones or concrete slabs or bricks.

Paths

7.Rockery.
    This is intended to bring together in a shorter space an idea of mountain or alpine garden with plants growing in the crevices of rocks. This is an elevated structure resembling a miniature mountain range or slope of a hill with few dominant peaks or valleys.

Some of the Cacti & Succulents used in rockery are Agave, Aloe vera, Sedum, Yucca.
Ferns: Nephrodium, Polypodium.
Flowering: Vinca rosea, Verbena.

Rockery

8.Carpet Beds.
         In a large public garden close-growing plants like Verbena or Alternanthera ( joyweeds, or Joseph's coat) are used to form certain designs or letters. Foliage plants are better suited than flowering plants as they stand severe clipping much better. Carpet beds require constant attention and need not allowing them to overgrow.

Carpet beds

9.Topiary.
      Certain plants are often trimmed to shapes of animals or birds..etc.Shrubs are well suited for bending and withstand frequent trimming for developing topiary. Shrubs like Casuarina, Bougainvillea, Cupressus (cypress), are suitable for Topiary work.

Topiary-Disney

Topiary-Elephant

10.Sunken Garden.
          This garden goes down through a series of terraces to a small pool or a fountain at a bottom. In the terraced flower beds, the lawn is laid out. This form of the garden taking advantage of natural depression. It breaks the monotony of a flat ground of the garden.

Sunken Garden

11.Arch, Pergola.
           Arches are generally erected over walks, usually at the entrance, and are two meters in height. Pergolas are series are arches connected over a walk.

Pergola

12.Trophy:

       The arrangement of potted colorful foliage or flowering shrubs and flowering annuals or herbaceous perennials around a tree or any central objects such as a statue. These potted plants often arranged in tires.

13.Edges:
      These are materials of any description that is used in gardens for dividing beds, borders from the roads, walks or paths demarcating spaces allotted for particular purposes as flower beds. Dwarf growing plants up to 20-30cm height such as Eupatorium (bonesets, thoroughworts, or snakeroots),

Alternanthera which should stand frequent trimming.

14.Trees:
      Trees are formed the main framework of the garden. Generally planted along the boundaries. A spreading tree is an ideal feature for picnic ground in the formal garden.

Specimen Trees-:
                     Cook pine- Araucaria cookie.

                     Plumeria alba.
                     Red frangipani- Plumeria Rubra.

Shady Trees:
                  Neem- Azadirachta indica. 
                  Ficus religiosa.

Flowering trees:
                   Indian laburnum or Golden shower- Cassia fistula( Yellow).

                   African tulip tree- Spathodea campanulata.

Checking Air pollution:
                   Frangipani- Plumeria acutifolia.

Screening purpose:
                   Eucalyptus.
                  Polylthia longifolia.

15.Garden Adornments:
         There are several adornments and accessories such as fountains, garden seats, statues, ornamental posts and pillars, trellises, hanging baskets, tubs, vases, and urns with plants make the garden more enjoyable. Playing a fountain is an interesting feature in the garden and garden seats are made of stones, concrete, or metal are placed under a tree. Arbors serve as support to several beautiful plants and dispel monotony in the garden.