Distance Perspective Techniques to make Small Gardens look bigger

By Peter Cole

Because our living and outside spaces are getting smaller all of the time, it is sensible to make our smaller garden spaces “do more”.

One way to do this is by utilizing the art of “Distance Perspective” to create a bigger sense of distance and depth in the garden than is actually there.

“One of the main tricks is to station dwarf plants or perhaps bonsai plants far away, say abutting the boundary fence, then put grander plants close to the locations you routinely view the garden from”, recommends Peter Cole, consultant water-feature installer and “false distance” landscaper.

“If you can mound soil up towards the back, rising hills also give more distant-seeming depth of view”. Peter recommends a preliminary step before piling soil against any fence or wall, of first installing fiber cement sheeting in front of the fence and bracing the sheets if the fence requires structural support, or applying 2 layers of paint to prevent rising damp on a wall, or timber rot.

If you are thinking to sculpt your soil into higher “mountains” and sweeping valleys for an even better perspective-illusion, and have your mountains stay where they are forever Peter offers his “Hardcoat” permanent soil surfacing system which he has been developing during the last 10 years. It’s a coating which you mix and apply over your land-shapes, only 5mm/3/8ths inch thick, then you use his tested techniques to make the Hardcoat coating resemble a natural soil surface, mountain-stream bank or rock-look. “A visitor to my recent display stand described Hardcoat for me”, says Peter, “she concluded ‘it’s like making sandcastle-shapes, only the Hardcoat makes them permanent”.

Peter also suggests that an alternative way to further boost the trick of “false distance” is to put small statues and ceramic shapes like tiny bonsai steps at the far points of your landscape “which really tricks your brain as to the scale one is looking at “it seems that you see real mountains or hills in the distance”. Peter has added miniature-sized “Hardcoat Steps” into another display mountainside, which truly fools the eye, “but that is likely to be be a bit too complicated for the novice.”

Peter also uses water to convey Distance Perspective. “I commence with a little flow hiding “away in the distance” then I add more outlets to the stream as it gets nearer to the primary human viewing area. “Most folk design their waterfalls and streams to be thunderously-flowing right from the start of their waterfeature, but there is no reason you can not build up the flow as you go. It creates a natural look anyway, and it’s easy to do; you simply tee off the pipe on the way to the farthest waterflow and add a tap to each teed-off outlet to brilliantly regulate your water outlets”.

The final trick to fool your eyes they're viewing a landscape with far distances, of far greater proportions than actually exist, is to locate your big rocks in the foreground and use the same species of rock for the distant background- “place more of them on the far mountains, but they have to be be much smaller”, says Peter.

It is uncommon to have a plot of garden that tapers (gets narrower further away) but if you have that shape, or you can create such a landscape-shape in your garden, it also adds to the desired distance-perception.

“You could have drawn a distance-illusion picture using many of such described tricks during your primary school art class” reminds Peter.

“If you have got an amateur artist buddy, their help in painting a trompe l’oeil (meaning “mistake the eye” “with fake distance) picture on the wall or fence will be useful “not obligatory, but a cherry on the top”.

Peter Cole is a consultant artist/landscaper with 25 years experience. He has developed his “Hardcoat” product to enable more creative landscape people and home gardeners to form landscape works of art, including hills, valleys, small mountainsides, streams and lakes. He offers a “how to make it” video download on using Hardcoat to make your own garden work of creativity.

Article kindly provided by UberArticles.com

Topics: Landscaping Gardening | Comments Off

Tags: backyard landscaping ideas, bonsai, front yard landscaping, Garden Water Feature, Landscaping Gardening, small backyard ideas

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