I have been reading a great deal about focal points in the garden. The two blogs I especially enjoyed were written at opposite ends of the country, one being Carolyn's Sweet Home and Garden Chicago http://sweethomeandgardenchicago.blogspot.com/ and the other Rebecca's Gossip In The Garden http://gossipinthegarden.com/ out in California. Both are written by professional garden designers and are excellent in that they deal with what we can do in our own yard as regular gardeners.
I read all of the Roundtable blogs and each one had specific ideas which were usable. But Carolyn's and Rebecca's displayed multiple focal point ideas which were all usable and executable by even the amateur gardener. Talk about turning gardeners on, something we all need to think about when we speak our gardenerese.
Even if you have a small urban type garden like Carolyn and I have, there can be many focal parts to your garden. Those with sprawling landscapes can think of focal points in terms of several rooms to a big house. As you move through these rooms, the focal point will change. Some will be close up and personal and some will be down a long gently curving path and some might be way in the distance, that we see immediately, but have a journey to reach it.
I have several focal points in my very small yard, however, I am still working on the north side of my home. It just seems to be a long stretch with a gate at the end, not a lot of interest except the plantings on the side.
I loved one comment, I think from Pam at Digging, that some focal points just need to be screened off!
