Focal Points In Your Garden

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!

Is There A Reason To Look Out Your Window?

We should all have a reason to look out a window, whether it be to look at who is passing, the dawn, the sunset, the stars, a storm, but most important what we have in our landscapes should be the best reason of all. 

I went around the inside of my home the other day peering out each and every window and, to my amazement, I did have points of interest through just about every window.  I am not sure that this was a major concern when I was landscaping this blank slate.  However, I do remember thinking about the placement of the Chanticleer Pear and the Star Magnolia.  Each one of these specimens fills my view as I look from my dining room windows, the Pear straight ahead and the Magnolia to the side.  I still have some views to improve on my shade side of the garden.

As I move to the living room windows, which are in the shape of a bay, there are flowers visible from all angles.  When I pull up the sheer shades, it always reminds me of that old story The Night Before Christmas when they threw open the shutters and pulled up the sash and saw that magical scene of Santa and his sleigh.  Oh, sorry, I got carried away, but throw back your curtains, pull up your shades and see what you have outside your windows.  Is it interesting?