Looking into the country houses of your friends or relatives, you probably paid attention to the small architectural forms. This term is commonly used to refer to man-made elements of the design of a garden or park space, which are small structures and structures, equipment and artistic and decorative elements.
Many of these objects are well known even to novice gardeners, but not everyone knows how to correctly shape the space of a suburban area with their help. This is exactly what will be discussed.
Secrets of small forms
Small architectural forms are very diverse in appearance, design and purpose, these are pavilions and rotundas, fences, retaining walls and stairs, all kinds of garden furniture, flowerpots and lanterns. And don’t forget to add fountains and bridges, barbecue stoves, children’s and sports facilities, arches and bersos, trellises and various vertical supports for climbing plants to the list. Yes, and landscape sculpture also fits the definition of small architectural forms.
Recently, such objects have begun to appear more often in gardens, not only as random, additional decorations of the site, but also as necessary elements conceived already at the design stage of the site. But not so long ago, everything came down to the most utilitarian solutions: a simple gazebo, a bench, and also to a couple of plaster gnomes watching the work of the owners in the garden.
Of particular importance are garden structures in newly developed areas with young plantings, in cases when the spatial solutions of the garden have not yet been fully implemented. In such places, there may be an excess of free space and a lack of vertical accents. Then arbors, arcades, canopies and other light structures designed for recreation come to the rescue. And also — various designs for vines. Entwined with greenery, they very quickly compensate for the lack of volume in the garden.
The construction of such structures gives an almost instant decorative effect and decorates the garden, causing a sea of positive emotions, because it is unlikely that anyone will be left indifferent by bright clematis on an elegant pergola or fragrant climbing roses on a lattice around a bench.
Sometimes decorative walls and screens are built to delimit the space in the garden. Made of different materials, they are not only practical, but also artistically decorative.
In addition, such fences, walls of sheds, gazebos and other garden structures are a very suitable place to place decorative items: ceramic panels, a collection of garden accessories or some kind of art object made of twigs, roots, tree bark and dried flowers.
Tools, pots, pegs with signs or balls of twine for garter plants are placed on shelves or in boxes that are useful in gardening and gardening. Colored glass bottles, various decorations and small plastics are also placed here.
Garden plots in the vast expanses of the middle lane are usually located on a flat, flat territory. Therefore, creating or emphasizing at least small differences in terrain on the site makes it more interesting. Most often, such a surface change is performed using geoplasty techniques, constructing hills, ramps, and most often retaining walls.
The system of retaining walls can greatly transform the site, but the walls themselves also perform a decorative function. In the pockets formed by them, you can install attractive garden benches or create small patios with a stone-paved surface. Sculptures are installed in the niches of the retaining walls, mascarons — fountains in the form of a lion or satyr mask can be hung on the wall, and the wall itself can be covered with parthenocissus or Amur grapes.
Garden furniture
The most common and affordable type of small architectural forms are garden furniture items. A variety of wooden furniture — simple benches, elegant benches of classic shapes, folding chairs and large tables for the whole family, deck chairs and hammocks — looks very advantageous in various viewpoints and corners designed for recreation.
Plastic furniture is less durable, besides in the garden it often looks foreign. The metal is very durable, but heavy and cold, it should be supplemented with cozy and soft pillows.
Wooden furniture is devoid of many disadvantages. Perhaps the only disadvantage is that it gets wet during the rain and gradually becomes unusable. But this trouble can be corrected if one of the modern protective coatings is applied to wooden objects. Painted or treated with special impregnating compounds that prevent rotting, wooden products stand in the garden for many years, combining well with other garden accessories and buildings and decorative plantings.
As small forms, large planters and containers can act, which allow you to exhibit heat-loving plants in the garden during the season and cultivate flower annuals. However, by themselves they can become stylish and eye-catching decorations of the site. Terracotta and stone pots, vases, amphorae, floor and hanging bowls and baskets with and without plants are used to decorate the territory in a variety of combinations.
Wooden and metal woodcutters, forged or made of sheet corten, barbecues, hearths and barbecue stoves of original design appear in household gardens more and more often.
Garden sculpture
Gardens and parks are very enlivened by a sculpture set against a background of greenery of shrubs, tall grasses or just on the lawn. The focus of the garden vista (the viewing “window” from which the most attractive view opens) in the garden of classical proportions will organically look like a bust or a four-sided pillar, completed with a sculptural head of antique appearance. And in the forest part of the garden or on the shore of a reservoir of natural outlines there is a place for figures of animals or fairy-tale characters.
Abstract or geometric sculptures in the high-tech style are very appropriate in a modern garden. Sculptures can also be curious, for example, insects crawling on the lawn, enlarged to an impressive size. However, it is not necessary to overpopulate the garden with sculptures and fancy art objects, this may not be beneficial, but harmful.
Somewhere in a bright place, for example, in the center of a lawn or a small flower parterre, it is appropriate to put a sundial on a stone pedestal, and place a drinking bowl for birds near the house, which can be viewed from the window. Feeders and drinkers can have a very simple shape, but they can also be designer, made of metal or stone.
Of particular importance are small forms in the winter season, when the garden loses a significant part of its volume and color. Everything that protrudes above the snow: openwork grilles, arches, decorative fences, lanterns, sculptures and furniture — all this brings a pleasant variety to the landscape of the frozen garden and makes it more attractive.
When creating and placing various structures in the garden, keep in mind the requirements that are usually imposed on small architectural forms. They must be durable, functional and safe to use. Such standards are primarily relevant for children’s facilities — swings, carousels and slides.
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