The Elements of Basic Design
December 21st, 2009 | Author: wedwizj
The “modular” concept conceived for contemporary architecture and landscaping is largely responsible for the speed with which container gardening has spread joyously from its original California home across the country. It has the economy, practicality, and flexibility that suit today’s way of life.
Modular containers are mobile boxes of one basic design, with standard measurements and proportions, that can be combined in different ways for different effects. There may be a set of square containers used in different arrangements, or a combination of square and half-square or triangular boxes. The hexagon and octagon are other functional shapes.
The important elements are mobility and adherence to one basic design, whatever it may be. Just as the homemaker rearranges her sectional sofa and other types of modular furniture, the container gardener or outdoor decorator moves modular containers to renew or refresh the garden picture. The basic design gives continuity, unity, and harmony.
As one example, a set of five or six square boxes can be arranged:
End to end, or with space between, at the edge of a patio, terrace, or garden area
In a right angle to define a corner
Up and down the side of garden or terrace steps
In stacks of different heights against house or garden wall. (Use empty containers as “shells” on which to set other boxes, or set the higher boxes on bricks or blocks.)
Corner-to-corner, like a string of diamonds, along a walk or driveway. As a three- or four-sided planter around the base of a tree
To multiply the possible arrangements, add triangular boxes to the set, or double-size rectangular boxes of the same basic design; or make the boxes in graded sizes, like a toddler’s box-in-box toy. As long as the containers are fractions or multiples of one size and design, the unit remains modular and its decorative use has unity. And, of course, construct these modular containers as sturdy and culturally practical as any other. A good example for the is the patio landscape design.
Use vines in modular containers to tie a series or group together. Let them trail from one box to another. Or use one variety of vine to unify mixed plantings in several boxes. Or combine two hanging edgers in a repetitive pattern. Vines blend broken staccato lines, dissolve space separating containers, create homogeneity in the overall design.
