LandscapesTraditional Landscape, Boston

This romantic Boston garden features a sundial at the terminus of a stone path. Framed with tall lilies and a loose mix of anemones, dianthus and petunias, the sundial makes a vertical element near the house. This is classic cottage style with a loose and informal feel.

8. Assess conditions. What kind of light do you have? Whether your yard is mostly in the sun or in the shade, you'll need to plant accordingly. This can be a disappointment for new gardeners, who might have visions of peonies and roses and lilacs dancing in their heads. It can be disappointing to consider plants that can handle less sun; it certainly was for me.

This might be a good garden to wrap up this design lesson with. It might sound obvious, but assuming you have at least average gardening skills, your plants will grow larger than they were the day you installed them. Unlike interior design, in which your coffee table more or less remains the size it was when you brought it home, your plants will keep changing. That means your stuff and space percentages will evolve over time. That’s not a good thing or a bad thing, but it’s worth thinking ahead when you decide how many plants to buy and how to space them. This giddy garden appears to be devouring the path. Everywhere you look flowers are bumping up against their neighbors, like a mosh pit of perennials. It’s charming and well suited to the style of house and, I assume, suits the owner’s sense of style. The point is, if your goal is to maintain a certain balance of space and mass, pay attention to the mature size of each plant you select, allowing adequate space to achieve the size nature intended.Lay of the Landscape: Find your garden style

Layered heights in a cottage garden

pink and white and purple in shrub