Garden views: More than just a pretty gate

While in Britain last summer, I took pictures of things that lead to something. I call the collection “Portals of Britain.”

It’s all about things that pull you — visual tantalizers for the wanderlust. Stone doors, windows, peep holes, staircases, steps to here or there, and in one case, nowhere at all. Wooden mantels, door jams, more steps, paths of wooden brick, benches, lamp posts, interesting signs and anything else that leads you one way or the other.

Creating vistas that lead the eye is crucial in garden design. Views can take on many shapes, as simple as the distance, possibly even a horizon. Mountains, cliffs and rivers work well. While this may sound grandiose, I have visited many gardens as a landscape consultant and am continually impressed as to the grandeur of Alaska surroundings.

So why create a view if we have so much natural beauty? Perhaps the neighbor has built a not-quite-finished shop with a blue tarpaulin roof facing directly into your garden. Perhaps your son has tacked together an interesting building experiment next to your potato patch. Or maybe you just want the visitor to be curious and keep going. Whatever the reason, creating views you want to look at, those that will guide the eye in one way or the other, is something we all need to do at one time or another.

It’s all about attracting attention and channeling the gaze this way or that. Formal gardens do this well. They tend to be designed around a series of garden rooms, connected by leading views. As you wander from room to room new vistas are revealed. Everything should lead the eye to a focal point, often a vista at the end of a room, or perhaps a single sculpture, tree or window into the next room. Even the stonework and paths should guild you to that end — never detracting from the main focal point or attracting the view unto themselves. Planting should be planned to augment the intended focus, not compete. Grass, pavement and hard surfaces need to remain simple, unless they are the focus. If you are attempting to draw people some distance through a garden, the focal point pulling them should have interest enough to draw and not thwart their hopes once they have arrived.

Focal points in the garden keep it from seeming formless. They should lend to the garden’s strength. Built structures such as trellises, arbors or pergolas are great at creating strength and direction as long as the eye is led to them. Since most built structures tend to be linear, they work well with a single focal point at one end, both ends, or they themselves become the focal point destination — such as a bench under an archway at the end of a long path or an interesting little garden shed nestled at the end of a large border.

Placing focal points must be carefully thought out so as not to turn into another piece of misplaced garden clutter. Some sculptures or large containers may form matching sets to frame a view. Others that are particularly unique and inherently interesting need their own space. Unless a piece can dominate a space, it should be carefully integrated into its surroundings. Classical shapes often look best in a formal setting while more casual forms work well in informal plantings. These elements can be used to lead the eye from one area of the garden to the next and are useful in developing a sequence of views. They should not all be seen in one place, but be used to pull the viewer along. If set a distance from the viewing point, a single object can pull the eye outward, perhaps towards the surrounding countryside, mountain or river.

Repetition of form, the use of parallel lines, straight paths to a focused end, open fences inviting the eye to roam easily to a desirable distant view, a mirror in a small garden to suggest space beyond, a singular bird bath as an anchor to a formal herb garden, or a classic path gently bending at just the right moment to reveal a tiny pond – these are all central to creating a view.

Above all, you are wanting to create a sense of wonder in the viewer, a now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t sense of childhood delight. It is fun and rewarding, and you have all winter to let your brain ponder the possibilities!

Sally Koppenberg is a garden and food designer. She is the owner of Stonehill Gardens and The Red Beet, nursery & catering companies specializing in Alaska Grown foods, trees, shrubs, perennials and native plants. Contact her at stonehill@gci.net.