Would you like a formal garden

Formal Gardens are the result of our desire to tame and give order to the natural garden. The look is clean and manicured. A favorite style of French and Italian style gardens the look also works well in modern landscapes.

Repetition of shapes and a mirror beds as seen here in this walkway design add to the sense of formality and order.

This garden with it's tightly pruned trees and central lawn  becomes all most sculptural in design. Formal gardens limit the diversity of plant materials, and focus more on shape. I love this look, it's clean, notice how the trees in the foreground contrast with the ones in the background.

This formal Alley leads your eye to the back of this garden, it's like a green planted tunnel.

Boxwoods are a good choice for the formal garden, but they are not the only choice. They can be easily pruned to geometric shapes. Boxwoods are are slow growing, and evergreen which aid in that manicured look. Small leaves lend themselves to that look of order. Make sure not to over water they like it on the dry side, spider mites can be a problem too.

Straight paths with mirrored plantings, and a central focal point. Though the plantings are more natural, the sense of formality and repetition are here.

Some times the formal garden relies on structures like these two houses. Even though the plantings do not reflect each other, the centered urn at the end of the path, the geometric paving stones give the feeling of formality.

Pruned plants in pots placed along a walkway, this says formality to me. Formal garden do not have to be on a grand scale.This look would work in a small city lot don't you think?  You can even achieve these look with fewer pots, just place two matching pots by your front door,we've all seen that look before.

 Here  are some other formal gardens styles.

This is just a small glance at formal gardens, it's just one of the styles of gardens that I wanted to share with you.