Symmetry in Landscaping

Garden Architecture

• Often, the architecture on a property will be a focal point in a symmetrical design. This means that lines determining placement and plant height would need to match up with lines in buildings on the property. For example, in a formal garden where symmetry is important, paths would radiate from a gazebo, and symmetrical flower beds would be planted between them. Hedges might be only as tall as the railings on the gazebo, and they would be placed at equal distances from the gazebo.

Paths

• Garden paths are another common way that landscape designers create symmetry in a garden. To be truly symmetrical, paths need to be paved in the same material (preferably an even-color material like gravel) and be plotted exactly. If the paths in a garden were drawn on a piece of paper, they would look like a geometric pattern with precise squares, circles or triangles. Straight paths can be parallel or perpendicular, and curving paths must have the same curvature or be mirror images of each other if they originate at the same point.

Flower Beds

• Flower beds in a symmetrical design will be equally spaced or plotted as mirror images, just like symmetrical garden paths. For example, a symmetrical garden could have four square-shaped beds, two on either side of a wide garden path, with two feet between each bed. Plant height and color also become important when flowers are part of a symmetrical design. Many formal gardens will have flower beds filled with the same species of flower in one color. Rows or patterns of flowers can be planted in different colors, but the design inside the flower beds must also be symmetrical.

Shrubs

• Shrubs are a very important element in symmetrical garden designs. Usually, formal garden designers use boxwood or other dense shrubs that are easily shaped by pruning. Boxwood is popular because it can be shaped into tall, rectangular hedges or pruned like topiary into geometrical shapes. Any other shrubs that are planted in a formal garden must match in size and shape.

Trees

• Like shrubs, trees in formal garden designs must match in size and shape. Often, rows of trees are planted at the edges of a formal garden to delineate the space, like a natural fence. Trees should also be planted at regular intervals and at equal distance from each other and other design elements like paths or the garden's focal point. Fruit trees and evergreens such as juniper are common trees used in formal, symmetrical gardens.