Ovals in the Landscape - Elegance, Healing and Celebration

(Garden by Johnsen Landscapes & Pools)

Ovals and ellipses add an understated elegance to the landscape.

These elongated circles are perfect for ceremonial outdoor spaces and promote movement in a garden. 

Ellipses, ovals and the familiar 'racetrack' shape all contribute to a harmonious atmosphere outdoors.

(Garden by Johnsen Landscapes & Pools)

I utilized an oval shape when I created this level lawn on the side of a steeply sloping hill. 

I cut into the steep slope and retained it with a 3'10" ft high reinforced stone wall on the uphill side and a similar wall, which you can't see, down below on the downhill side of the lawn.

This special lawn was designed for the dimensions of a large tent to be used once a year for a grand outdoor party for children afflicted with brain and spinal cord tumors.

The Making Headway Foundation is the host of this wonderful event and the kids love it!

The most prominent feature of the Oval Garden is a row of Norway Spruce trees on the far side of the level lawn. As one gazes down onto the garden from the house, these evergreen trees stop the eye and define the limits of the space.

The trees screen the neighboring properties from view and serve as a dark green backdrop for the space they enclose. Most importantly, the tall spires of the Spruce trees act as a visual counterbalance to the high hillside on the opposite side of the lawn. Both vertical elements, the trees and the hill, form two tall side walls of the Oval garden and make it a nestled space deep within the safe embrace of Nature.

                     (forest pansy redbud on the hillside)

I selected the plants in the Oval Garden for their leaf texture more than anything else. Texture considerations emphasize leaves of varying size and shape rather than masses of  flowers. While the Spruce trees provide a needle leaf evergreen silhouette,  large leafed plants stand in the shadiest section of the Oval Garden. A large grouping of 'Snow Queen' Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia ' Snow Queen'), a deciduous shrub with large, deeply lobed leaves, combines well with the glossy leafed, shade tolerant  Rosebay Rhododendrons (Rhododendron maximum).

(Oakleaf Hydrangea 'Snow Queen')

(morning light miscanthus and junipers with ladies mantle in foregorund)

I also used the slender bladed, varigated grass, Miscanthus 'Morning Light' and also the large leaved ladies mantle to add textural interest. The different sized leaves provide a restful, green contrast to the colorful flowers in other parts of the property.

Green plants and curving and oval shapes  make a wonderful outdoor healing space, don't you think?