Some people love to have unique gardens that follow a particular theme. These can be referred to a specialty gardens. Like any garden, they may be inside or outside, or perhaps adapted to suit their local climate. A specialty garden can amaze visitors with the cohesiveness of its style and imitate your favorite environment in your backyard so you sit in it anytime.
What are the types of specialty gardens? Let's explore some of the more common ones:
- Woodland Gardens - these gardens mimc the natural habitats of woodland plants and wildflowers. Included in this variety of garden are shade gardens, which has many plants that thrive in the shade, as well as wildflower gardens.
- Tropical Gardens - if you miss the beach when you can't visit it, this might be the garden for you. Here are some garden plants that are tropical in nature and would be appropriate for this garden: geraniums, impatiens, begonias, elephant ears, cannas, and caladiums.
- Water Gardens - water bodies of all kinds can be the focal point and main attraction for these garden. Examples of the kinds of water bodies used are small ponds, streams, waterfalls, container water gardens, and fountains. The plants are adapted to suit the water features. For example, if you go for more of a bog garden with a small pond, you may want to plant water lilies and cattails. Bog gardens can be particularly easy to create, so it might be worth trying out as a beginning experiment.
- Japanese Gardens - water is also prominent in Japanese gardens, no in more subtle forms like basins. The plants, however, are more typical of Japan than the US, such as bamboo, and paths are common to it as well. The focus of the Japanese garden is simplicity, and the plant life is usually limited.
- Environmental Gardens - the goal of this type of garden is simple: help create good, healthy environments in your location. One example is the xeriscape garden, which uses drought-tolerant plants to conserve water and energy. Another type of environmental garden is the rain garden, which features a shallow depression to catch rain that would otherwise runoff elsewhere. It can improve the quality of water or be a local watering hole for wildlife. Finally, there is also the wildlife garden, which can be targeted at either a wide variety of animals or only a select one. Pollinator gardens are an example of environmental gardens that contribute to helping the plants around them.
- Urban Gardens - these gardens make use of limited space to grow a beautiful bounty of plants. The locations for urban gardens are only limited by your imagination: balconies, rooftops, containers, and more.
- Edible Gardens - perhaps the most common type, edible gardens feature herbs, vegetables, edible flowers, or orchards - basically, anything that can be eaten is grown in these gardens.
Perhaps your interest was piqued by one of these gardens in particular? Research it more here and think about cultivating it in your backyard. There are many beautiful options for specialty gardens, so get to growing one today!
Featured Image by: Image by Peter Blanchard
