How to change your garden...repetition

It is a key technique used to bring unity to a garden.  This helps the eye 'feel comfortable' by the repeated use of a plant, material, colour or shape.  Repetition is like the beat in a song and helps to blend the design together and give it a harmonious and flowing feeling.

Clever use of repetition can be a shape that is replicated in different forms – for example in this image the round allium flower heads replicate the box balls, while at the rear of the garden the oblong of the pleached trees is repeated in the shape of the low box hedge. Interestingly the box balls are different sizes which adds interest and prevents the garden from becoming like "Toy Town"

Another use of repetition in this image is the multi-stemmed trees that are repeated on the left of the image, as well as the toned palette of green with white accents from some of the planting and the colour of the hard landscaping in the design. 

This is the same garden, taken from a slightly different angle, and just as dusk is falling. This image shows how lighting can accentuate the repetition and bring a garden to life at night so that it can be enjoyed beyond shortened autumn and winter daylight hours. It also highlights the echo of the straight lines of the hard landscaping with the straight trunks of the pleached trees and the trees on the right of the image.