3D Virtual Garden Design: The Hourglass Garden

As I read more garden blogs, seed catalogs, and visit other gardens, I feel compelled to collect and admire more perennials. The trouble is, where would I put more plants? I need a new flower bed, which is plainly obvious to me (if only resident-lawnmower-man had the same divine vision). I had an idea for a flower bed in the center of the lawn earlier this year, but it didn't appeal to RLM.

Thanks to a landscaping computer program, I have a 3D model of our house and yard to play with. Recently, I came up with a series of designs and consulted with RLM about them. He settled on this final design, while mocking my enthusiasm for virtual mulch-spreading and digital hosta-planting. I call the design the "Hourglass Garden".

So in the manner of HGTV, here is the yard "before" the proposed new flowerbed. There are four "Carmine Jewel" tart cherries in the lawn, and the flowerbed will incorporate the two nearest the back of the yard.

Here is the yard "after" the new flower bed. I hope the new flowerbed matches the scale of the other beds in the yard. It would be nice to put a flowerbed close to the front of the yard, where it is more visible from the road. However, it would be destroyed by snowplow's heaved gravel or the temporary spring pond created by the mountain of melting snow.

A top-down view of the yard with the new hourglass flowerbed. We built the two stone-wall raised beds two years ago. The center of the lawn features an established blue spruce, a crabapple, 3 sandcherries, and 4 young tart cherries.

A view from the front of the new flowerbed. It would be edged with stones, to match the stonework in the rest of the yard. I would surround the plants with cedar bark mulch.

Another front view. I think this bed would create a "garden room" in the back area of lawn. I hope it doesn't look silly to separate the lawn like this.

Do you like the random person in my virtual yard? I just thought it was fun to use this feature of the program. The area beyond the road is not really a vast grassland, but a lake with hundreds of little islands. It was just too difficult to add to the computer model.

Left side of the hourglass. I have always wanted a bench to sit and ponder the flowers, so I've put one under the mature willow tree. I will probably use dry-tolerant plants in this bed to accommodate the tart cherries, which need to be dry in late summer and fall. Of course, without the lawn around them, they might soak up more moisture.

Arbour at the center of the hourglass. RLM figures this flowerbed design would work well because we could create it in steps, making the right side first.

The view down the left side of the yard.

You can click on any of the photos to see a larger image. So what do you think? Is anybody else doing virtual landscaping?