For some people, the ordinary garden just doesn’t cut it. Today, let’s look into specialty gardens. Specialty gardens come in many shapes and sizes, but the general feature that unites them is their leaning towards specialization, or one cohesive, unique style. To best illustrate what we’re talking about here, let’s discuss some of the specialty gardens out there. Who knows, maybe you’ll see what you want your next garden to be!
The first time of specialty garden is the water garden. Water gardens can encompass a wide range of gardens, but they all have a water body of some kind or another as the focal point. The types of water bodies you can choose from range from koi ponds and streams to little waterfalls and fountains. So even imitate watery landscapes, such as in the bog garden that emulates a marsh.
Another type of specialty garden is the tropical garden. A great way to bring a bit of the tropics to your backyard or house wherever you are, these feature plants that have their roots in the tropics. Examples of such plants are geraniums, impatiens, begonias, elephant ears, cannas, and caladiums. If your climate can support it, try planting tropical fruits like pineapples to go along with the theme!
Other kinds of specialty gardens have goals than recreating another environment. For example, environmental gardens are those that seek to encourage environments that support and contribute to the local ecosystems. One type of environmental garden is the pollinator garden in which plants that attract bees and butterflies are supported to encourage more pollinators to settle into the area. Another is the rain garden, which tries to catch rainwater that would otherwise just runoff into gutters or other unhelpful areas.
The urban garden is another type of specialty garden designed to transform landscapes otherwise devoid of plant life. The places for these gardens range from warehouses to rooftops to pots inside of homes, and the types of plants grown are many. Usually, edibles like vegetables and fruits are grown to provide access to fresh food for the local populations.
Is your interest piqued by the variety of specialty gardens we explored? You can investigate them more here in an article on them. Look further into the ones that interested you and maybe start one yourself! These gardens can not only be great for the environment, but they also compose some of the best-looking yards we’ve seen. Imagine your visitors walking into your backyard to encounter an ecosystem rather than a lawn, a living world instead of a staid row of shrubs.
In future posts, we’ll look into some of the specialty gardens in more detail, including how to construct them properly and what plants should be in them. Until next time!
Featured Image by CaraMaria
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