Very nice... fostering a sense of humour and wonder (explore-lust being part of the latter) in my garden is one of my four main goals.

Love the suggestion to let some little kids run around and see what they gravitate toward also. Maybe you should add that you know that you've gotten it right when your own garden makes you feel like a little kid full of wonder, too. :)

Great points Kim. I was about to ask you what your other 3 goals were and then thought it may pay to check out your blog to see if you've explained them there.

Lo and behold you have and what great goals! It's given me an idea for another post!

Hi Stuart - quite an enjoyable post! Guiding the visitors' eyes is something I've been working on for the last 2 years, when we bought our present house. Since everything in the backyard [and that was not very much!] was visible from the gate, "veiling the view" and presenting choices as to how one might move through the space were high on our design list. This will take years!

As promised over at Hanna's blog, I've been looking through your old posts, intrigued by the vast differences in how things grow in Australia.
I still don't like the name, but do like many of the posts on your site.

From Annie, gardening in the heart of Texas

[Warning! I'm one of those Snapdragons you were dissing!]

Annie, it's great to have you drop in and take an interest in what I've been writing.

I still do apologise for the name yet it seemed the most appropriate for what I was trying to achieve. When I first started blogging, I created a blog called Amateur Gardening which aimed to give hints and tips to beginner gardeners.

My blog's matured since then and there's more than just advice, photos and tool reviews here. The readership of my blog has also grown and includes beginners, seasoned home gardeners and the odd master gardener.

BTW - I liked your term "veiling the view".

My humble blog gave you an idea for a post? Yay! I can't wait to see it.

I've been thinking about expounding on those for a while, but haven't gotten around to it yet. In case you haven't noticed, I tend to be too wordy--I can't imagine that I could manage to cover 4 whole points in one post without subjecting people to a whole lot of scrolling down. lol.

We used to have a wonderful path "disappearing around a tree" - it led simply to a narrow path between a crab apple tree and the fence, but because you couldn't see the fence, it seemed like the garden continued on and on. Unfortunately that tree toppled when Melbourne had that huge flood in 2003. However, we then had room to put in a Japanese summer house. What you describe, Stu, is very like what the Japanese aim for in their gardens.

You're right Val. The Japanese do use explore-lust to their advantage. I haven't seen a Japanese-style garden that hasn't exploited the concept and they do it really well.

Such a shame about your crab-apple tree but the alternative sounds great.

One of the joys of a rambling garden is the surprise element - one never knows what they may find around the next corner, or tucked behind this shrub, or climbing up that archway over there.

That is what we are hoping to achieve with the large area we are working on at the moment. But PLEASE don't ever suggest that I create 'garden rooms'. How I hate that term!

Last year we visited a garden at Young, NSW, which covered about two acres and had many naturally occuring huge rounded boulders, which were there before the present owners developed the garden. Wide grass paths wander around the garden and disappear behind these boulders and meander among the perennial/cottage garden beds. A garden of total delight. Never boring and ever changing.

You don't like the term 'garden room'? I thought I would have someone stake and burn me for using the word 'lust' but I never presumed some would be passionate about not liking 'garden rooms'. Way to go Alice - I'm impressed.

Me, I love the term. It's a great way to translate my garden. It's like an 'outdoor house.' Walls are constructed from hedges, closely grown plants, fences, water features... the list goes on. Every 'room' has its own character just like a well-loved house.

Each room also requires its own knick-knacks and adornments. Some people use sculptures, some (unfortunately) use gnomes. We can use birdbaths, aviaries, pergola's, benches, chairs, pots...ya-da,ya-da,ya-da.

And just like a house, if you put a toilet in the kitchen it would be out of place as much as placing the compost bins in the middle of the rose garden. This is why I think 'room' is a good way to term the separation of spaces.

What is it about the term 'garden room' that you don't like? Is it because it's been used too much or do you think it's inappropriate for the garden?

Stuart - perhaps it's just my perception of the term 'garden rooms'. It conjures up visions of totally separate areas, as you've described, with little or no connection to the rest of the garden. Sure, I'm happy for a garden to have different plantings and uses, but let them flow one into the other, with the very minimum of separation. A water feature or a tree would be fine, but walls or hedges which block one's view until you actually walk into that area, I find too formal. I guess that's why I like curving paths so much, they wander away out of sight but entice you to follow and the vista gradually unfolds.

Mind you, I've seen some lovely gardens which had very clearly defined 'garden rooms' with hedges and walls on four sides, but they're just not my sort of garden.

I rarely ever have a straight garden bed - most of them curve informally, with sometimes some unavoidably straight(ish) sections.

However, thank goodness there is scope for all types of garden preferences. Sometimes, it's only by seeing what you DON'T like that you can define what you DO like.

Great points Alice. I would probably lean toward a more formal-style garden and as you say "there is scope for all types of garden preferences."

If I were to sum up my perfect garden it would have elements of what I've already described but also some of the things you've mentioned.

Certainly a flowing garden is much better than one that seems artificially straight and boring. I think it's great when you walk through a garden and you follow a path ending up in a room that you didn't see until you arrived in it.