Landscaping is an art form. If you don’t believe me, check out Rick Anderson’s awesome blog.
Yet, it seems that the most common mistakes become perpetually accepted in the same way the proverbial Emperor trusted his tailor.

New houses spring up at an alarming rate and before you can say “Wow! That didn’t take long” their front yard has been transformed into a postage stamp paddock of green. A row of plants around the perimeter scream ‘Boring!’ louder than a rooster can crow when you have a thumping migraine and to top it off, an out-of-the-box water feature sits right in the middle of the yard.

Can we become any less imaginative?

To beat the rush on how-NOT-to landscape your garden, Christopher Solomon wrote a great article on landscaping sins. He lists seven faux pas‘ of garden design that he encounters when driving past many homes.

#1. Meatball Shrub – basically this is topiary gone stupid. Dwarf plants are pruned into ridiculous shapes (hence the term “meatball shrub”) that have no beneficial aesthetic value to the garden. Triangles, silly animals, and obscure shapes all add to that tacky effect.
Tip: Unless you’re trying to create a Parterre garden, leave topiary alone. It doesn’t become you.

#2. Marching Flowers How many times have we seen rows of plants set in line like a battalion waiting for a dress check? This is so unnatural and shows signs that either the gardener got a great deal on crotons this week or they lack any form of creativity. My bets are on the latter.
Tip: Imitate nature’s planting style. Clumps and random patterns look normal and are what people expect to see in gardens.

#3. Dyed Mulch Hear, Hear. Dyed mulch is for gardeners wanting to plumb the depths of boredom. It shows an ineptitude to make your plants and flowers the stars of your garden and the focus becomes the coloured rubber bits that do nothing to improve your soil.
Tip: Mulch is for the benefit of your plants – not the other way ’round. It’s like the archaic golden rule for children – it should be seen and not heard!

#4. Too much – of everything As a gardener this is the easiest landscaping sin to commit. What’s to stop you picking up that new season potted annual for that space that won’t be occupied for another month until the bulbs spring up? Nothing. Unless of course you don’t enjoy clutter.
Making your garden too random and full of plants that don’t fit – or worse still, they clash – is like dressing a room with patterned wallpaper, a paisley carpet and spotty furniture. Your eyes will be screaming for assistance.
Tip: Try to avoid spontaneous purchases and realise that your garden is not as big as you think it is. Stick to the planting styles you’ve already established and continue to build that design instead.

#5. Bad proportions If your garden beds are only 2m wide don’t grow plants that will exceed those boundaries. The classic case is growing crocus next to a flowering viburnum. The bulbs will get lost in the shrub and will be missed not only by yourself but also your visitors.
Tip: Use your plant heights to create an effect of more room rather than less.

#6. Skinny Sidewalks It’s supposed to be a pathway but it’s effectively useless for moving around the garden because it’s only wide enough to carry a child’s toy cart. Many builders add these in to their houseplans yet you don’t have to accept them.
Tip: If you are going to have garden paths, make them wide enough that are useful and use materials that blend in with your landscape. Concrete is probably not going to work for many garden styles so change it to bricks, pebbles, paved timber or any other resource that fits.

#7. House hugging plants and their bad beds. Ugh! U-G-L-Y! Who do we have to blame for this landscaping monstrosity? There’s nothing wrong with having plants near you house but when they’re planted to the contour of your house it looks very bad indeed. Many homeowners make these garden beds their complete gardening picture, and it’s not a very pretty one.
TIP: Widen your garden beds and shape them so that they look more natural. A garden bed should never be a rectangle.