Building a Romantic Garden

How to Enjoy Nature and Fantasy in Our Garden

When we think about the concept "Romantic", we often picture lovers' affairs, San Valentine's paraphernalia. But it is much more than that. In the XVIII century the artists, tired of the constriction of the classicism, found a new way to express their freedom to create: the "Romanticism". Romantic art is an explosion of imagination; it is a mix of fantasy and exuberance. In literature, Bram Stoker delivered his passionate Dracula, and Maria Antoinette walked around decadent gardens that looked like paintings.

In the world of garden landscaping, romantic gardens are, perhaps, the most pleasant to enjoy.

To create a romantic garden we must to keep in mind that it is important to eliminate any kind of barriers that can block our imagination. A romantic garden is a mix of evergreen and explosion of colors, of shades and light playing with our eyes. Trees, bushes, climbing plants and vines surround decorative elements that can go from stones, fountains or little statues.

A good romantic garden can't look perfectly clean and trimmed. The secret to conquer to aspect of melancholy and decadence necessary for a romantic garden resides in allowing Nature to express herself, with mold covering stones and wild grass growing around statues. We must let the ivy climb freely on the trees, and weeds are allow to grow around the bushes.

A Romantic garden must be located in a limited location. We should build a wall or fence to make the space cozier. The ideal limits for a Romantic garden would be made with stone walls, full of mold and ivy. If we can afford it, we could pile stones, imitating the ruins of an old church or monastery, but it would be pretty expensive. I found a decent substitute in iron fences. They don't need to be tall, or made with real iron; we can buy metal aluminum fences, or plastic imitating iron, if it is made with good quality plastic. Funny thing, I bought perfect romantic fences in a Halloween store, but we must avoid the creepy motives, as the skulls, and limit them to black iron looking fences, as the ones we use to create a decorative cemetery.