Get some graph paper (it's printed with squares like a grid)...consider each
square to be a foot squared or 6 inches depending on the size of your
garden, then measure your garden (length width and any
features...sheds....trees...ponds...odd shapes...etc) and draw out the
measurements onto the graph paper, I would do a couple of these, therefore
you can look at different positions and shapes for your design, it's not
hard to do and when youv'e got the templates done you can have hours of fun
re-designing your garden without any costly mistakes. a surveyors measuring
tape will come in handy (click below)

http://www.toolfinder.co.uk/catalog/...37037260e4eb5f

Some canes and string is also essential for making curved edges and
eliptical shapes.


--

Regards
p.mc


wrote in message
ups.com...
Broadback wrote:
Not being an artistic sort of chap, I can admire well designed gardens
but lack the vision to design them. I am planning on an island rose
bed, what would be a pleasing shape, is an oval or oblong with circular
short ends best? Also what proportion of length to breadth, is 2:1
pleasing to the eye? As for planting I am thinking of 2 standard roses
with Hybrid teas around them. Then would dwarf patio roses make a good
border, or would a miniature box hedge look better?

Beauty, as ever, is in the eye of the beholder, and what "looks best"
is a very subjective decision. If you have a severely modern house and
straight paths, then a rectangular bed may be more appropriate, or you
may feel that something curved would relax the visual tension better.

For many years we have been advised to avoid straight edges to beds,
serpentine curves and the like being much admired.

That said, an ellipse is a very classical form, and easily laid out by
putting two sticks in at the "foci" and using a fixed length of rope
round the two pins and the moving marker. Your two standards could go
at the two focus points The classical ratio for length to width would
be the golden section, 1:1.618 .

If you want to get /very/ serious about proportion, you need to
consider from where the elliptical form would be viewed - from standing
close or far off, or from an upstairs window, and re-calculate on the
basis of foreshortening and inclination. But I wouldn't bother.

Peg some sheets of newspaper out in the shape you envisage, to see how
well it fits in with what you already have, and to get an idea for how
much room you will have at the ends for access etc.