EDITOR’S NOTE: Forbes.com recently profiled Maureen Gilmer, a horticulturist and landscape architect for 23 years. The author of 13 books, Gilmer has made guest appearances on The View, The Early Show and Home and Garden TV. Her articles have appeared in The Los Angeles Times and Better Homes and Gardens. Gilmer owns a commercial and residential landscaping firm called Professional Landscape Design in Northern California, where she lives, and is the creator of Gardenforum.com, a gardening web site. According to Gilmer, the garden in America is no longer a backyard hobby but rather a new way of exploring the human consciousness, and she is devoted to helping people create their outdoor spaces. Her most recent book is called Gaining Ground (Contemporary Books).
More About Maureen Gilmer
FORBES.COM: When combining outdoor space with interiors, what are the most important things to keep in mind?
GILMER: Exterior spaces can be viewed much the same way we do interior spaces, and many designers refer to them as “outdoor rooms.” While most people feel they have a good grasp of paint, fabric and floor covering, they do not feel nearly as confident about their outdoor counterparts. This is particularly true of plants because unless one is an experienced gardener, the chances of knowing more than a handful of species is slim. If you take the elements of a room and liken them to the components of the landscape, it will simplify these relationships. Floor covering in the house helps to link the different rooms with its uniformity, and paving integrates garden spaces and their connections. Windows are framed with elegant drapes, while flowering vines surround gateways and sprawl over walls and fences. Works of art, antiques and pictures make the walls of a room beautiful to look at, and in the garden, flowering plants or those with unique forms similarly embellish the outdoor room.
FORBES.COM: What interior elements can be taken outdoors?
GILMER: The key for creating an environment that unifies indoor and outdoor space into a seamless whole is visual compatibility. Success depends on how well the two are matched, either with the doors and windows thrown open, or when indoors looking out. Since most homes have a preexisting interior design, strive to reflect this character in the overall feeling of the outdoor space. First strive to capture its essence, whether it is French-Empire style or English cottage or even American Colonial. Each of these relates to certain components of garden design such as formal geometry or the lack of it, which should be reflected in the garden layout and plant forms. Second, the materials and finishes used indoors should be matched outdoors with similar appearing materials that stand up to the elements. Third, the color scheme of the interior may be also reflected in that of the landscape whether it is muted earth tones, cool pastel hues or a rainbow of bright flowers.
FORBES.COM: What are the biggest challenges in combining exteriors with interiors?
GILMER: Many homes lack a specific style, and are more eclectic environments tailored to the varied tastes of the owners. These can be challenging because it is hard to know what are the best features to draw out into the landscape. In this case you may have more choices, which contrary to what you may think, can make it difficult to arrive at a conclusion. Another challenge is in communicating what it is you want from the outdoor space. This is not unusual because verbally defining something purely aesthetic is not easy without a grasp of design vernacular. It is always a good idea to collect garden pictures that appeal to you from magazines to guide the designer. You need not explain what it is you like in the pictures, but when analyzed by a designer it will be immediately clear what kind of garden you have in mind. Then he or she will be able to identify how best to blend what is preexisting indoors with what will be created outside.
FORBES.COM: What kind of materials should be used?
GILMER: Construction materials are the most important part of bringing interior spaces out into the landscape. A good designer will know what material provides the proper outdoor counterpart for interior flooring, wall textures and overhead options. Outdoor materials should bear the same texture, similar unit size and overall color tone as indoor materials. These should also be of good quality to stand up to the elements without fading or disintegrating over time. The doorways, whether double French or sliders, are the point where the indoor and outdoor paving materials meet, and it is here that compatibility is most essential. All other materials, whether it is granite countertops or plaster walls, should be equally as well matched when extended outdoors.
FORBES.COM: What kind of plants should be used?
GILMER: Small spaces require small plants that remain perfectly in scale with their surroundings throughout their life span. In close quarters it is better to provide a diversity of small plants than just a couple of big ones. Small “needlepoint” plants offer opportunities for high contrast in differing foliage shape and leaf color. For example, variegated plants create the illusion of sunlight in shaded areas while bronze or purple leaves can stand out dramatically against bright green background foliage. The tiny floral displays can reflect a microcosm of the larger garden in a composition. These herbaceous perennials, ferns and ornamental grasses are perfect small garden candidates as suited to beds as they are pots and containers. The exceptions are special accents of small trees or unique shrubs grown for their forms that are interesting whether deciduous or evergreen. The patterns of branching as well as bark color and texture are the defining elements. They provide important problem-solving opportunities, offer architectural interest and make ideal subjects for night lighting. The plants to avoid are midsize and large woody shrubs that will invariably extend out into patios and walkways forcing the gardener to perpetually shear or cut them back. Such large plants provide little opportunity to create interest and diversity in this intimate landscape.
FORBES.COM: How do you make the outdoor spaces comfortable and livable?
GILMER: Once again, the small garden is one designed for people to enjoy in as many seasons as possible. One of the overall goals is to solve the problems to make spaces more comfortable. If it is a hot climate or on a hot side of the house, you must modify climate artificially by planting mature specimen trees for instant shade or constructing a shade arbor. You may choose to add a weather-resistant ceiling fan to a preexisting overhead structure. For outdoor living in cooler conditions the construction of an outdoor fireplace hearth can be the ideal solution, or a less formal fire pit. Either may be piped with gas for easy use or burn logs the old fashioned way. With new products appearing every day there is no limit to the range of amenities you can consider for the garden provided that they are not too large or too spatially demanding that they encroach onto precious living areas.
Article reprinted with permission from Forbes.com.