Scale is a big word; there are lots of meanings-many of them designed-charged. Overscaled can be good, fun, dramatic, compelling- or just plain theatrical. Underscaled can ruin a beautifully bold idea before the shovel goes in the ground. Proper scale is classic. This applies to landscapes, fashion, furniture, and rooms; I am sure I am forgetting many others. When things are the right size, you instinctively know it. Any person could tell you if a portrait of a person is badly drawn-we all know faces, and their proportions, as we have had non-stop exposure to the human face. But most could not draw the human face unless they were taught. Unless they learned about scale and proportion. The key idea here-some things can be learned, and can be used as a tool to get your design going somewhere.
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What is it the right time for? That’s simple-make plans. People are good at planning. We are actually much better at planning, than dealing with what we didn’t plan for-so make use of what you are good at. We’ve all made grocery lists, given birthday parties, hosted holiday dinners, decided to have families, gone back to school, moved on. A landscape by design, which is a fancy way of saying, by plan, is planning-don’t be afraid.
Only a gardener, obsessed for the first sign of spring, would in their next breath complain about inordinately warm temperatures! 71 degrees in Michigan, March 17, is too very warm. Daffodils and crocus shoot up as though shocked by a bolt of electricity. An unknown dwarf magnolia in my yard has every fuzzy hair on every bud, standing at attention. This makes me cringe-I am well aware that Michigan has snow and very cold temperatures well into April. Devastating-the sight of frost-browned spring flowers.
March, and into April, is the worst part of our gardening year. Meaning, this time of year features the best of the worst that can be. You can spend a weekend raking, and in four days there is no trace you were ever there. Brown is still the dominant feature. Unless you have designed your landscape to bridge the seasons, all that brown can beat you down.