A patio with nothing surrounding it can feel too out in the open. A barrier of shrubs or a low wall can make it feel more private. Walls of brick or stone can be beautiful, and the tops of the walls provide places to put container plants, or to sit, if they're the proper height.
If you have room, you can create a natural-looking barrier with an earthen "berm," or raised bed. The berm can be covered with grass and planted with trees or shrubs, or it can be topped with perennials and other flowers.
You can also enclose a space by sinking it. Lowering a part of the garden by a foot or so can make it seem set off from surrounding space without creating a visual barrier. Surround it with plants and steps -- wide stone ones would be nice -- and make sure it's not a safety hazard. Also be sure to consider drainage by providing a place for the water to run off.
Enclosure is not always a good thing. It can mean more privacy, but it can be oppressive. Some gardens in England that have been growing for hundreds of years are walled in with high mature hedges and can be almost too dense, impeding air circulation. Also, depending on the height and density and even the site, enclosure can make the space shadier. Less light may influence the types of plants you can use.
The opposite of enclosure is exposure, and sometimes a garden can benefit from that. A standard six-foot stockade fence can be monolithic and boring, but a five-foot fence topped with a foot of lattice can open up the space to its surroundings while maintaining privacy.
You can borrow a beautiful view, such as distant woods, mountains or water, by opening a window within your "secret garden" with a break or dip in a fence or hedge. Partial enclosure can also give a garden a little bit of mystery. The glimpses into it, or out of it, lead the eye on and persuade it to visually expand the space.
It's your garden and should be what you want. Imagination can accomplish just about anything in your garden space.
Joel M. Lerner is president of Environmental Design in Capitol View Park, Md. E-mail or contact him through his Web site, www.gardenlerner.com.
