What makes a naturalistic garden look beautifully intentional instead of simply messy?
In this video, I take a close look at my trial garden at Rabbit Run in Kentucky and share five simple garden design principles that can help a naturalistic planting look more beautiful, cohesive, and intentional—even late in the season.
Naturalistic gardens are supposed to evolve, move, and change throughout the growing season. But there is a difference between embracing that loose, informal character and allowing a garden border to lose all sense of structure.
After watching my ornamental trail garden develop throughout the season, I identified five design principles that I’ll be using to improve the border next year:
🌿 Proportion
🌿 Clear boundaries and garden edges
🌿 Larger plant drifts
🌿 Contrast and texture
🌿 Repetition of plants, forms, and colors
I’ll show you what worked at Rabbit Run, what didn't, and how I'm planning to use these principles to create a more cohesive naturalistic garden in Kentucky next season.
This is especially relevant if you're interested in ornamental gardening, naturalistic garden design, cottage gardens, perennial borders, pollinator gardens, or creating a low-maintenance garden that still has a strong sense of design.
Chapters
00:00 Why naturalistic gardens look messy
00:47 What went wrong at Rabbit Run
01:25 Five garden design principles
02:04 The purpose of the Rabbit Run trial garden
02:43 Principle
#1: Proportion
04:30 Principle
#2: Creating a clean garden edge
05:26 Principle
#3: Contrast and texture
06:42 Principle
#4: Planting in larger drifts
08:09 Principle
#5: Repetition
11:06 What I'm changing next season
About Rabbit Run:
Rabbit Run is my trial garden in Kentucky, where I experiment with ornamental plants and observe how they perform in real garden conditions, including Kentucky's challenging clay soil.
The goal isn't to create a perfect garden. It's to learn what works—and what doesn't—and use those lessons to create better, more beautiful gardens over time.
If you are interested in more detailed trial garden results, I document Rabbit Run and Sugar Hill in my newsletter, Garden Moxie Field Notes. It's free to join. You can sign up at the link below:
https://gardenmoxie.kit.com/profile
What are your favorite ways to keep a naturalistic garden looking intentional throughout the season? Let me know in the comments!
Thanks for watching.
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https://gardenmoxie.com/
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sue@gardenmoxie.com
#gardendesign #gardenplanning #landscapedesign #gardeninspiration #gardening #zone6a 
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