Beginning the design of a raised planter for the corner of the yard. The basic concept is a stone wall with 90 degree corner and two twelve foot ‘legs’. Actually, two stone walls, a few feet apart, with the planter bed in between. See sketch:
My main questions at this early stage concern proportion and scale. Lets assume that I’ve got walls two feet high and one foot thick (good size to double as seating around the planter, if some nice, flat cap stones are placed atop the walls). My initial thought was to layout out the walls with two feet of clear space between them (the planting area). This would result in the overall cross section of the planter being four feet, from outside face of the outer wall to outside face of the inner wall.
The first negative thought that comes to mind is that this layout has its proportions skewed too heavily toward the stone walls, and not enough room for the planting bed. (one foot thick stone wall, two feet of planting bed, another one foot stone wall) I could always increase the distance between the stone walls, say one more foot; so that the two walls are three feet apart. But we are dealing with a small lot so every foot is a trade-off against other uses. I could be wrong (please tell me!) but I don’t think that cutting the wall size down is an option; for two foot high, non-mortared walls, isn’t one foot wide as narrow as I can go?
Can anyone who understands things like this (unlike me…) point me in the right direction? Will the original design work, or will it look like a stone fort with a few flowers in the middle? FYI, the lot is flat as a billiard table; one goal of the planter is to add some vertical dimension to this corner of the yard.
thanks
My main questions at this early stage concern proportion and scale. Lets assume that I’ve got walls two feet high and one foot thick (good size to double as seating around the planter, if some nice, flat cap stones are placed atop the walls). My initial thought was to layout out the walls with two feet of clear space between them (the planting area). This would result in the overall cross section of the planter being four feet, from outside face of the outer wall to outside face of the inner wall.
The first negative thought that comes to mind is that this layout has its proportions skewed too heavily toward the stone walls, and not enough room for the planting bed. (one foot thick stone wall, two feet of planting bed, another one foot stone wall) I could always increase the distance between the stone walls, say one more foot; so that the two walls are three feet apart. But we are dealing with a small lot so every foot is a trade-off against other uses. I could be wrong (please tell me!) but I don’t think that cutting the wall size down is an option; for two foot high, non-mortared walls, isn’t one foot wide as narrow as I can go?
Can anyone who understands things like this (unlike me…) point me in the right direction? Will the original design work, or will it look like a stone fort with a few flowers in the middle? FYI, the lot is flat as a billiard table; one goal of the planter is to add some vertical dimension to this corner of the yard.
thanks
