Curving a lawn

[HaveYouSeenHerLately]

Can anyone suggest some inspiration for curving a bog standard rectangular lawn with narrow borders along the length of each fence?

My garden is currently rectilinear in the extreme. Square patio (cotswold stone) nearest the house, typical shed at the end, no garden path but square slabs around the shed. Rectangular lawn inbetween.

I've spruced everything up as much as I can - the shed's stained, patio and slabs pressure washed, tree pruned, lawn mowed and treated regularly. I've worked at softening the edges with climbers and shrubs and have a large sumac tree (expertly thinned by Dad! So still get plenty of light) two-thirds of the way up, by the fence. I'm SE facing.

All the images I've found include hard landscaping, raised beds etc. My garden is very simple! I've got some good structural shrubs and climbers though (need to work on incorporating perennials). I definitely want to widen the beds this year.

I know the idea is to lay a bit of hosepipe or rope out until you've found an appealing shape but I just want to see a few visuals of what I could achieve I quite like the idea of a wooden arch, over the narrowest part of the lawn.

I'm not looking to do anything drastic (moving elements around, laying paths) but I definitely think a new lawn shape could make a dramatic difference!

Any help appreciated!

Also the photos I've found typically show a small portion of a garden, I want to see the whole view from the end

I'm happy to use lawn-edge but I don't want to mark the edge with stone or other materials, strictly flowerbeds and grass!

Our gardener cut the edges of our rectangular lawn into a sort of Japanese inspired curved wavy shape. It looks great - just beds and lawn. Apparently it's more relaxing for the eye. Will try and find something similar online.

I'd put some curves in the boaders to add a wave.
some ideas in here ignore the square designs

Thanks so much, I'll have a look at the links tonight!

I'm also wondering how to incorporate the edge of the patio and the slabs that go round the shed. How do you avoid ending up with awkward pointy/ concave shapes that are too small to really plant up?

I don't mind some plants arching over the lawn but I prefer to keep a separation between the lawn and bed so I can mow with ease Is the solution to gravel them?

You need to search Pinterest for photos. Pour yourself a drink and prepare to lose a few hours .

The problem with combining circles/ ovals and rectangles is exactly what you have pointed out - you can end up with weird little pointy triangles .

Edging - you either have to use an edging strip so you can mow over it Or keep plants well back so you have a gap. I do the former as I'm lazy and like a lush rather than neat look .

You can't use gravel unless you contain it in some way . Unless you've got quite a wide barrier, the gravel migrates onto the lawn and buggers up the lawn mower .

Thanks everyone, your help has been invaluable

Gunpowder I'd love to see a photo of the shape you describe?

GreenSand thank you for the link, I'm having a peruse as we speak

Kr1stina I know what you mean about Pinterest! Thanks for the info re. gravel and edging!

You can buy lawn edging stuff called Everedge in metal that gives you a really, really crisp edge. It has little 'A' framed pieces that fold over and bed into the lawn and hold it in place properly. I saw it at a very posh garden recently and it really does look good. You will definitely want to delineate where the lawn stops and the beds start or you will be forever having to weed and edge it, which is no fun at all!

I have a circular lawn with blue-grey clay bricks around it. Avoiding triangles... I found that making the circle considerably smaller in circumference than the width of the rectangle gives you nice deep beds on all sides, and filling these with larger shrubs at the back so you can't see the garden edges has avoided any problem with difficult triangles

I'm putting a curvy path in mine to break up the beds and the lawn - the dog has destroyed the lawn racing to the back of the garden from the steps, so it's just an extension of that really.

This may give you some ideas:

www.holehirdgardens.org.uk/?gallery,8

And there are also links to many other gardens.