Have you ever walked into some one's home or garden for the first time, and immediately felt at ease, comfortable, with your senses confirming that this room or space is working in unison? Most likely your host or hostess has beautifully incorporated the basic design principles on purpose or unknowingly by instinct. Generally speaking, the best designed and pleasing spaces, rooms, and gardens, are the ones that have evolved over time, adding a little bit at a time. Remember to adhere to the five basic principles of design as you create your space. They are scale and proportion, balance, rhythm, emphasis, and harmony.

Within the rhythm design principle is repetition. Repetition is created by repeating color, pattern, test, light, or form in your space. Do you notice how much better plants look if they are grouped in mass plantings or at least three's or five's? Have you stopped buying singles of this and that unless for a focal setting? Same principle goes for incorporating your personal style into your garden, home, and personal space. Repetition is design.

Repetition is a very easy way to emphasize your style and with elements important to you in your garden. These beautiful time-worn watering cans would not have half as much "punch" dispersed throughout a garden, as they do punctuated spout to spout.

It can be something as simple as watering cans, container pots, vintage garden tools, rocks, Adirondack chairs, birdhouses, bird feeders, sculpture, antique fencing, glass pieces, and collections. Have you ever seen photos of potting tables with all sorts of terracotta pots in various sizes, stacked and piled together? What a fabulous look, "design by default". I spoke earlier this past fall about "what is your garden style". What kinds of things emphasize your garden style? What do you collect, enjoy, and can be repeated?

What have you repeated in your garden, by design or happenstance that works brilliantly? Repeating favorite things in your garden, home, and space, morphs into design and your style.