To Make Your Garden Memorable, Add a Hint of Mystery

“Mystique” is one of those words that conjures up enticing and seductive mental images, perhaps of a clandestine meeting in the shadows in a foreign country. It’s one of those provocative words that always leaves something to the imagination. Do a quick online or dictionary search and you’ll see it defined as “a fascinating aura of mystery, awe and power surrounding something or someone.” It has been my experience that great gardens include an element of mystique, an aura of mystery and awe. They are much less predictable than most of the suburban tract spaces we see today.

Let’s see how to add a layer of mystique to our gardens and, in the process, create a space that draws visitors back for more.

Rethink your garden gate. Psychologists tell us that we have less than one minute to make a good initial impression on a job interview or when meeting someone socially. The same applies to your garden. Therefore, the logical place to establish that impression is at the garden entrance.

There are many ways to invite visitors into the garden. While your chain link, black aluminum or split-rail gate may be utilitarian, it may not inspire curiosity about what lies beyond. Investing in a pair of antique doors like those seen here creates an emotional impact front and center that inspires curiosity and desire. A friend of mine created her garden’s initial impression by weaving gnarled rhododendron branches through her chain-link gate. In both cases a precedent is set, creating a desire to move onward to experience the garden’s fullness.


Perhaps your garden is like mine and has no fence. Consider adding an arbor at its entrance to establish a unique sense of place. While most of your friends will plant the predictable ivy or clematis on theirs, you have the opportunity to think outside the box to create a sense of mystery.

My simple arbor is planted not with a vine but with a weeping bald cypress (Taxodium distichum ‘Cascade Falls’, USDA zones 4 to 9). Many of its pliable, draping branches are intentionally left intact so the visitor has to physically part them to enter the space. They recall strands of beads that hung from door frames in the 1960s. Because the visitor must interact with the branches to gain access to the garden, a strong initial impression is created. Additionally, the arbor is well shaded by the cypress, creating a sense of journey by sending the visitor from darkness into light.


Embrace the shadows. Mystique seldom makes an appearance in the noonday sun. Instead, it lurks in the shadows, revealing bits and pieces in a provocative fashion. Many gardeners and most outdoor lighting specialists are guilty of celebrating the light more than embracing its absence — and the entire composition suffers, as it remains incomplete.

Notice the provocative interplay between the light and the shadows in this garden space. You can create a similar experience by considering the direction and intensity of the sun as it interjects itself into your garden. Morning light coming from the east will produce less defined, softer shadows, while afternoon light will create sharper shadows with more structure. Consider the effect you’d like to create, then position plants or perforated screens accordingly. It’s a recipe for instant mystique.

Discover more innovative screens


Create windows in your garden. Limiting a view can add mystery and intrigue because it raises the question of why. Hidden things inspire curiosity; curiosity moves us forward. Cutting a window in a wall or garden hedge can be an easy and unexpected way to limit a view.

This garden stirs curiosity with style. Additionally, a small opening in the wall allows the visitor the opportunity to take a peek behind and satisfy that curiosity.


Add architectural fragments. From timeworn gargoyles to ancient temple ruins, appropriately chosen and placed architectural pieces can transport our minds to another time and place. A visit to a salvage yard can yield a plethora of soon-to-be garden treasures. Just don’t overdo it.

When placing these pieces, you’ll achieve a less contrived and more antiquated look if you place them where they are partially hidden. This also engages the mind by causing viewers to mentally complete the piece for themselves.


Layer your garden. Certain plants can be used in your garden to add depth, mystery and an element of seduction, much like lacy sheer curtains on a window. By partially obscuring a view through adding several layers of a plant, you can add drama and interest to that view.

This composition of a zinc planter and horsetail rush (Equisetum hyemale, zones 3 to 11) creates provocative drama at the top of some garden steps. This was accomplished because the rush was placed both in front of and behind the planter, and the planter was positioned where it is backlit by late-morning sun. Tall verbena (Verbena bonariensis, zones 7 to 10) and certain grasses can provide the same effect.


Rethink your water feature. Water features have almost become an expected element in well-appointed gardens. What makes yours unique?

Consider this water feature at Innisfree Garden in Millbrook, New York. It stands as an anomaly to the standard waterfall, much like the strong, silent type stands out at an event populated by gregarious partygoers. There is mystique and palpable silent strength in its thin streams and steady drops of water, because it inspires the question of why.


Add an element of folly. Walter Beck, the owner and creator of Innisfree, enjoyed introducing elements of folly into his landscape. These garden steps, cantilevered out from a stone wall, go to nowhere.

An occasional element of folly again prompts us to ask why, adding an appropriate dose of mystique.


Consider mist or fog. Nothing creates mystique and stirs the imagination quite like mist or fog. Misting nozzles and ultrasonic foggers are available from specialty sources. Additionally, they do double duty to cool the garden on balmy days.


Create that clandestine destination. Every worthwhile journey has a destination, as does a great garden. Consider creating a seating area at the end of a winding path, behind a screen or between layers of an evergreen hedge. Add some appropriate mementos from your travels abroad. Much like life, the destination should not be able to be easily viewed from the point of departure. Therein lies its mystique.

More: Get the Mystery of a Gothic Garden for Yourself

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