 | When dreaming up the ideal paradise, a traditional hacienda-style garden must rival any other style. Few styles match a hacienda garden’s combination of beauty and utter relaxation. Imagine this: large ornate gates opening up to a large patio, a lush garden and outlying lands for orchards and small garden buildings. While hacienda gardens are beloved and popular throughout Mexico today, you can incorporate many of the same elements into your own garden and landscape for a true Mexican hacienda makeover.
Some liken a hacienda garden to old Southern plantation gardens and landscapes. This is a good comparison as both traditionally offer a welcoming atmosphere at the core of their design. Hospitality plays an important role in a hacienda-style garden so this must remain an important consideration during the design stage. Consider your space and try to assess where you would like to do most of your entertaining. You can then design around this area to great effect.
Most haciendas are associated with a crop like sugarcane or coffee. Some of Mexico’s haciendas are also centered around cattle and even tequila production. This is ideal if you’re planning to replicate a truly authentic hacienda, but not necessary if you are simply going for that Mexican hacienda feel that can be incorporated in other ways by focusing on the patio, the main garden, perhaps a small orchard, and of course, a water feature. Naturally, the style of your garden’s ornamentation will also go a long way to creating the Mexican atmosphere you want.
It seems the essential component of a hacienda is plenty of space—so if you have a couple acres you can adapt the style to your landscape. Ranch homes play into the hacienda style easily, but again, there are many ways to adapt any type of home to this style as long as you have that spacious stretch of land. The main patio should extend from the home and also transition into the main garden area. This is where most entertaining occurs so the more room you provide the patio the better. Most hacienda patios have large gates and a common style is wrought iron. Consider adding an Aztec or Colonial Spanish design to the gates. Many gateways also feature large stone or adobe arches and these are ideal elements of a hacienda-style garden.
Typical patio floors may be as simple as large squares of terra-cotta or tiled with intricate mosaics placed in a Mexican design. Again, something reminiscent of Colonial Spain or Aztec, but any pattern that calls Mexico or the desert to mind is fine. If your patio is stone or wood, you can adapt other Mexican features to this plain-backdrop as well. When designing your patio, consider a dining area, a relaxation area and perhaps even a cooking area. Bars can be tiled to match your patio floor, pergolas may be built to offer added shade and water features can be installed to patio walls. Having a water feature built into the patio is a good place for guests to congregate. Be sure to leave room for special entertainments such as live music.
Hacienda gardens feature many different types of water features so consider what will work best for yours. Pools are welcome features, but also consider garden ponds, fountains and simple basins. Water adds an element of relaxation that no other feature can replicate. If you do not wish to maintain a large water feature, there are bird baths and simple stand-alone fountains that can be installed in your garden with great ease.
Your main garden should feature as many Mexican style plants as your climate can support. Naturally, cacti and succulents can be found, but hacienda gardens are not desert-gardens. They are lush and green so you may have an easy time matching flora to your hacienda garden. Jasmine, aloe vera, roses, as well as fruit trees, flowering shrubs and climbing vines all have their place in a hacienda garden. Plan for plenty of green and plenty of vibrant blooms. Your patio will also feature many plants so consider Mexican style planters for these.
While most haciendas feature lots of trees and an orchard area yours may simply be a woodland setting or an outlying area that may sport a berry patch or bountiful vegetable garden. Of course, if you can grow fruit trees, so much the better and your guests will be pleased with your harvests. Other features that can be adapted to your hacienda garden may be small out buildings decorated in a Mexican style. Gazebos or small sheds can act as small retreats in the garden where guests can congregate during a garden stroll. Hidden water features and statues along the garden path are typical features of a hacienda garden—also plenty of seating in keeping with that hospitality theme that is so important to this style.
How you ornament your landscape will perhaps be the most apparent way your garden can resemble a true hacienda style garden. Aztec wall hangings, Spanish lanterns, Mexican weavings for chair coverings are a few props that will draw attention. Consider large planters made of terra-cotta or stone containers carved with Mexican designs. Hammocks, comfortable furniture and bowls filled with your gardens bounty—chiles, peppers, limes will go a long way in transforming your garden into a hacienda paradise. Other Mexican props can be found easily online or at local garden centers. If your design plans focus on hospitality, comfort and beauty—you’re already halfway there to a Mexican hacienda-style garden where friends and family can bask in your little corner of Mexico!
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