The fixed parameters of the garden itself - its shape and size - will to some extent establish how spaces and patterns can be used. A long, thin garden will need to be handled in a different way to a dog-legged, rectangular, square or triangular one. The final feel and appearance of the garden, and the positioning of its various elements will depend to a large degree on how a ground pattern is created within the limitations of the garden shape.

Whatever the layout of your plot, it will probably need strengthening or modifying in some way, and a garden may be designed so that its shape is altered visually and its apparent proportions made more appealing. For example, it is possible to make a garden appear longer and narrower or shorter and wider by manipulating the apparent proportion and perspective.

You can improve the apparent proportions of a long, narrow garden by breaking up its length into separate compartments or 'rooms'. This will give you the added benefit of making it more mysterious, inviting exploration. The choice of boundary will depend on the garden: a border that intrudes across the garden's long axis creates a gentle break, whilst a trellis with an off-centre archway provides a more pronounced division.

Conversely, you can make a garden seem longer by establishing a long axis and then accentuating it. Site tall plants in the foreground, graduating down to shorter ones along the axis, perhaps with a focal point such as a small specimen tree at the end. The same sort of effect can be created by placing a feature such as an urn in the foreground, then placing a smaller urn of the same shape at the far end, suggesting that the garden is longer than is actually the case. This imitation of natural perspective creates an impression of length, which can be reinforced by other design elements, such as narrowing a path as it reaches the rear of the garden, or cutting a hedge lower at the back to strengthen the illusion.

Colours can also affect the sense of distance: cool misty colours have a lengthening effect since they seem to recede in a scheme, whilst strong, hot colours appear to come forward.