Putting the plan on paper (or on the computer) is crucial to designing your landscape. If you're working on a simple project, all you need can be graph and tracing paper. A professional landscape designer begins with a study of the property and a topographic map, and then usually creates a series of conceptual sketches, preliminary elevations and final representations as their vision evolves and crystallizes. Do all your gardening projects before placing any plants.
Hard landscaping can include a porch, sidewalk, driveway, parking areas, decks, fences, patios, and gazebos. These projects often include construction, which can compact soil or damage lawns and plantations, so it's important to complete any heavy lifting before plantations begin. Plants come in all colors, shapes and sizes. What gardens do you like? What colors, shapes, textures and sizes of plants speak to you? Starting from scratch or upgrading an outdoor space? Check here for tips on plants and gardening materials.
We have 200 guides on everything from fences to foxgloves. Start with our Hardscape 101 guides Explore our collection of more than 2000 plants and seeds, which you can order directly from our favorite stores and growers. Unity, or harmony, is achieved when the viewer feels that all the plants in the landscape of a garden design complement each other and have been chosen with a general theme in mind. But when designing a landscape, where do you start? We collected suggestions from architects and landscape designers, as well as some based on our own experience.
Garden plants of one type could be planted in rows or hedges, effectively channeling the viewer's eyes in one direction, rather than the other. However, it's no accident that backyard landscape design shares certain terminology with the art world. Home landscape design does not depend on magic, but on planning, problem solving and a principles based approach. The idea is that an element of architecture (for example, a door or the edge of a building, even the upright of a window) or a distinctive feature of the landscape (a prominent tree, an existing pool, a property boundary) can “generate an imaginary line that helps connect and organize the design.
The purpose of using such a motif is to direct the movement of the eyes, unconsciously, in the most favorable way to appreciate the landscape design of the house in question. It also provides the property owner and the garden contractor with better tools for estimating costs, helping to ensure that the project can be completed within budget constraints. Mulch makes the landscape look finished, but it also helps the soil retain moisture and keeps weeds under control. For example, the location of your land may have the potential for a great view, but your home's current landscape design doesn't take full advantage of it.
Placing landscape plants in a way that is careful with respect to their shape is a method of promoting a unified feeling. The best way to understand landscape planning is to look at some examples and templates of landscape plans and designs. Like a floor plan, a landscape design creates a visual representation of a site using scaled dimensions. With a realistic and well-thought-out gardening plan, you can spread work and expenses over several years.
DIY enthusiasts must first learn the basic design elements that underlie the discipline of landscape design.
