Your Garden, Your Heaven

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Everyone knows that one of the key elements to having a beautiful home is having a great landscaped background. Planning your landscape design definitely requires making a plan. There are plenty of common landscape design ideas and features available for you to gain inspiration when beginning an attractive landscape project. With a few helpful tips, you can save money on your landscaping without sacrificing quality or beauty and get yourself a fulfilling landscaping experience.

Tips #1 – Before planning, look at all the resources you already have

The first step in doing your landscape is to look at what you already have. Keep a list of things you presently like and dislike, as well as your plan for the use of your landscape space. Be sure to bear in mind how your home looks during different seasons, and what you like and dislike about each one. Keep a record of all the good things about your existing landscape, the changes you’d like to make, and the additional landscaping design you would like to have. Ideally, you should do this for one year, so that you can see what you have during each season. A tip to do this is to keep a journal or folder of landscape ideas. Find out what is it that you like and dislike about the current landscape design and write it down in this folder or journal.

Tips #2 – Steal your landscaping ideas from other people

Originality is good, but not in the case of landscaping. If you have seen any landscaping design that you like, copy it, tweak it and make it your own. Trust me, originality often fail people. Things always turn out different from what you imagine in your mind.

You can gather ideas by looking at pictures in books, magazines, on the Internet, or by driving around the neighborhood and taking pictures. Next to the images you collect make certain you take in the things that you believe you will need to construct a particular feature, or keep notes on things you would do to tweak a design to make it all your own. Combine different design ideas into something that you like. The point is to look for ideas that will help you accomplish your goals, while you are thinking about what you already have and what you will use your landscape for.

Tips #3 – Take into consideration the style of your home

Nothing is more awful than having different styles built into your landscape and your home. Before beginning your landscaping work, the style of your home must be taken into account. Think also about your lifestyle. Do you want to spend hours caring for many beds of annuals or pruning beds of roses? If so, go ahead and plant them. However, if you prefer to spend your free time at the beach, then go for an easy-care garden and landscape.

Tips #4 – Spend some time thinking about exactly how you want the final design to be

You need to take account of the style and function of your landscape. If you have a rural cottage, formal gardens surrounding it will look out of place. When planning your landscape, keep in mind your space needs. Do you want to include an area for entertaining? A barbeque? Would the flowerbed in the middle of the lawn inhibit family games? Is there to be an area for children to play, a fishpond or a swimming pool? An idea of the plants you want to be there will also help. Focus on the area where you spend most of your time. That’s a good place to start.

Tips #5 – When planning your landscape, keep in mind your space needs

When planning your landscape, be sure and take into consideration what the space will be used for. The best designs combine attractiveness with utility and are an essential part of the landscaping process.

Tips #6 – Think twice before hiring a designer

Do you know that an independent designer might cost you hundreds of dollars. Before hiring a pro to do the job, check out the various free resources first. You may be able to access free plans on the internet or at a nursery. But if you have an awkward block such as very steep ground, a designer may give you the expertise to save costly mistakes.

Whether you plan on “borrowing ideas” or plan on creating your own landscaping design, you should have at the very least a basic understanding of the principles of landscape design.

This doesn’t mean that you have to apply every principle to every part of your plan. But just having an understanding of these principles will help you generate ideas and increase your creativity.

Great landscaping lies in the eyes of the its creator. So, while the principles of landscape design are great guidelines to follow, don’t feel like they’re the “have to rules” of landscaping. Abstract and creativity are allowed.

Unity should be one of your main goals in your design. It may be better understood and applied as consistency and repetition. Repetition creates unity  by repeating alike elements like plants, plant groups, or decor throughout the landscape. Consistency creates unity in the sense that some or all of the different elements of the landscape fit together to create a whole.

Unity can be achieved by the consistency of character of elements in the design. By character, I mean the height, size, texture, color schemes, etc. of different elements.

A good example would be in the use of accent boulders. If you’ve ever seen a landscape design that had one large white round boulder here and another large red square granite boulder there and so on, then you’ve seen that unity wasn’t created by this specific element.

This is just one example but the principle applies to all other elements such as groups of plants and materials.

A simple way to create unity in your landscape is by creating themes. And one of the simplest ways to create themes is by using a little garden decor or garden statues. Creating a theme garden is easier when it’s related to something you’re interested in or have a passion for.

If you’re into butterflies for instance, you could create a theme using plants that attract butterflies as well as using statues, ornaments, and other decor that are related to butterflies.

Unity should be expressed through at least one element in your landscape and preferably more. Using elements to express a main idea through consistent style and a specific theme is what creates harmony.

Simplicity is actually one of the principles in design and art. It’s one of the best guidelines you can follow as a beginner or do it yourselfer. Just keep things simple to begin with. You can do more later.

Simplicity in planting, for instance, would be to pick two or three colors and repeat them throughout the garden or landscape. Keeping decor to a minimum and within a specific theme as well as keeping hardscapes such as boulders consistent is also practicing simplicity.

Balance in design is just as the word implies. Equality. There are basically two types of balance in landscape design. Symmetrical and Asymmetrical.

Symmetrical balance is where there are more or less equally spaced matching elements of the garden design. With a garden equally divided, both sides could share the same shape, form, plant height, plant groupings, colors, bed shapes, theme, etc.

You may remember creating something like this when you were a kid in art class at school. Where you take a piece of paper, splash paint on it, fold it in half, unfold it, and then it magically creates an interesting symmetrical design. So symmetrical balance or design is somewhat of a mirror image or reflection.

Asymmetrical balance on the other hand is one of the principles of landscape design that’s a little more complex. While textures, forms, colors, etc. may remain constant to create some unity, shapes and hardscapes may be more random. This form of balance often has separate or different themes with each having an equal but different type of attraction.

A good example of this would be where bed shapes or paths differ on both sides of the dividing line. One side could be curvy with a sense of flow while the other side is straight, direct, and hard.

This can also create a neat contrast. Flowing lines are pleasing to the eye but the bold contrast of a curve with a straight line can be very interesting.

Asymmetrical balance isn’t necessarily limited to just the shape of your garden.

An example might be where one side of the garden is mostly large shade trees while the other side is predominately a lower growing flower garden or even a mix of both examples. This is only limited to your imagination.

Contrast and harmony can also be achieved using plants. Fine foliage verses coarser foliage, round leaves verses spiked leaves as well as color compliments and contrasts.

Plant height, color, and texture may be varied from one area to the next but each area should stay consistent within its own theme.

You’ll hear me talk about “themes” a lot. Many successful do it yourself designs follow a basic theme to achieve most of the principles of landscape design described on this page. The proper use of plants and garden decor or a mix of both is a simple way to achieve themes.

Color adds the dimension of real life and interest to the landscape. Bright colors like reds, yellows and oranges seem to advance toward you and can actually make an object seem closer to you. Cool colors like greens, blues, and pastels seem to move away from you and can make an object seem farther from you.

Grays, blacks, and whites are considered neutral colors and are best used in the background with bright colors in the foreground. However, to increase depth in a landscape, you can use dark and coarse textured plants in the foreground and use fine textured and light colored plants in the background.

Colors can also be used to direct your attention to a specific area of the garden. A bright display among cooler colors would naturally catch the eye.

Natural transition can be applied to avoid radical or abrupt changes in your landscape design. Transition is basically gradual change. It can best be illustrated in terms of plant height or color but can also be applied to all elements in the landscape including but not limited to textures, foliage shape or size, and the size and shape of different elements.

In other words transition can be achieved by the gradual, ascending or descending, arrangement of different elements with varying textures, forms, colors, or sizes.

An example of a good transition would be a stair step effect from large trees to medium trees to shrubs to bedding plants. This example is where a little knowledge of proper plant selection would come in handy.

Transition is one of the principles of landscape design that can be used to “create illusions” in the landscape. For example a transition from taller to shorter plants can give a sense of depth and distance (like in a painting), making the garden seem larger than it really is. A transition from shorter to taller plants could be used to frame a focal point to make it stand out and seem closer than it really is.

Line is of the more structural principles of landscape design. It can mostly be related to the way beds, walkways, and entryways move and flow.

Straight lines are forceful and direct while curvy lines have a more natural, gentle, flowing effect.

Proportion simply refers to the size of elements in relation to each other. Of all the principles of landscape design, this one is quite obvious but still requires a little thought and planning. Most of the elements in landscape design can be intentionally planned to meet the proper proportions.

For instance if you are creating a small courtyard garden, an enormous seven foot garden statue placed in the center would be way out of proportion and a little tacky to say the least. Or a small four foot waterfall and pond placed in the center of a large open yard would get lost in the expanse.

Don’t misunderstand this to mean that if you have a large yard you can’t have smaller features or garden decor. Proportion is relative and elements can be scaled to fit by creating different rooms in the garden. The goal is to create a pleasing relationship among the three dimensions of length, breadth, and depth or height.

A small water feature can be proportionate if placed in a corner or on the edge of a large area and becomes a focal point of the larger area while creating its own distinct atmosphere. An entire room, sitting area, or theme can be created around it. Other rooms and themes can be created as well. See small gardens for ideas on creating rooms and creating illusions.

Also, special consideration and study should be given to proper plant selection to avoid using plants that are out of proportion.

Repetition is directly related to unity. Its good to have a variety of elements and forms in the garden but repeating these elements gives variety expression.

Unity is achieved by repeating objects or elements that are alike. Too many unrelated objects can make the garden look cluttered and unplanned.

There’s a fine line here. It’s possible that too much of one element can make a garden or landscape feel uninteresting, boring and monotonous.

However, unity can still be created by using several different elements repeatedly. This in turn keeps the garden interesting.

Garden design plans are best developed with the help of a professional landscaping contractor with formal training in botany and landscape architecture. Gardens are key components to any yard and contribute much more than color and greenery to the aesthetic of your home and your landscape. When designed in accordance with a master landscaping plan that reflects the entirety of your living experience, gardens accomplish a number of things for your property that add vitality and dimension to your outdoor living experience.

One of the many ways we help our clients is to develop garden design plans that directly reflect the architecture of the home. Our experience has taught us that this is often a much neglected ingredient of garden design. When people view your property, they view it as an entirety. They notice the home first because it is the largest and tallest structure on the lot. Whatever unique structural features characterize its architecture set a pattern that the mind expects to see continue as they eye travels down the slope of the roof into the surrounding greenery. A garden design planned around the same basic geometric patterns and linear movement of the house itself brings an immediate sense of harmony and connotes a unity of Nature and structure that makes for superior landscaping design.

Garden design also adds a sense of life and growth throughout the property-even making inorganic structures appear more “alive” in certain respects. Outdoor areas have to be set aside for specific purposes, and outdoor structures such as swimming pools, play areas, sports courts, outdoor kitchens, and patio seating areas have to be constructed by experienced specialists. Many of these structures are extremely complex and lack any semblance of an organic sensibility. This is where a professionally developed garden design can play a determining role in establishing the aesthetic of your property. Adding a sense of vibrancy, color, and life around exterior architecture and outdoor décor will go a long ways toward making your entire property appear to have a life of its own.

Garden design plans can also be developed that convey a sense of progression through the yard. We often plant gardens near motor courts and front walkways that run parallel to concrete and brick work. Plant material can be selected whose natural growth patterns help move the eye along toward an intended destination. Traditional French and Italian gardens are two good examples of garden designs whose forms connote symmetry and linear progression. Other garden designs, such as the parterre garden, are built around pathways that are developed for people to walk through. Of course, one is not limited to the pure historical form of such a style. Landscaping professionals typically customize these forms to the specifics of a home and surrounding property to give it a much more personal look and feel.

One of the things we have noticed in recent years is an increasing demand for garden designs that reflect a peaceful state of mind. Japanese gardens, traditional Zen gardens, and morning gardens are very popular forms to plant around fountains and patios. Most of our clients that request these designs are looking for a private place set apart from the rest of the yard where they can read the paper, enjoy coffee and conversation at sunrise, or simply meditate to the sound of a water fountain. Gardens planted for these purposes have to be carefully developed with the right soil nutrients and plant material to provide the sense of an ideal environment separated from the rest of the world.

Again, this is where a professional landscaping architect can prove invaluable in developing something truly unique that will last and continue to satisfy you for many years to come.

French garden gardens use the same of geometry and symmetry that André Le Nôtre established in the 17th Century. The Lodge at Versailles had originally been a quite retreat used for royal hunts, but Le Nôtre turned it into a palace that became the envy of the European Elite. Based on a pattern of parterres gardens divided by radiating walkways, reflecting pools, and ornate stone coping, the Versailles Gardens reflected an awareness of order and system that brought intricately sculpted individual elements into a complex, interconnected unity visible only from a balcony or palace room. This style was rapidly adopted as the standard landscaping design of all the French aristocracy.

French gardens used in landscapes today are much smaller than their historical predecessors built around 17th Century chateaus. However, the same emphasis on parterres and radiating pathways is used today both on larger estates. Scaled-down or modified versions of this pattern are used throughout local residential neighborhoods. Even though the typical Houston home resides on far less land than even a modest Old World Estate, the topography of the Gulf Coast highly favors a variety of French garden designs. Just like much of France, Houston resides on a very level plane that naturally lends itself to the type of formal bedding used in French parterre gardens and knot gardens.

The parterre itself is the key motif around which every French garden is cultivated. 17th Century parterres were originally four perfect squares set side by side, divided by walkways criss-crossing in between. Today, parterre design does not have to follow this hard-fast pattern. They can morph the geometry of a perfect square into a rectangle, or they can be sculpted like segments of a sundial to create a curved perimeter or support a central landscaping feature like a sculpture or a fountain.

No matter how the original pattern is bent, its effect remains undiminished so long s the original elements of formal beddings, trimmed hedges, and repeating geometry combine together in a tangible sense of balance and proportion. Within this one aesthetic fundamental, multitudinous possibilities exist for the landscape designer to create all sorts of shapes and colors to compliment exterior architecture, outdoor gathering areas, and special landscape ornaments and water features.

While the French garden is still quite breathtaking when viewed from an upstairs balcony or second-story window, it is no longer necessary to limit this design to one that can only be enjoyed from far above. When placed around an outdoor structure or landscaping feature, a French garden adds a formal element to any seating area or gathering spot. Places like arbors, private patios, pool decks, and outdoor rooms are all landscaping elements that can be greatly enhanced by the formality of the French garden design.

Boxwoods are typically used to frame the edges of parterres, with low-growth perennial flowers, herbs, and even special grass constituting the garden interior. Color choices can range varying shades of green to a rainbow of colors blooming throughout the different seasons. The only requirement that somewhat constrains plant material options is the need to create horizontal space that appears visibly larger than vertical space. The larger the length and width of the garden; the taller the shrubbery within it can be without diminishing the aesthetics of balance and proportion. Provided the formal element of flat, cultivated, and highly sculpted planting areas remains readily apparent from every intended vantage point, the options for flowers, plants, and low-level shrubs are both multitudinous and diverse, to say the least.

Courtyard gardens and garden design. This Mediterranean landscaping project video is the first in a series covering an extensive landscape and garden design from start to finish. … courtyard garden gardens landscaping gardening design mediterranean drainage grading