daydaily

Everyone who has ever built a home for himself or herself thinks that he or she is an expert landscape designer. But not so fast! There is more to landscape design than a bedroom with a bed and some pictures. The crux of landscape design is creating an outdoor space that is aesthetically pleasing and enjoyable to all. Whether you have a small patch behind your home or several acres of magnificent gardens, the principles of landscape design are mostly similar.

Landscaping blends the natural surroundings of a home with its architectural design and creates beautiful gardens. The main considerations while landscaping is the scale or size of the property, along with its style. Other considerations include type of soil, amount of sunlight, existing drainage system and the type of garden design of your choice, like a Japanese garden.

There are certain key elements that aid the process of landscape designing and help convert the outdoors into a beautiful garden. Landscape designing is both an art as well as a science.

There are basic principles of landscape design that help transform your garden:
•    Color: The color combination of plants and flowers lends a unique quality to the garden. Choice of color depends on other considerations of landscaping principles.
•    Line: A linear pattern attracts attention to areas in the garden and directs the physical movement into the garden. The viewer’s eye movement can b governed by the arrangements of plants and their borders. Eye movement is unconsciously influenced by the way plants flow together.
•    Form: The form of plants and trees lends unique character to the garden with different shapes and sizes creating a natural pattern. Tree forms come in various patterns like stiff upright branches of Lombardy poplar trees and the droopy quality of a weeping willow.

•    Texture: Plants with various textures can add different looks to your garden.Texture can introduce variety into the garden without threatening its unity.

•    Scale: Your garden design must balance the size of the home as well as allow adequate space to move about.

There are seven principles that define the science of landscape design.

They are:
•    Unity: A central theme or a unified design helps create a beautiful garden.
•    Balance: The plants, the walkways etc. should be laid out in a symmetrical or asymmetrical plan to achieve a sense of balance.
•    Transition: Various elements, shrubs, trees and plants must blend naturally into each other to create a look of smooth transition.
•    Proportion: Plants and trees must be planted with a sense of proportion so that components in the landscape are proportional to the landscape as a whole.
•    Rhythm: The patterns created by forms, lines and colors must work together naturally to create a rhythm that can be enjoyed by all.
•    Focal point: By using form, balance and line, you can develop a focal point around which your garden is based.
•    Repetition: repetition of patterns and forms leads to a good overall look for the garden, creating a sense of unity and rhythm as well.

After implementing these design principles, it is time to choose the plants. Consider the plants as decorative aids like things inside your home. To choose the plants, a study of soil conditions as well as the sunlight must be done by a landscape designer. Judge the sunlight exposure throughout the garden. This will help you buy plants that are sensitive to the amount of sunlight, and prevent them from dying or rotting. Plants should not overwhelm the lovely features of your home’s exterior.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.