Landscaping & Design

Whether you are interested in completely redesigning your  landscape or simply making a few changes there are some important factors to  consider before you start planting. 

           While many people head straight to their local gardening  supply store to browse the selections, creating a plan beforehand will help you  chose plants that will best fit your needs and thrive in your landscape.

           It's easy to go out and be tempted into buying plants that  look beautiful at the garden store, only to get them home and realize they are  wrong for your landscape. These tips will help you develop a plan and put you  on the road to creating a beautiful, cohesive, and thriving landscape.  

Think about your  regional climate, the topography of your site, and your soil type when planning  your landscape. 

           Keep in mind that the specific conditions of your yard are  likely to create a microclimate based on the amount and length of sun and shade  exposure the area receives. 

Microclimates are usually broken into one of four  categories: full sun, partial shade, shade, or deep shade; take note of your  landscape's microclimate when selecting plants for your landscape.

The topography of your site is important to consider as well  as you plan; take note of how water drains in your landscape. The best landscape  design will promote water movement away from your home towards other areas of  your yard. 

Think  about who will be using your yard and how they will use it. Will children be  using your yard? Do you have pets? Are you hoping to use your yard for outdoor  entertaining? Remember you can create different spaces for different uses in  your landscape using strategic plantings and hardscapes. Walkways can be used to  move people from one area to another. 

           Since you will be using and maintaining your yard (or hiring  someone to maintain it) consider what your maintenance style and budget are.  Be as realistic as you can. How much time will you truly have to put into your  landscape? Or if you won't have the time will you have the money to pay someone  else to put in the time? How much do you have to invest in your landscape? Determining  the answer to these questions will help to ensure the success of your landscape  for years to come.3. Think about themes

A theme can unify  your landscape and help guide your plant and material selections. Themes can  be  as simple as using consistent shapes or forms throughout your yard  or as complex as creating a relaxation garden or an Oriental garden.

When deciding on a theme for your yard, a good place to  start is looking at the architecture of your home. Try to complement the lines  and style of your home's architecture in your yard; after all, your yard is an  extension of your home.

Themes can help guide how you place and select plants,  decorations, hardscapes, and structures. Are you someone who wants lots of  neat, geometric shapes and structures in you landscape? Do you want softer  lines and a more natural feel to your space? Do you want a landscape to include  only specific colors? Questions like these will help you choose a unified theme  for your garden. 

In order to get  the most out of your yard, think of it as another room, or rooms, in your home.  Just as a home has well defined and carefully planned rooms, so should your  landscape; using your materials wisely allows you can create different "rooms"  in your landscape.

           Don't forget to think about how you'll link your spaces. How  will people move from one area of your yard to another? Create openings to  encourage exploration in your yard and keep people moving throughout the  landscape.

Early in  your planning you should determine how your plants will function in your  landscape. Plants can be used in a number of ways, they can provide you with  fresh and delicious fruits and vegetables, beautiful scenery, lovely aromas,  and much more. 

Plants can be used as barriers to define areas within your  landscape as well as identify where your landscape ends. You can use plants to  create physical barriers in your landscape by blocking both views and access to  an area. If you want to keep your views open, but maintain some barriers, low  growing plants can be used to create implied barriers, blocking access but not  the view.

Correctly placed plants can also be used to alter your landscape  site conditions.  Temperature, light  levels, and wind are greatly affected by the trees and plants in a landscape. The  noises in your landscape can be affected by what you put into the design, such  as water features or bird houses, as well as any physical barriers that keep  your garden insulated from noises beyond your landscape.

Consider your  various visual planes when selecting plants. Starting from the area above you,  think about the overhead plane, this might include archways and trees.

Moving on to the vertical plane, consider how closely spaced  or far apart plants will be, how plants will be layered or staggered (generally  larger plants are used behind smaller plants), as well as the individual and  massed heights and widths of your plants.

Don't forget about the ground plane (including how smaller  plants will be grouped and arranged as well as groundcovers and hardscapes).

Repeating similar shapes and structures in your garden will  give you a unified view throughout your space.

Using  unique plants, distinct structures, or garden ornaments allows you to highlight  a particular area of your landscape. Contrasting shapes, textures, sizes, and  colors will help to capture attention and direct it to a specific area.

Plants,  hardscapes, and garden ornaments all have their own visual details, from  various forms and shapes to an array of colors and textures. By thinking about  how these visual details can be used to complement and contrast each other, you  can create a cohesive and captivating landscape.

Don't just think about visuals; taking into consideration  the scents of the plants you select for your landscape can enhance the  experience you create for those in your garden. Think about when flowers will  be blooming and fragrant, as well as what scents will complement each other in  the landscape.

More  specifically, take into account how the passage of time will affect your  landscape plants. When selecting plants, make sure you consider the plant's  growth rate, maintenance needs, and its eventual mature size. Make sure you  provide your plants with enough room to reach their mature size. Keep in mind  though, that mature size is typically based on optimal growing conditions, your  landscape's specific conditions may cause a plant to grow larger or smaller.

By choosing  resource-efficient plants, consciously managing water, and choosing  environmentally sound hardscapes, you can help protect and preserve your  environment.

Before removing plants from your landscape, determine  whether these plants truly need to be removed, or if they could be relocated to  another area of your yard. When selecting new plants, look for  resource-efficient plants, ones that will require less water, fertilizers, and  pesticides.

When planning the changes to your landscape, consider  installing a rainwater catchment system which will provide you with an  environmentally sustainable source of irrigation water. With careful planning  such a system can even be incorporated as an aesthetic design element.

Using environmentally friendly hardscapes, non-toxic  preservatives, stains, paints, and cleaners is another way you can protect your  natural resources. Also, consider reusing construction materials; before  demolition starts consider what materials you might be able to reuse,  repurpose, or incorporate into your new landscape design.