A well-designed landscape enhances the beauty of your home and adds value. It is also environmentally friendly, energy efficient, and healthy for you.
Studies have shown that time spent outdoors in a landscaped setting reduces blood pressure and stress levels. In addition, lawns provide a place for kids and pets to play. Contact Landscaping Baltimore for professional help.
Lines are one of the most fundamental design elements and can be horizontal, vertical, diagonal or curved. They may be used to frame a view, define spaces or create an illusion of movement in the landscape. They can be made from hardscape materials, such as paving or stone; natural features, such as water or tall trees; or plant material, such as ivy or a clean line between turf and plants.
Vertical lines move the eye upward and help make a space feel larger. They emphasize a focal point and give a sense of energy to the landscape. Examples of vertical lines in the landscape include tall trees, poles and trellises. Horizontal lines move the eye along the ground plane and can make a space feel larger. They also create a sense of stability and calmness. Examples of horizontal lines include long paths and garden beds, a pond’s edge, or the dividing line between turf and planting areas.
Well-defined sight lines are important in the landscape, and can be used to control movement, draw attention to a specific area or highlight a unique design feature, such as a water fountain, pool or fire pit. Sight lines can be straight or curved, and are often created by winding pathways, landscaped berms and trimmed hedges. Directional sight lines can also be used to lead visitors to a special destination in the landscape, such as the front door of a home.
Form
Form refers to the three-dimensional qualities of landscape elements, such as trees and shrubs. It is a visual quality that adds interest to a landscape and draws the viewer through outdoor spaces. Form is important because it defines the edges of landscape features and creates visual contrast between different plants. Form also contributes to a landscape’s style, whether it is formal, naturalistic, or contemporary. Form is created by line, shape, texture, and color, as well as the varying degrees of light and dark in an area.
Landscape design starts with a thorough site inventory and analysis. This involves examining the property for environmental factors that need to be considered when designing a landscape, such as soil conditions and water flow and drainage problems. The existing landscape is also examined for positive and negative characteristics. The inventory helps determine the best use of space and resources and is recorded on a plot plan.
The landscape design process utilizes horticultural science, artful composition, and spatial organization to develop attractive and functional outdoor “rooms” for various purposes. These rooms are designed using principles of proportion, order, repetition, and unity to create attractive landscapes with a balance of structure, line, form, and color. Choosing building materials that blend with the natural environment and relate to the house is another important step in creating a sustainable landscape. Landscape architects will often recommend the use of a style theme in the design, such as circular or geometric, or more naturalistic themes like meadow, woodland, or marsh plantings.
Color
Just as a painter selects a palette to conjure a mood or evoke an emotion, landscape designers use color to set the tone for your space. Cool colors, such as greens and blues, evoke images of water, trees and sky and can suggest relaxation and calm. Warm colors, such as yellows and reds, can stimulate excitement and energy.
Your landscape designer will also consider something called color relationships, a design principle that helps to arrange plants in a pleasing manner. For example, you would not want to plant “one of each” of a dozen different color variations because it would look overstimulating and chaotic to the eye, Thomasson says. Instead, your landscape designer might prefer to use block grouping of similar colors that are planted together.
Other considerations when selecting a color include the intensity, or brightness, of a plant. Brighter colors appear more intense than their duller counterparts, so your landscape designer may want to balance your blooms by choosing a variety of intensities and shades.
Another consideration when using color is whether your garden needs to complement or contrast with the colors of surrounding buildings and hardscape features, such as paving, decks, or fences. Your landscape designer will weigh these factors and determine whether your landscape should blend with the color of your home or stand out from it. Then, your landscape designer will select a shade or tint of that color to create your unique outdoor sanctuary.
Texture
The sculptural expression of trees, shrubs, perennials and ground covers provides visual texture in the landscape. The foliar expression of texture is determined by the shape, size and arrangement of leaves as well as branching patterns. Texture can also be achieved by the use of hardscape elements such as rocks, mulches and paving materials.
The use of different textures creates interest and depth in the garden. Coarse, bold textures look dramatic and formal while fine, soft textures appear more informal and casual. The amount of coarse or fine texture that is used determines the overall weight and feel of the landscape. Too much coarse texture may overwhelm a design. Conversely, too many fine textures may seem monotonous.
Fine textured plants have less pronounced shapes and more delicate foliage. These include ferns, grasses, Japanese maples and vines. They are often used to link coarse and fine textured arrangements in larger settings.
Texture can be used to enhance a garden at various times of the year, depending on the plants selected. For example, the tracings of bark on mature trees add a pleasing textural effect in winter. In a garden setting, the use of fine textures at the landscape boundary can overstate distance, making the garden appear larger. Conversely, using coarse textures in the front and fine textures in the rear of a garden can make it appear smaller. This is an easy way to control the size of a planting area without having to remove plants.
Rhythm
Rhythm is the use of design tools to create a sense of movement in the landscape. It can be accomplished by using a combination of color, lines and forms to reduce visual confusion in the design. The placement of elements is also important in creating a sense of rhythm. For example, stepping stones placed closer together or farther apart affects how quickly or slowly one moves through a designed space.
Repetition is a strong element of rhythm and it is achieved by using repetition of line, form, color and texture throughout the landscape composition. However, repetition should be used with care to avoid monotony. For example, the use of a plant with contrasting foliage and leaf textures can provide a strong accent against the regularity of the grasses that establish the underlying rhythm in the design.
Shrubs are an excellent choice for establishing rhythm because they have long-lasting blooms and can be planted at intervals through the garden. For example, a maroon spiky delphinium or heuchera that contrasts with the slim upright grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’) in this vignette creates a visual rhythm that is balanced and aesthetically pleasing.
Another way to create a sense of rhythm is to add a pattern in the hardscape materials used in the landscape. This can be done by laying a pattern of different colored pavers on walkways, patios or driveways or by alternating between a smooth, textured and tumbled stone.
Unity
Unity is the principle that all landscape elements work together as a whole. Unity is achieved through the use of a common visual theme and unifying features such as color, line and texture. A well-integrated, unified landscape provides a pleasant experience from all vantage points. Unity is also expressed by the way landscape elements are grouped and arranged during the design process. Garden rooms, focal points and transitions between different planes of space all contribute to the unity of a landscape.
Unity in a landscape is also influenced by the geometry of existing architecture. A landscape must be integrated into the overall architecture of a property and should be scaled to the existing structure. Scale is the proportion between two sets of dimensions such as the full-grown height and spread of plants compared to the house or path size. It is also important to consider the relationship between the landscape and the surrounding neighborhood architecture when planning a new design.
Repetition and pattern are other forms of unity. Repetition can be most obvious in hardscape material like paving or walls where duplication is easiest, but even in plant material repetition can create a sense of unity in a garden. Interest can be created by varying the size, texture or color of a repetitive element for contrast and variety.