General Info

Landscape Design- What Is It?

What is landscape design? The simple answer is that landscape design involves changing your outdoor surroundings to suit your taste and functional needs through the strategic use of plants. Trees, shrubs and flower beds are all used to enhance the natural beauty of your property, as well as form natural divisions in your landscape.

Landscape design is really quite an art form, and at its best, landscaping can add significant value to your property and home. A professional landscape designer can help you to assemble a plan to bring your perfect landscape to life.

Landscape design is also appropriate for commercial properties, making them look inviting, but also functioning as a traffic guidance system, and natural barrier between walkways and parking lots.

Landscape design can be divided into two main categories; hardscape and softscape.

The hardscape portion of landscape design is what you might consider the architectural elements; stone walls, wooden fences, brick pathways, statuary, fountains, benches, etc. In short, anything that is not a plant is considered hardscape in a landscape design.

So that means the softscape portion of a landscape design is all the various greenery; trees, shrubs, grass and any other plant material used in the landscape design plan.

Now that we have an understanding of the two main categories in landscape design, let's take a look at the five supporting elements that are the cornerstones of any worthy landscape design.

Color, form, line, scale, and texture are all much like the pieces of a puzzle that, when properly applied, fit together to form a whole picture. One lacking piece, and the whole picture is spoiled. Let's get a quick overview of each landscape design element.

Color is an extremely important tool in landscape design. It gives the whole design life. Color has the power to influence our mood, and the use of color in a landscape design can create a relaxing feeling, or add drama to an area. Color can also be used to tie one or more areas together, or define them from each other.

Form refers to the shape of the plants being used in the landscape design. Some evergreens are tall and conical; other plants may stay low and spread. All shapes can be skillfully placed to create layers in your landscape design.

Line refers to the way your eye is drawn along the landscape in relation to where the plants have been placed. Clever plant placement can draw your eyes up a garden path, and your feet will probably follow shortly.

Scale is a familiar term to most. It is the size relationship of objects to one another within a group. In landscaping scale is applied to make sure that everything fits together, and no single design element stands out so strongly that it spoils the harmony of the whole landscape design.

Texture relates to the way the surface of an object feels. A clever combination of textures can be used to create interest and depth in your landscape design.

A solid landscape design plan gathers all these elements together and weaves them into one desirable whole, that improves the beauty of an outdoor area, and also encourages you to put it to better use. Great landscape design can help you get more out of your property and your life.