Components of landscaping

While most people see plants as the main attraction in a landscape design, there are other components of landscaping that serve as the support for final design success. These components may seem somewhat invisible when viewing the landscape, but rest assured, no successful landscape design happens without them.

The landscape design sequence is a series of steps designed to collect necessary information to create a customized design plan for your landscape. The type of information needed to create a sustainable landscape design includes a base map of your property, a land survey to establish property boundaries and placement of utility lines, and a site analysis to identify distinguishing characteristics of your landscape such as poor drainage areas, and naturally bright and shady spots.

It is also necessary for a landscape designer to interview the potential landscape clients to get an idea of what they want from their landscape design and to ensure they understand the costs involved in transforming their landscape. All the information gathered is used to create the completed landscape design.

Maintainability is another abiding component of any good landscape design. No matter how wonderfully creative and landscape design is, if it isn't easy to maintain it probably won't have staying power. It is the landscape designer's job to make every individual aspect of the landscape as easy to care for as possible. Less maintenance means less expense in the long term.

Other components of a good landscape design work together to create harmony within the landscape design. When choosing plants for the landscape, it is crucial to base the design on the mature size the plants will reach in a few years. The landscape designer must take into consideration the eventual height and width of each plant in order to plan how much space must be allotted. These precautions will assure your future landscape will remain within scale and result in a very balanced landscape design.

Certain design techniques are used to define one space within a landscape from another. These separations need not be filled with actual fences or other hardscape elements. The skillful use of color can serve as a subtle, yet definite separation of one landscape area from the next. Theme flower beds can also define landscape space. Groupings of roses in one area would appear quite different from a herb garden in another part of the landscape. Each technique performs as a subtle announcement that you have arrived in a new section of the landscape.

All of these components combine to create a successful, as well as practical landscape design that should be relatively easy for the homeowners to maintain. Think about all that is involved the next time you are admiring a beautiful landscape.