Elements of Landscaping

By Teresa Opdycke

Landscaping is a subjective art.  What one person may see as an outdoor paradise in their yard, another sees as overgrown, overbearing, and overwhelming. Knowing what you find attractive, useful, and in harmony with your home eases the way to a landscaped yard that may not appeal to everyone, but does to you. How you achieve the three goals of most landscaping projects takes planning and some research. The three goals to consider are:

1. Formulating a plan and carrying it out for the most use you can get from the area while still keeping it pleasurable.
   
2. Creating a harmonious blend of home and yard.
   
3. Being able to maintain the area with ease.

Formulate a Plan

Invite your spouse to take a walk around your house with notebook and pen in hand. What do you see? Do you see a fence with overgrown weeds and grass sorely in need of painting? Do you see a glider that no longer glides due to a rust problem? Are you tired of the neighbors giving a sniff and a yell each time you barbecue on your patio in the backyard? Do you find yourself yearning for outdoor privacy? Is something missing from your yard? Is your yard void of color, texture, fragrances wafting through open windows? Does your yard lack carefree joy because all you see is time being spent mowing the grass? Once you’ve walked about the yard and taken some notes, it's time to sit down and ponder what your ideal yard would look like.

A fence that runs behind your home may answer the privacy issue, but what kind of fence? Would you be satisfied with a chain-link fence or does your ideal yard contain a beautiful evergreen hedge? Questions must be answered before moving forward. Once you've recognized and made a list of what you desire in your perfect landscaped world, it's time to think budget.

Creating a budget for the landscaping project offers a realistic approach to what can be done and who will perform the tasks. You budget may not allow you to hire a landscape architect or service; don't worry, you can landscape your home beautifully without professional aid. It may take more research on your part, and definitely more physical labor, but the end result will be exactly what you want. Get busy - create that budget now.

Finding the time and money for landscaping may be a challenge in itself, so break it down in manageable pieces. Again, take a look at what area of your yard needs the most work. Develop a priority list. If curb appeal is important to you, begin in the front yard. Using graph paper, sketch out what you’d like to see in your front yard: A fence for privacy from the street? A hedge to soften the foundation of the house? Perhaps you've decided on a flower border on one side of the house or raised flower beds around the base of the house. Small low-growing hedges of lavender on each of a sidewalk leading to the door make a fragrant statement.  The bottom line is to do your research, make a sketch and know exactly what you want, how much it will cost, and how much time it will take to implement and maintain.

Create Harmony between Yard and House

Knowing the basics of design will go along way in helping you achieve landscaping that looks professional, but is totally you. Basic design elements create beautiful paintings, sculptures, floral arrangements, graphics, and landscaping. The visual arts require these components as part of a well-designed endeavor:

1. Balance. Balance considers visual weight and the importance of one element in design.  If you have a two story home, planting one tiny tree next to it does not make good design sense. The balance is off: Big house ... tiny tree. Now take the same two story home with beautiful, old oak trees standing to the side, and it appears balanced. Balance does not necessarily mean symmetry, or that if you have a two-story home you must have a large tree on either side. It simply means the visual weight of both items should balance.

2. Scale and Proportion. These two elements of design walk together with equal importance. Scale keeps us mindful of the size of plants used for a specific area in proportion to the flower bed or yard as a whole. An example of poor scale and proportion: A small round bed of flowers with a huge sunflower in the center surrounded by tiny wild violets. This is an exaggerated example, but if you can visualize how silly this looks, you grasp the idea behind scale and proportion.

3. Color. Color adds a dimension to landscaping like no other element of design. Color creates emotional responses from the viewer. Hot-red geraniums against a white fence pulls the eye directly to them. More subtle shades evoke a quieter response. Color, shades and hues calm, excite, or inspire the onlooker, making color a matter of personal taste. What one finds attractive someone else may find hideous. Take a look at your house. What color is it painted? What colors inspire you? What colors would bring life to your yard, or would you prefer a more subdued, calm area that invites rest and relaxation? It's all up to you. If you're concerned that you don't know enough about color to choose, purchase a color wheel that can help you come up with a workable palette.

4. Pattern and Texture. Pattern and texture are similar, but not quite the same. Pattern in landscape design can create a specific rhythm in the yard. Using the same variety of plant repeatedly allows for smooth transitions and a general flow of movement. The diversity of textures within the plant world allow for great interest within a yard or garden. The smooth velvet petals of a rose juxtaposed with the thorny stem it sits on provides a perfect picture of opposing textures. By varying the textures within a landscape, you're adding interest and depth.

5. Line. Line moves the eye in and out of any design. A serpentine shape of a precisely trimmed hedge keeps the eye moving. You don't want the eye to come to a sudden halt, although it often does when basic design principles are not used in landscaping. Let's go back to the little round flower bed with the tall sunflower for a moment. The round shape of the bed itself keeps the eye moving, but the sunflower, too tall and large for the area, stops the eye from continuing its journey around the flower bed. The sunflower startles and the eye remains fixed on its ungainly presence.

6. Focal point. Visual art contains a focal point; however subtle it may be, it's there. A focal point draws the viewer into the scene. It may be what first catches your eye and then moves on, but usually the focal point will draw the eye back. You could say that the sunflower captures the eye and holds it, therefore it's a focal point. It may be, but it doesn't satisfy the other elements of good design. The focal point should blend into the area with appropriate balance, scale and proportion. Visualize a flower bed that meanders across the backyard, creating some privacy and delineating the property from the neighbors. Off center just a bit sits a wooden bench with flowers behind and beside it. The bench is the focal point for that particular area.

Ease of Maintenance

You’ve worked hard and landscaped your yard using all the design principles discussed, but did you remember to include easy maintenance?  If the yard takes the entire weekend to weed, mow, water, and repair, you've not met your goals. Instead of enjoying long Saturday afternoons swinging in the hammock reading your favorite author, you're working all the time on the yard. While planning your landscaping project, be sure to research all available paths to simple upkeep. If you fell in love with a traditional English cottage garden look for the front yard, but failed to leave wide enough paths to mow the grass paths, you'll feel frustrated. A simple way to keep weeds at bay is to cover the ground with a weed barrier before planting. Take a long hard look at just how much time you want to spend keeping your landscaping looking great and then research all the ways to keep the work at a minimum.

A yard is nothing more than a large canvas on which to paint your living masterpiece. Implement a plan; harmonize your home with the yard by using the principle elements of good design while keeping in mind ease of maintenance and you'll be pleased with the final results. You will have created a landscaped yard that is authentically you.

© Doityourself.com 2006