LANDSCAPE GARDENING.



As with a good painting, a successful garden design should consist of a focal point and an assortment of background elements to enhance the main feature. As with art the landscape designer ought to start the process with a vision of what the final result will be.

This lends itself to the following handful of assumptions about garden design.

Let's start with the lawn. Open spaces laid to lawn are rather stunning and can make even the smaller gardens appear bigger. By adding too much planting once can ruin the effect by making it look too busy.

Trees are not necessarily bad, however, providing you keep a few things in mind. Firstly the tree or trees should not be centered on the grass extent, which would make it feel off-balance and kill the sense of space. Then you need to consider the type of tree, its structure, leaves and bark colors and whether it adds interest year round. Whether the trees you pick it fruit, flower or just turn an amazing shade in the fall can have an awesome effect over your overall garden design. You should also keep in mind where you are looking at planting the tree, and what you are planting it next to. Two species with widely differing spreading habits next to each other will make your garden look out of proportion and rather awkward. If planting trees close to your home you should avoid evergreens: they can give the house a very dark and depressing feel. You should always look at maximizing the amount of light inside, which can be counteracted by locating evergreens to close to the building.

Similarly the same considerations should be able to shrubs. When planning a clump consider their colors, fruiting and spreading habits as well as what time of year they are at their most interesting, from fall berries and colored barks in winter to spring flower explosions and summer foliage. You can also consider shrubs as a more attractive alternative to fencing. Hedges made with such shrubs, such as the Californian privet, can be both pretty and very effective. To close the chapter on shrubs let's ad that local species tend to thrive and blend in much better than imported or atypical specimens: you want something that will adapt well and fit in with the rest of your scheme.

Your design may be laid out over a formal, straight-lined structure or a more lose arrangement. When planning paths consider where they are going, the overall visual effect they will have and how they fit it with the rest of your scheme. Straights and curves can both work in the right environment, but for this you need to determine the right balance to avoid a pompous, formal feel or a messy look.

Path can be made of pebbles, lawn or dirt. While you may not have gravel at hand and grass can be difficult to keep in a good shape, dirt paths are always a fairly straightforward choice. To ensure that this is so, you should always dig in an under layer of stones and make sure there are no dips towards the centre so as to provide good drainage.

Next on the list of things to consider is the use of climbing plants to help integrate or hide buildings and garden structures. You can pick perennial vines to mask an ugly piece of masonry or woodwork, or a colorful annual for temporary visual relief until you get a chance to remedy the root of the problem. Climbers provide a great way to make a man-made structure fit into the landscape by being literally tying it to the garden. In doing so it promotes harmony and can add a stunning effect to the design.

Adding flowers will also have a rather potent effect. While front and back gardens laid to lawn are usually best kept flower-bed free to keep the sense of space once can easily add a few small bulbs in clusters: a handful of early flowering bulbs will add color and give a very lovely spring feel to the scheme. While flowers tend to be popular options in front yards and to the side of homes do not forget to tend to the backyard, too: it would be a real shame to display stunning blooms out front only to be let down in the back garden! The backyard is also ideal for larger floral displays, in borders or flower beds.

Color can have a very big impact on the success of your design: because you most likely work with a relatively small garden the colors you chose should be sympathetic with the space, its scale and work well with one another.

As a conclusion let's remember that the main purpose of a landscape design is to set off your home attractively: by selecting the right mix of open spaces, lines and planting one can achieve stunning results. Stick to one vision and do not change direction half-way through!