|
||
Landscape Garden Design: Gathering Places & Focal Points
Your landscape will be more interesting and enjoyable if you consider:
• Outdoor kitchens. These structures create a focal point for your yard and, similar to the kitchen inside the home, become a natural gathering place. It is imperative that you have a good layout so that all your appliances fit and are convenient for use. Landscape designers and landscape architects will help you during the planning phase to check your deed restrictions concerning rules regulating such items as size, lot coverage percentages, height, and color materials.
• Patio design. A patio creates a transition space between the house and the yard. Depending on your preference, your patio design can run the gamut from an elegant open-air greenhouse to an outdoor living room. Patios affect the emotional and physical space of the interior by changing the view out the window.
• Landscape lighting. Expertise is essential in landscape lighting design, planning and installation. “About 50 percent of the technical work has to do with placement of the light fixtures,” explains Jeff Halper, landscape garden design specialist with Exterior Worlds. “You really don't want to see the nuts and bolts of the system. You only want to see the beautiful effect created by the lights.”
• Other hardscapes. You have many choices with hardscapes, the non-plant material of your yard. They include pool decking, entry walks and pathways, gates, decks and arbors, retaining walls, driveways and motor courts.
Landscape Garden Design: Themes
Many homeowners like to choose a theme for their landscape architecture. One popular choice is classical landscape design, which is a type of formal landscape design that uses linear, clean lines to develop an orderly look. These “lines” can be drawn with rows of trees and well-trimmed hedges or perhaps a seat wall made of perfectly arranged terra cotta tiles. Greenery can soften any harshness.
Another idea is an English garden design, which is noted for its informal approach to gardening and is hugely popular in the United States. Houston's semi-tropical climate is well suited for vine-covered arbors, riotous rose gardens, dazzling azaleas and beds of seasonal color—all plant materials that fit well within the English garden's impression of abundance.
If your home's architecture is a good match, think about a modern landscape design. In this style, boundaries between areas of color, textures and shapes are undefined—or conversely, sharply defined. Color and composition create the emotional response. Combining freshness and flair, these designs use dramatic geometric shapes to convey a point of view that is elegant and natural. Water and light are often used, as in beautifully-lit outdoor water fountains, to enhance the sensual loveliness and liveliness.
Don't forget a “green” green garden. That is, one that is ecologically helpful, practical and sustainable. “With a design for a green garden, the goals are similar to any other landscape project. However, we do put a special focus on reducing the Big Four of ongoing landscape maintenance: watering, trimming, weeding and mulching,” says Halper.
“Green” is an interesting word these days. It, of course, still means the primary color green. However, recently it has taken on the new meaning of being ecologically helpful, prudent and sustainable. Within the context of a home landscape, it means talking about a “green” green garden.
“With a design for a green garden, the goals are basically the same as for any other landscape project, except we focus on using materials, plant and non-plant, that reduce the Big Four of ongoing maintenance: watering, trimming, weeding and mulching,” says Jeff Halper, “green” expert with Exterior Worlds.
Following are some ideas for your home landscape design that use less energy and money—to help you get a green garden and still get to keep some green in your pocketbook:
1. Plant drought-tolerant and disease-resistant varieties of bushes, trees, ornamentals and grass. Good choices include pampas grass, spring bulbs, and black-eyed Susans. You might even choose older rose varieties, which are hardier than modern large-flowered hybrids. A green garden such as this reduces the water requirement and the number of chemical treatment needed to fight diseases. Houston landscape designers will be able to point you in the right direction for other plants that grow well in our climate.
2. Install drought-tolerant lawns or lawns that don't require mowing on a frequent basis. In some areas, you might even consider artificial turf.
3. For ground cover, consider the varieties that need little regular trimming, such as Ardisia, Mondo or Liriope. These types of ground covers reduce the need to mow, weed and mulch and yet still create beauty—perfect for your green garden.
4. Use gravels as a ground cover to reduce regular mulching, mowing and weeding. Gravels cut down your cost, but at the same time add interest and texture to your garden landscape.
5. The use of urns and vessels to plant annual flowers—rather than using large bed areas that need replanting and regular maintenance—has a two-fold benefit. It reduces the cost of replanting and allows you to keep the flowers fresh looking while keeping maintenance contracts within your budget.
6. With your hardscapes, choose dark or earth tone materials that require minimal upkeep to look great. In your patio design and other areas with hard surfaces, use long-lasting materials like concrete, stone, artificial wood or pressure-treated pine, as opposed to cedar which has a relatively short life span.
7. Boost irrigation systems by adding a water retention pond as part of your green garden. French drains work well, too. Professional drainage contractors can design drainage systems that allow storm water to be retained on the property. This attribute reduces run-off to the city's system and allows the water to recharge into the earth. If you have a large enough property, you may be able to use the water in the sprinkler system.
Exterior Worlds has been providing high-end landscape design and services for fine neighborhoods such as Bellaire, Tanglewood, West University, and the greater Houston area since 1987.