Landscape Design Elements

Landscape Design Elements
There are big differences between designs.  Good designers stick to some common design elements. 

Flow

The project should not be choppy.  Some landscapes seamlessly come together.  To achieve this, try focusing on repetition and depth.  For example, you might see an Alpine Fir in the foreground and one in the background.  This gives a feeling of things coming together.  Choppy landscapes put plants that don’t go together and don’t repeat the theme.  The theme must be repeated for the project to have flow.  If you don’t have a theme, it’s a good sign you need to rethink things.

Lines

Straight boxy lines are a sure way to kill the landscape project.  Lines should accentuate what you have planted.  For example, larger plants on corners should have the flower bed line extend out.  Smaller plants can have the flower bed go in.  Flower beds should be wavy (snakelike) and accent the plants.

The other big line factor is how the plants are put in.  Again lines shouldn’t be straight.  To appear natural, odd numbers of plants should be arranged to compliment one another.  You should not see a definitive plant line, but color accents should lead your eye to center pieces.

Color    

Color is huge.  To get the best color you will need a lot of sun.  The most colorful plants are usually full sun plants; account for this when planting trees.

Plants bloom at different times of the year.  The ideal yard or garden will have something blooming the entire year.  It will take a bit of planning to accomplish this.  The flower standbys are tulips in the spring, roses in the summer, and mums in the fall.  For shrubs, it would be Forsythia in the spring, Lilac in the summer, and Burning Bush in the fall.  Most trees bloom in the spring.  The favorites are Flowering Plum and Flowering Pear.  If you really want to get into it, make a chart of when everything will bloom.  There are even computer programs that can give you a picture of what the yard will look like throughout the year. 

Use colors that contrast. Contrasting colors appear much more appealing than monochrome themes.