There are no rules for creativity, but great landscape design has a few constants. If you’ve never tried designing your landscape before, the options can be overwhelming. From choosing plants and selecting their locations to figuring out path curves and bed lines, there is a lot to consider. Then, you have to add eye-catching planters, stylish benches, and pots to attract wildlife.
However, if you have a comprehensive guideline on how to complete the process, it can give your landscaping project a great start. Here is how you can do it.
Figure out Landscape Wants and Needs
Determining the needs of your landscape is the very first step before you plan your garden. Typically, you need to make a list of needs and wants.
Your children may need space to play. You may want the specific area to plant vegetables. Your family may need a separate space to arrange parties on the patio. The purpose of thinking about these is to make a rough sketch of your yard with some ideas about how and where you’ll place things.
Figuring out this is an effective organizing principle to design your landscape. According to Big Garden Designs, you don’t need a master plan if you’re a beginner. All you need is to gather some basic ideas.
Your collection of ideas could provide a rough outline with a couple of shapes and a few lines. That means you can lay out ideas without investing a lot of commitment and time.
Focus on Location
Location matters a lot when you’re planning or designing a landscape. Regardless of where you live, it’s important to study patterns of wind and sun. For instance, if you choose the west side of your home for a patio, it will receive a lot of sunlight. That means dinner or lunchtime will feel unpleasantly hot during the spring and summer.
Plus, the fast wind will put out bonfires. These are some most common mistakes many beginners make when designing a backyard landscape. That is to say, you must consider what the wind and sun will do during different seasons when planning your landscape.
Assess Your Landscape by Spending Time
Spending some time in your landscape is crucial to making definite conclusions about choices that will work for you in the long run. Visit your patio at different times of the day for a few weeks before making changes. When you spend more time outside, you start to find the best spots to sit down, relax, and enjoy yourself during different seasons and different times of the day.
Give Attention to Scale and Pacing
It is perhaps the trickiest principle of landscape design for inexperienced people. However, focusing on scale and pacing is a great way to make your yard an aesthetic and sensory experience. This is when you add variations in color, shape, and size with big plants against buildings and paths that lead you through the space.
Expert landscape designers emphasize the significance of finding a balance between new elements and repetition. Though repetition offers a sense of uniformity and cohesion, it can make things monotonous. New elements give a refreshing personality that uplifts your mood.
Start Small
Sure, you can give your yard a thorough makeover in a few days. However, you need a huge workforce to handle digging and heavy lifting. The option is certainly not ideal if you’re a beginner home gardener.
Creating a landscape yourself involves making a plan and enjoying the entire process. You usually start with a flower bed and work on it for hours when you have time. Don’t worry about finishing the job right away.
In short, when someone takes time with a DIY landscape design, they’re less likely to use a shortcut or get sloppy, only to regret it later.
Focus on Light
Light makes textures and colors come alive in any landscape design. For instance, a landscape design that places shrubs and trees with vibrant foliage will complement the ambiance when the sun is rising or setting.
You can use artificial backlighting to achieve a soft brightness at dusk. With a couple of strategically used lights, you can transform an ordinary garden into a magical one at night.
Plant in Bunches
Cottage gardens look great with a rich, vibrant array of diverse planting to pull off the look. The number of plants in your garden can make an impact on landscape design. According to modern landscape designers, the most pleasant visuals come from simple plants. Therefore, consider planting in masses to give your landscape a holistic look.
Summing Up
Plan your great landscape design with these ideas and create a place where you can relax and soak in the beauty of the outdoors.
