Basic Principles of Landscape design

Designing a garden or Landscape can be a daunting task. Knowing how large a plant will get, what colors go well together and what time of year they may flower are all a big part of the art of landscape design but wait…there’s more….

Let’s look at Four of the foundational principles of a good landscape design.

1. Line. The way space is defined, creating outdoor rooms and flow from throughout. Use sweeping lines and curves that will lead the eye to follow the story of the design and various ‘rooms’ of the landscape.

2. Scale. Scale relates to comparative Value of the plants and structures as they relate to each other and your home. This is where Knowledge of mature plant sizes becomes important. Not having plants that will over grow the area but also not get lost amongst the specimens used for that WOW factor.

3. Balance. Balance in landscaping is usually achieved in one of two ways.

Formal or symmetrical balance – Informal or asymmetrical balance.

A formal design balance will often repeat left and right using the same numbers and sized plants on each side. This look provides a stateliness and strong sense of stability to a design.

Informal or asymmetrical balance will differ from left to right with movement and curiosity achieving balance by having equal weight of objects on both sides but not identical.

4. Simplicity and variety

Simplicity is a degree of repetition rather than constant change, creating unity. We often repeat some plants in sweeps and groupings. Variety is diversity and contrast in form ,texture and color. Filling in spaces with perennials for color adds a interesting contrast of variety.