Increased property value: Attractive landscaping adds to your home’s resale value. Environmental benefits: Native plants reduce the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides and support local wildlife.
Landscape construction involves both hardscaping (patios, walkways, retaining walls) and softscaping (plant selection). To achieve harmony in your landscape, it’s important to understand the basics of design.
Color is an important element of landscaping that draws the eye and creates a focal point. The color wheel maps out warm colors like red, yellow, and orange that create excitement in the landscape, while cool colors such as blue and green evoke serenity and calmness. Color is also important when pairing hardscaping and softscaping, and can be used to highlight specific elements or to create contrast in the landscape.
In addition to being aesthetically pleasing, well-designed landscapes can have practical benefits for home and business owners. For example, wellness amenities are increasingly being incorporated into corporate campuses to help reduce health care costs and employee absenteeism.
Unity is one of the most important design principles, and can be achieved through repetition of plant species in gardens and patios, and the use of similar building materials for pathways and landscape edging. It is also achieved by creating a color palette that incorporates the colors of your home for continuity and a cohesive look. A priority should be placed on lines, which are naturally drawn toward landscape features like water or flower gardens.
Form
Lines are used to establish the framework of a landscape and provide a way for the eye to move through it. Lines are both horizontal and vertical and can be straight or curved. When using lines in a landscape it is important to balance them with other elements such as color, texture and form. Straight lines create a formal style that is best suited for a symmetrical Federal style home, while curved lines give more of a natural feel and work well with a curvilinear design.
Form is the shape that a plant or structure has and how it fits in the landscape. It can also refer to the overall shape of a garden area or hardscape feature. The rounded shapes of shrubs and trees can be very appealing and help to soften the overall look of a landscape. It is important to have some contrasting forms in the landscape to add visual interest, like the rough bark of a pine against a smooth lawn or the spiky texture of a yucca against a soft grove of cacti.
The shape of plants can also evoke emotions and set the ambiance in a garden. Rectilinear shapes feel structured and formal, circles feel soft, triangles are strong and irregular shapes are casual and free.
Texture is the surface quality of a plant or hardscape and can be rough, smooth, coarse or fine. It is important to have some contrasting textures in the landscape to add visual interest, like a rough textured flagstone surrounded by smooth pavers or the varying textures of different plants in the same bed, such as the different leaf shapes of a heuchera and the various sized leaves on an oak tree.
Structure
Landscaping is a crucial aspect of construction, as it involves creating beautiful and functional outdoor spaces that reflect your personal style. It also helps to make your home more livable and increase its resale value. To achieve the best results, you should work with a professional landscaper who has experience in both hardscaping and softscaping.
Hardscaping is the part of landscaping that includes non-living elements like patios, walkways, and retaining walls. It is usually constructed using materials like stones, wood, bricks, and concrete. Professionals also use a variety of other techniques to create unique designs and ensure that they are long-lasting.
Softscaping is the part of a landscape that includes plants, trees, and flowers. Professionals choose a wide range of species that will thrive in your environment and create visual interest throughout the year. They also take into account the color, texture, and shape of each plant to create a balanced design that will complement your property.
Benefits of Landscape Construction
A well-designed landscape can enhance your quality of life by reducing stress, improving mental health, and providing a space for recreation. It can also help to protect your home from erosion, reduce energy costs, and encourage wildlife to visit your property.
Landscapes can be used to create a sense of privacy and security, as well as provide shade and improve air quality. They can also serve as a focal point, creating a dramatic entrance or drawing attention to specific features of your home. Additionally, they can be used to add interest to your property and create a welcoming atmosphere for guests. A professionally designed and maintained landscape can also increase your property value and help to reduce the cost of maintenance.
Perennials
Perennials are a great addition to flowerbeds, shrub borders, natural areas, and foundation plantings. They are available in a wide variety of colors, shapes and sizes and can be used to create a beautiful garden that blooms throughout the growing season. By choosing perennials that are native to your geographic region, you can help promote the ecological balance and biodiversity of your landscape.
One of the best things about perennials is that they don’t need to be replanted each year. By not having to clear flowerbeds of spent annual plants, sow seeds, and compost and mulch each year, you save a lot of time and energy. Another benefit is that perennials have deeper root systems than annuals, which helps improve soil structure by aerating the soil and creating channels for water to flow through. This helps prevent erosion, as well as reduce the frequency of irrigation.
Finally, perennials tend to have a higher yield than annual plants, which means that they are more effective at absorbing and utilizing the nutrients in the soil. Perennials are also able to reach nutrients that are deeper in the soil, which means that they can provide more of those nutrients to other plants that might not be able to access them otherwise.
It’s important to choose perennials that are well-suited to your landscape conditions, including the hardiness zone of your area, how much sun or shade it receives, and what kind of soil it is. When you choose the right perennials, they will grow and thrive for years to come.
Pathways
The finishing touch on your garden’s visual symphony, pathways are a powerful way to direct the eye and connect the different rooms of your landscape. They can frame picturesque views, draw the eye to a focal point or even conceal a hidden nook within a border bed. But perhaps their most important function is in enhancing accessibility. Pathways make it easier to get around your yard and help prevent grass from becoming compacted, especially during rain or snow. They also make it easy to reach flower and vegetable beds for maintenance chores without trampling plants.
A pathway’s width depends on its purpose and how often it will be used. A service pathway — which provides access to areas that will be frequented with wheelbarrows, trash cans and lawnmowers — needs to be wide enough to accommodate these heavy items. However, a decorative walkway can be much narrower and still be comfortable to walk on.
To keep a pathway looking its best, consider incorporating some of the same elements that are used in your other garden areas. For example, if your home’s exterior is a combination of stone and brick, you can replicate this texture in your pathway by using pavers or stepping stones set in gravel. Or, you could alternate pavers in a checkerboard pattern with a variety of ground covers like lamb’s ears, bugleweed, Corsican mint or Scottish moss to soften the edges.
Bright accents like crimson gravel or crushed glass can add unexpected pops of color that elevate a simple pathway into a focal point in the garden. Keeping your paths clear of debris, whether that’s leaves or twigs, is a crucial part of maintaining the clean lines you have worked so hard to achieve.