Landscaping is the number one feature that helps to create a home’s curb appeal. Good landscaping is like the canvas on which you paint the picture of your home. Because as Dawson Management experts says it is the first part of the home that visitors pay attention to, can landscaping help or hurt your property?
But what makes great landscaping?
There is no right or wrong answer to this question. The best landscaping design for any home depends on many factors. The land layout, the home’s architectural style, the area’s climate, and the owner’s style preferences all play a role in creating the best landscaping plan for the home. But some homeowners don’t know this; they copy another home’s landscaping. They fail to see that the landscaping choices for the home could have been made to suit the peculiar needs of that
home. As a result, copying and pasting that design on their own home does not create the same outcomes.
Great landscaping solves a home’s unique problems. The landscaping elements should be chosen for their aesthetic and functional impact. They must be intentionally selected to provide specific benefits to the users of the space. But this kind of landscaping only happens when you ask the right design questions during the design phase.
What kind of questions should you ask during landscaping design? The questions are captured in these ten rules of great landscaping design.
10 simple landscaping rules for creating a beautiful yard
1. Know your yard
Think of the topography of your land. Where are you located on the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map? Details like how much sunshine your home gets and knowing where the different shade areas on the property can help you choose the right plants.
2. Think of soil type and drainage
A soil testis mandatory. Can the soil sustain the types of plants you want in the yard, or do you need soil replacement? How well does the soil drain? Do you need to reconfigure the soil surface to ensure water flows to the right place on the property?
1. Consider the users
Who will be the primary users of the space? Are they going to be children with family pets? Or is the space for outdoor entertaining? Your yard does not have to be dedicated to a single purpose; you may have different spaces for different uses within the same yard.
2. Create a plan
If you want the landscaping to have cohesion – features that complement one another – you must approach the design holistically. Think of how each element of your design impacts the other features next to it. This quality must be apparent in the function and aesthetics of all the landscaping features.
3. Create focal points in the landscaping
By designing focal points of interest in the landscaping, you get better results with fewer resources. Instead of doing too much to make every part of the landscaping equally attractive, you use some yard features to highlight a few prominent ones.
4. Create zones and link them
Zones function as rooms that define the uses of a specific part of the landscaping. Zones also help to impose order on your design. When creating zones, you don’t want them to appear as separate spaces; link them with pathways and transition zones.
5. Select the right plants
When choosing plants, climate and planting location are two things to keep in mind. Choose plants that thrive in your environment, native plants, if possible. Take note of microclimates of sun and shade in your yard. When planting trees think of how wide and high they will grow in the future.
6. Structure your plantings
Having visual planes is important when selecting plants. Plan for an overhead plane of trees and archways; consider a ground plane consisting of cover crops and hardscapes; think of how close or far apart you want to space your plants; and make sure the plants in the yard are layered (staggered).
7. Include hardscaping
These non-living features add dimension to the yard and give you additional ways to use the space. Hardscaping can be as elaborate as adding an outdoor room to the yard. It can be as simple as paved walkways, a rock garden, or a stone retaining wall.
8. Consider maintenance
How much time and money are you willing to commit to your landscaping maintenance? Do you plan to maintain the yard yourself, or will you hire someone? When viewed through the lens of how much work it takes to keep them, attractive landscaping features may lose their appeal.
To conclude, these rules deal with something other than the specific details of what you should include or exclude from your landscaping. They provide a framework to help you make those design choices that will benefit your home in the long run.
But when implementing these rules, having an experienced landscape designer by your side is a good idea to help you flesh out whatever ideas you may have for your yard.
Leave a Reply