There are several crucial aspects to take into account before you begin planting, regardless of whether you want to totally rebuild your landscape or just make a few small modifications. A plan can help you choose plants that will best suit your needs and flourish in your environment, unlike the majority of people who head directly to their neighborhood gardening supply store to peruse the variety. It’s simple to go out and be persuaded to buy plants that look lovely in the garden center, only to learn once you get them home that they are inappropriate for your landscape. These pointers will assist you in making a strategy and set you on the path to designing a stunning, harmonious, and flourishing environment.
7 Things You Must Consider When Planning Landscape Design (Your Yard!)
Know Your Yard
When designing your landscape, take into account the soil type, site topography, and area climate. It is a good idea to use the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map as a starting point. Remember that depending on the amount and duration of sun and shade exposure the region receives, the particulars of your yard are likely to create a microclimate. When choosing plants for your landscaping, keep in mind that microclimates are typically divided into one of four categories: full sun, medium shade, shade, or deep shade. Consider the terrain of your property as you plan; pay attention to how water drains through your landscape. The most effective landscaping will encourage water to flow away from your home and into other parts of your yard.
Who Will Be Using Your Yard?
Consider who will be using your yard and their intended uses. Will kids be playing in your yard? Do you own animals? Do you intend to host outdoor events in your yard? Keep in mind that you can utilize hardscapes and strategic plantings to divide your landscape into separate areas for different purposes. People can be moved from one location to another via walkways. Since you’ll be utilizing and caring for your yard (or hiring someone to), think about your upkeep preferences and spending limit. Try to be as practical as you can. What amount of time will you actually have to invest in your landscape? Alternatively, if you won’t have the time, do you have the funds to hire someone else to work the hours necessary? How much money will you need to spend on your landscaping? The prosperity of your landscape for many years to come will be increased if you can figure out the answers to these questions.
Think About Themes
Your choice of plants and building materials might be helped by a theme that unifies your landscape. Themes can be as basic as employing recurring patterns in your yard’s shapes or forms, or they can be as sophisticated as designing a tranquility garden or an oriental garden.
Looking at your home’s architecture is an excellent place to start when choosing a theme for your yard. Since your yard is an extension of your house, try to match the lines and aesthetic of your home’s architecture in it.
Create and Link Spaces
Consider your yard as an additional room or rooms in your home to make the most of it. Your landscape should have distinct “rooms” just like a home does, and you may do this by using your materials intelligently to construct these rooms.
Don’t forget to consider the connections between your spaces. How will visitors navigate your yard’s different zones? To stimulate exploration in your yard and keep visitors moving throughout the landscape, make entrances.
Make Your Plants Work For You
You should decide early on in the design process how your plants will work in your landscape. There are many uses for plants, like giving you access to stunning scenery, tasty fruits and veggies, heavenly scents, and much more.
Plants can be utilized as barriers to separate regions in your landscape and to mark the edge of it. By obstructing views and access to a particular region, plants can be used to design physical barriers in your environment. Low-growing plants can be utilized to build implausible barriers that obstruct access but not the view if you still want to maintain some barriers while maintaining your vistas.
Structure Your Plantings
When choosing plants, take into account your different visual planes. Consider the region above you beginning with the overhead plane; this may include any arches or trees.
Moving on to the vertical plane, take into account the individual and massed heights and widths of your plants, how they will be layered or staggered (typically, larger plants are utilized behind smaller plants), and how closely or widely they will be spaced apart.
Highlight Important Points
You can draw attention to a specific region of your landscape by using distinctive plants, distinctive architecture, or garden ornaments. Contrasting sizes, shapes, textures, and colors will aid in drawing attention to a particular location.
