The Basic Principles of Landscaping Design

Proper landscaping of your yard is important, not just to make the lawn and plants look nice, but to improve the look of your home as well. A house with a great landscaping design looks better and is more valuable than a home with an awful yard. But although it might seem that a professional with a great eye is needed, you can take a try at landscaping design if you keep the basics in mind. Though the basic principles of landscaping design are similar to those in art, there’s a certain element of careful planning that make creating a design a snap.

Balance

One of the most key things in any landscaping design is balance. If you have a design that’s heavy with plants on one side of the yard and bare on the other side, things are going to look a little odd. Achieving balance between all sides of your yard can bring together a design and keep your home from looking too far off-center. Keep in mind that this doesn’t necessarily mean keeping plants on each side alike, since you can have asymmetrical balance as well.

Proportion

When creating your landscaping design, keep in mind that you should have a sense of proportion. For instance, you don’t want a big fountain sitting in the middle of a small backyard; it will simply overwhelm any design your choose. Similarly, if you have a huge house, a row of tiny flowers in front will do little to add to the beauty of your home. Be sure to choose plants and other design elements that fit the size of your home and yard, as well as are properly proportioned with each other.

Transition

Transition is a principle of landscaping design that relates well to proportion. Sure, you can have small plants and large hedges in your landscaping design, but there needs to be a natural-looking progression from large to small, and paying attention to the way you transition to this will help your design flow instead of looking awkward. There are also transitions from other design elements, such as plants that give different senses of texture or color.

Unity

Of course, one of the most important things in the ideas of landscaping design is unity, which means having colors, textures, and other elements that work well together. The easiest way to accomplish this is to have a sort of theme when you start your landscaping design. Whether you plan to have your yard look like a country garden or want a more exotic sort of look to it, plan ahead. By keeping unity in mind, you will choose plants that work well together. The flip side to this is you want to create enough variation within that theme that it’s not boring. As with all the principles of landscaping design, if you keep unity in mind without taking it too far, you will have a natural, beautiful yard that will make your home look – and sell- better.