Thursday 25 July 2013

Designing a Garden with Landscaping Principles

Do you feel envious every time you look at your neighbor’s well-manicured, pristine lawns and professional landscapes with rich colors and textures? If yes, and you want a similar one for your home, hiring a professional landscape design company will suffice your need perfectly. With their hands-on experience and expert skill sets, professional landscape designers on board such a company will plan your garden, following the relevant landscaping principles. And even when you can’t afford to hire one, there are some easy, straightforward ideas that you can implement yourself. You just need to take out some time from your regular schedule and be a little patient. In order to get an aesthetically pleasing landscape design, you must need to visualize how it would look finally. Whether you hire a professional landscape company or prefer to do it on your own, you must have a basic idea about the key landscaping principles, some of which are listed below –
  • Choose the focal point and design your landscape around that – Whenever you are going to plan a landscape design, the best trick is to choose a focal point, i.e. the point of your garden design where you want to draw the interest of the visitors. Depending on the size of your garden, you might decide to keep one or more focal points, which can either be naturally occurring elements or strategically placed ones to create the best aesthetic appeal. Though there are several methods of creating a focal point, most of them are based on the sense of contrast. One of the most common methods used to design a focal point is combining some non-natural objects with otherwise natural components. For examples, you can put in some bird baths, bench swings, statues, bird feeders in your garden.
  • Select the right texture – Texture is another important factor of designing a garden. While choosing the texture, you need to keep in mind what types of plants you would use, how they will be grouped, and how they will affect the overall theme of your garden. Texture usually refers to the shape, size, smoothness or coarseness, and weight of the foliage. Using some white texture is a popular method as it creates a strong sense of contrast.
  • Focus on the landscaping color – Color is one of the most important things that create a unique impact among the visitors. You can choose the colors based on the principles of color wheel. You can either use a monochromatic color scheme, which can be achieved by using various shades of one single color, or an analogous color scheme, where all the colors used are placed side by side in the color wheel, or even a complementary scheme in which the colors are opposite to each other.
  • Consider the scale and proportion properly – Whether you have a small yard or a large lawn, make sure that all the elements, used in your garden, are matched with the scale and proportion of the surrounding pieces. Whenever you plan to buy a certain piece, consider the key aspects – height, length and width. This will help you avoid buying the things that are disproportioned for your garden. For example, you won’t like to put a big fountain in the midst of a small yard. Again, if you are planning a private garden, creating a feeling of peacefulness and relaxation is important, for which you can use low scale landscaping.
Some other factors that should be considered include:
  • The right blend of variety and simplicity in the landscape
  • The correct ratio of subordination and dominance of different elements in the landscape, and
  • Creating the right plant combination to evoke vitality and glamour
So, use these landscaping principles while designing your garden, or hire a professional landscaping company that can handle the job fast, with efficiency, and at cost-effective rates.

Wednesday 10 July 2013

Hardscape Ideas for Small Yards

If you thought that only large lawns can be decked to look beautiful, think again. Even when you own a small yard, you can use some design ideas to make it look as stunning and appealing as its bigger counterpart. However, it’s important to remember that while you can design a large garden maintaining the landscaping principles, doing the same with a small yard could turn out to be a bit hectic. After all, you have to make it look perfect and use all the elements without making the space feel more confined. Though it might seem like a mission impossible initially, it can be done smoothly if you plan the entire project carefully. This is where a professional landscape company can help. With their specific skill sets, unparalleled expertise and years of experience, they can do the magic with your yard, which you have been craving for! What is important of all is that you need to keep certain factors in mind throughout the process.
  • Pick up same paving material – Even though your yard is a small one, it might have multiple paved surfaces like the walkways and the patio. While it is advisable to choose different materials for the different surfaces in a large yard, as it helps create a unique dimension, you should not do the same with a smaller yard. Doing the patio with bricks and the garden path with limestone can make it look even clumsier. You can try using some luxury paving material like flagstone to give your small yard a charm of its own. If it is not possible to do the entire paving with the same material, consider using materials of similar color.
  • Consider open fencing – Opting for tall, solid fencing doesn’t seem to be quite feasible with a small yard; instead, an open style of fencing might give it a broader look. Since you need to keep your pets and children inside the garden, a classic picket fence might serve your purpose well. If you think you can’t afford it, try using the simple chain link fence works. If privacy is what matters to you the most, consider using shorter solid fence with picket design or lattice at the top of it would be good as it would help maintain a wide open feel.
  • Put in some functional desks – An uncovered or seasonally covered deck, outside the back door of your yard, would add a dash of richness to the entire design. Moreover, you can use it for outdoor eating, storage, lounging or even for playing. You can utilize some small decks for the purpose as they can be used as different platforms like table, playhouse, shed or even outdoor sculptures. In fact, a deck at the rear side or at the end of the small yard will create a perfect backdrop for you to relax or entertain guests.
  • Opt for Raised beds – A raised flower bed or garden bed is what serves to be the perfect choice for a small yard as it helps maximize the space to a great extent. One of the main advantages of this is that you can tuck them into any of the unused spots or corners that might otherwise be wasted. Though these are usually used for herbs and vegetables, you can use them for any of your favorite plants as well. Choose from concrete, wood, metal or brick while building raised beds.
Small yards have a charm of their own. So, you shouldn’t feel sad if you own one. By using the ideas mentioned above, you can transform your small garden into a haven in no time at all!