Landscape Design Wellington is the process of organizing plant material and hardscape features into a harmonious composition. A balance of elements in a landscape is achieved using the principles of proportion, order, repetition and unity.
Fine texture exaggerates distance and rough texture minimizes it, making plants appear closer together. Repetition in the landscape is easiest to achieve through duplication of hardscape materials.
Line is the most basic of landscape design elements and one of the most powerful tools. It can be created by the edge between two different materials, the outline of a form, or a long linear feature such as a walkway or fence. Landscape designers use lines to create patterns, develop spaces, establish dominance, and connect features.
The line can also influence the direction of movement within a garden space. This is achieved through the use of pathways that guide people around the landscape, the positioning of focal points that capture attention and direct the eye, or by the intentional marking of pathways that connect spaces through similar objects.
Gerstle notes that she has noticed a trend towards gardens that are less formal and more natural looking, with plants that have an element of wabi-sabi (Japanese concept of “perfectly imperfect”). It’s important to consider your lifestyle and the way you will use your landscape, she says, but it is equally as important to let the site and its ecosystem guide you.
When designing a garden, the shape of your house should also provide clues about the types of lines to include. This will help to keep the landscape from competing with the house and instead act as a complement to it.
Straight lines going away from you tend to visually stretch the space, so they can be a great tool for extending the space of your outdoor living areas. Pathways lined with straight lines are a good example of this, but it can be used to create sightlines throughout your landscape as well. Just adjust the angles of your pathways, flower beds, or pergolas to draw your eye across the garden and into the distance.
Form
Landscape designers work on a canvas that is constantly changing with the growth of plants and environmental conditions. To create a cohesive design, they incorporate the elements of line, form, color and texture. These principles help to balance the spaces and create a visual impact.
Form is a two-dimensional aspect of the landscape and refers to the overall shape or silhouette of the elements in a space. This can be the round, axial layout of a formal garden or the more relaxed and natural shape of a casual yard. Form is also the shape of the hardscape materials such as the sharp edges of paving or structures, the boundaries of different surface materials such as grass and ivy, and the silhouettes of tree trunks or walls.
Repetition of shapes is important to a design as it creates unity but contrast is equally essential. A landscape that is overly repetitive can appear monotonous, while a space with too much variation may be confusing and disorienting. Form is also expressed through the branching structure, growth habit or style of trimming a plant.
Mass is the visual size of an element and must be balanced to achieve a sense of harmony in the landscape. This can be achieved through the proportion of planting beds to the surrounding lawn or house, or by balancing the amount of open versus filled space within a design.
Color is one of the most recognizable aspects of landscape design and can have a strong emotional impact on the viewer. The use of vibrant colors can advance and draw the eye while cooler colors recede or are hidden in the background. The selection of plants with seasonal color is important and the color of hardscape elements like paving, fences and garden ornaments also needs to be considered.
Color
A landscape designer can use color to create contrast, draw attention to a focal point, and unify the design. Color is used in plants, flowers, and foliage as well as in hardscape elements such as rocks, walls, patios, paths, water features and garden ornaments.
In addition to its primary role in creating interest and drama, color has other properties that can influence a landscape such as temperature or perceived distance. Cool colors such as blues and greens appear to recede and make a space feel larger, while warm colors like reds and pinks attract attention and feel more energizing and intimate.
To help establish unity, a landscape designer may use repetition in the form of dominant, complementary or analogous colors. Analogous colors are those that sit next to each other on the color wheel and share similar hues such as oranges and yellows or purples and blues. Dominant colors are those that appear strongest in a composition and should be used sparingly, while complementary colors are meant to contrast strongly with each other and should be used in abundance.
Color is also affected by the time of day and season. The brighter light of summer makes a landscape appear more saturated and intense while the softer, filtered light of winter often results in more subdued colors. A landscape design should always be considered under these conditions, and a color study drawn on a plan view can help to determine the amount of each type of color and its proposed location.
One important thing to remember is that although a garden can be beautiful in its own right, it’s essential that a landscape be functional as well as attractive. Whether it’s to provide food, shelter or enjoyment for the whole family, or simply to increase property value by increasing a home’s usable square footage, a well-executed landscape design can make all the difference.
Texture
Using texture in landscape design is a powerful way to add interest to a garden. The contrast between hard landscape materials, such as rocks and walls, and soft features – most notably foliage – creates visual intrigue and invites touch. Incorporating texture into a design is also an opportunity to play with light and shadow, adding dimension and depth to the landscape.
Landscapes serve many purposes, from facilitating plant growth and encouraging human interaction to providing relief from the urban environment and contributing to environmental sustainability. Whether you’re planning a minor landscape upgrade or a full-scale makeover, understanding the basic principles of landscape design will help you achieve your dream garden in the Mornington Peninsula.
Line is an important element in any landscape design, as it defines the shape of the space and creates movement. Straight lines create a formal character and are usually associated with symmetrical balance. Conversely, curved lines have a more natural and relaxed character and are often associated with asymmetrical balance.
Form is another important element in landscape design, as it determines how a plant will look and feel. For example, tree forms can range from the structural rigidity of a Lombardy poplar to the droopy quality of a weeping willow.
Color is another key component in landscape design, as it can dramatically affect how a garden looks and feels. Choosing colors that complement one another will ensure your landscape stays balanced and harmonious. To achieve this, you should consider the time of year and how sunlight will affect the colors of your plants.
Incorporating all of these elements into your garden will lead to a successful landscape. However, it is important to remember that landscape design isn’t something that you can jump in and do without careful planning. Trying to implement unplanned changes in your garden may result in problems that can be costly and frustrating to correct.
Repetition
Repetition is one of the most effective landscape design principles to create harmony and balance in your backyard. It can be as simple as using the same textured paving throughout your property, or as intricate as a pattern of trees and grasses repeated across your yard. Rhythm is another landscape design principle that involves repetition of line, form, color and texture. We’ll go deeper into rhythm in our next article, but just know that repetition is key when designing your yard.
Line is an important aspect of repetition, and can be created with straight or curved lines. It can also be created with gradation, where the length of the line changes on a regular basis (like a grid of square forms with a circular form inserted every fifth square).
Color is also an important factor in repetition. Choosing a few main colors to use throughout your garden can bring unity and consistency to the space. Using color in combination with varying textures can create contrast, which is also essential to good landscape design.
Proportion is another important landscape design principle. Proportion refers to the relationship between the size of different elements in a landscape, such as plants and structures. This can be achieved with symmetrical balance, where both sides of the landscape are mirror images of each other, or asymmetrical balance, where each side has a different visual weight but the total weights are similar.