Oceanic Landscaping is the process of making an area around a home, business or other building more attractive and livable. It includes adding plants, changing the terrain and constructing structures like fences.
Planting native species helps to reduce your energy costs by shading your home in the summer and blocking chilly winter winds. Choose plants with a variety of heights to create more visual interest.
While not as obvious as form or color, texture is an important aspect of landscape design. It describes the roughness or smoothness of plant foliage, flowers, and hardscape materials such as walkways and pavers. It can also refer to the overall feel of an area. Think about running your hand across the feathery fronds of ornamental grasses or the rough bark of an oak tree compared to the rounded forms of boxwood hedges. These are the types of textures landscape designers look for to add interest and contrast in their designs.
The key to a successful landscape is creating balance and harmony. Too much of one type of texture can overpower a garden, making it seem monotonous and uninteresting. To avoid this, it’s a good idea to choose plants with contrasting shapes and textures to create visual interest.
Texture can also be used to enhance other landscape elements, including colors and forms. For example, a soft, fine-textured plant such as alliums can complement the round forms of flowers or shrubs in a garden. Likewise, coarse-textured plants like blue agaves can provide drama and excitement when placed in the right spot in the garden.
In addition to providing a beautiful and inviting outdoor space, landscaping can help the environment by increasing soil quality, reducing erosion, and conserving water. Plants can also provide habitat and food for local wildlife. Landscaping can also increase the value of a home and provide benefits such as improving air quality, decreasing noise levels, and lowering energy costs by shading buildings.
When planning your landscape, it’s important to keep in mind the maintenance requirements of different plants. Some may require more frequent pruning or watering than others, and some may be more prone to pests or diseases. Make sure to choose plants with a texture that fits your needs and lifestyle.
Texture is a great way to add depth and dimension to your landscape, so be sure to incorporate it into your next gardening project! By walking through your garden with a designer eye, you can identify areas where more texture would be beneficial. Then, simply add a few carefully selected plants and hardscape materials to transform your garden into a stunning work of art.
Form
Landscaping involves modifying the natural features of an outdoor space to make it more attractive and functional. It can include planting trees and shrubs, adding decorative elements such as rocks and water features, and creating outdoor living spaces like patios and walkways. The goal is to create a balanced and harmonious design that incorporates the five basic design principles: line, form, texture, color, and scale.
In landscape design, lines create a framework for the entire project and determine the style of the yard. They can be straight or curved and can create focal points and guide the eye throughout the space. For example, a symmetrical Federal style home may look best with straight lines that lead to the front door, while rounded lines and plant beds can provide a more informal look.
The shape of plants and hardscapes is another element that influences the overall form of the landscape. Rounded, freeform shapes are often favored in casual landscaping, while formal gardens tend to feature upright, trimmed plants with more structured forms.
Form can also be defined by the size of objects. Larger objects are more dominant and have more visual weight, while smaller objects are less noticeable. Form is an important consideration when designing a landscape, as it helps establish the overall tone of the garden and defines spaces.
When choosing form, it is important to consider how the landscape will look in different seasons. Brighter summer sun can make colors appear more saturated and intense, while the filtered light of winter can cause them to appear more subdued. It is also helpful to think about how a landscape will be used, as this can influence the choice of colors and plant types.
Texture is a key element in landscape design, as it provides contrast and adds dimension to the yard. The texture of plants is determined by their leaves and bark, while the surface of hardscapes can be created through the use of materials such as pavers or stone. Texture can be used to create unity and harmony in a landscape by providing balance, proportion, and rhythm.
Lines
Lines are one of the most fundamental components of landscape design and actively shape movement and layout within a space. Lines can take on many forms, from the edge of a plant bed to the outline of a structure like a fence. They also provide form and structure, frame views, and work to direct our attention. Often, lines are created by the intersection of different materials and can be thick, thin, curved, diagonal, or straight.
The type of lines you use will depend on the style you want to achieve. Straight lines have a formal, forceful character and are associated with symmetrical balance. Curved lines are more natural and relaxed, and can be used to create a sense of mystery by concealing views around corners. Meandering lines have a natural, flowing form and work well for pathways, plant bedlines, and dry stream beds. These lines can also be created by combining organic edges, such as those found in rock gardens and short hedges, with purposely designed hardscape transitions.
Horizontal lines move the eye along the ground plane and can make a garden feel larger or help to connect spaces. These lines can be created by tall structural plants, such as trees and arbors, or low lines, such as walk paths, edging with rocks and plants, or the simple lines between turf and plantings.
Color can also create lines, but it is important to understand that this effect is temporary and should be used to highlight more enduring elements of the landscape. For example, a bright, saturated color may draw the eye and highlight an area in summer, but that same color may look subdued in winter with the filtered light of the surrounding trees.
Color
Color is one of the most important tricks in a gardener’s toolbox. It can unify a garden, make a focal point pop, draw attention to a feature or create depth. Color can also make a small garden feel larger or a large space feel cozy.
Incorporating color into a landscape design is easier when you and your landscape designer consider a few basic principles. First, look to the color wheel to identify complementary colors – those found on opposite sides of the wheel from each other. Colors like yellow and purple pair well, as do red and blue. Alternatively, you could use analogous colors, which are those found next to each other on the wheel. These color schemes are visually harmonious, and can be warm or cool.
Next, think about how different shades of a particular color impact your design. Tints (created by adding white) and shades (created by adding black) are more subtle than pure colors, and can have just as much of an impact on your design. For example, a pink rose is a tint of red, while the more intense purple of hydrangeas is a shade of purple.
Lastly, don’t be afraid to try a monochromatic color scheme. By using tints and shades of a single color, you can have more control over the amount of variety in your garden. For example, instead of planting a variety of lavender and pink flowers in your garden, choose a single color that you love and incorporate it throughout the garden in different shades.
A well-designed garden is a great way to improve the beauty of your home and increase its value. By keeping these simple principles in mind, you can help your landscape designer create a design that will make your property and life more beautiful and enjoyable.