Professional landscapers work with a variety of different professionals—from engineers to horticulturists—to bring their design vision to life. They often combine hardscape (patios, walkways, retaining walls) and softscape (plants) elements.

Grass is the most common yard plant in America, but xeriscaping is becoming increasingly popular in response to drought conditions. Landscaping increases property value and provides environmental benefits, including improved air quality and reduced energy costs. Contact Oceanic Landscaping for professional help.

Color is a critical element in landscape design. It can help create depth and excitement by evoking emotions. It can also be used to emphasize an object or create a focal point. For example, warm colors like red and yellow create excitement while blues and greens provide tranquility.

Another important aspect of color is unity. When creating your landscape, make sure everything flows together and doesn’t look like it was pieced together at random. This can be accomplished by using colors that are repeated throughout the garden, or by incorporating similar colors in pathways, patios, and other hardscape elements.

Saturated colors are increasingly being used in urban and landscape design, especially for branding purposes. This paper presents a social semiotic reading of these saturated colors, based on Kress and Van Leeuwen’s model of social communication. The analysis shows that the dramatic rise of saturation in these projects reflects a shift in social motivations.

Form

As the ‘bones’ of a landscape, form defines its structure and provides a framework that unites and highlights other design elements. It is often a combination of plant and hardscape forms that creates a landscape’s shape. For example, a formal garden may feature rounded shrubs and trees while an informal garden will include more free-form shapes. Form can also be achieved with hardscape features such as stone paths and retaining walls.

Line, like shape, sets the overall tone for a garden and is one of the most important aspects of form. Straight lines can feel rigid and formal, while curved lines are gentle and natural. It is essential to keep line in mind when shaping beds and paths, as well as when choosing hardscape elements such as fences and walkways.

Form is an important element because it is what gives the garden its enduring character and enables you to define spaces within your yard. It is a key component of the composition and helps create balance with other forms, colors and textures.

While most people think of shape when discussing form, it is important to note that shape and form are not the same. Shape illustrates a two-dimensional aspect of the object, while form reflects its three-dimensional quality and how it is perceived by the eye. For example, a tree can have a round or oval shape, while its form may be defined by its height and how it grows over time.

Texture describes how something feels when you touch it, from smooth to rough, coarse to fine. Adding texture to a garden evokes emotion and provides contrast that prevents monotony. For example, the spiky texture of a yucca plant can create a dramatic contrast with the soft, feathery fronds of a ornamental grass or the rounded, textured look of a boxwood hedge.

Form, color and texture are enduring characteristics of a landscape that provide beauty and function year-round. Using these characteristics in harmony with your site’s needs allows you to create a unique space that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing.

Lines

The arrangement of plant forms and hardscape elements creates lines that shape the landscape design composition, direct movement, frame views, define spaces and tie together elements of the garden. Understanding how these guiding forces work is fundamental to crafting an integrated design that’s both beautiful and functional. Lines can be real (actual) or perceived (implied). In the latter, they are created when a series of objects are organized in such a way that they influence our perception of a space by drawing attention and directing our focus.

Straight lines, often associated with symmetry and structure, contribute to the formal nature of a garden by directing observers to focal points in an orderly fashion without any distractions. They contrast with meandering curved lines that mimic the movement of water and add an organic feel to the garden. The use of these lines creates a visual progression that moves the eye around corners, revealing new plants and viewing angles.

Plants are the most common guiding force, with their unique forms offering the opportunity to create both formal and informal styles. Clustering plants and repeating patterns creates balance and unity within the design, while low edging flowers soften hardscape lines. Planting with flowering perennials that bloom at different times throughout the growing season adds continuous color and draws attention to areas of the garden.

Form is the most visible of all of the design components and it is primarily what people see when looking at a garden. It’s important to consider the shapes of your home and other buildings in your property to guide the form choices you make for the landscape. The lines that extend from your house to the fence are called regulating lines and can be used to establish a strong connection with your property boundaries.

While color tends to be the most visible element of a landscape, it’s important to consider the impact of time of day on how the colors are perceived. Intense sunlight makes hues appear more saturated, while filtered light softens their intensity. Understanding the effects of different lighting on the color palette is important for determining the best hues to incorporate into your garden.

Unity

Unity is a fundamental landscape design principle that transforms your garden from a collection of different plant species and hardscape elements into a seamless, cohesive whole. It’s what makes your landscape sing — and it is the key to creating gardens that feel like home.

Achieving unity requires careful consideration of color, form, texture and material selection. It involves identifying a central theme or style that will act as the foundation of your design, and then applying this theme to all elements in your landscape. Using consistent colors, forms and textures throughout the design helps create a sense of harmony and cohesion that is pleasing to the eye. A well-defined theme can also help guide decisions about plant selection, and provide a guide for how different landscape features (water features, seating areas, hardscapes) should be used.

Using a limited palette of materials is a common way to achieve unity in your landscape, by creating a visual consistency. This can be accomplished by choosing similar types of paving, or limiting the use of different types of masonry. For plants, this can be achieved by using the same type of foliage throughout your garden, or by identifying signature plant combinations and using them consistently.

Another important aspect of unity is balance — the use of symmetry or asymmetry to create proportion and scale. For example, using large focal plants to anchor your design can help create a sense of balance, while adding small accents throughout the landscape can add depth and dimension. Rhythm is another way to create a sense of balance, and can be achieved by using repetition with progression, or varying the size and shape of your hardscape elements.

Unity is essential to landscape design, but it is important to balance it with variety — remember, the goal is to create a balanced and inviting garden. If you focus too much on unity, your garden may end up feeling boring and monotonous. On the other hand, if you overuse variety, your landscape may feel chaotic and disjointed.