A well-designed landscape can improve the value of your property. It can also provide an ambiance that promotes wellness. Studies show that spending time in green spaces boosts mood and reduces stress.

Florence Landscaping can also save you money on water bills. Clever techniques include drip irrigation and rain barrels.

Color plays a critical role in the overall design of your landscape. It can draw attention to focal points, create balance and harmony, evoke feelings, and define space. It’s important to understand how colors relate, so you and your designer can develop a color palette for your landscaping. Like a painter’s palette, this contains all the colors you will use throughout your project to ensure that everything is coordinated.

The dominant color in most plants is green, which is found in the foliage and bark of trees, shrubs, flowers, and ground cover. Color is also reflected in the colors of hardscape elements such as pavers, bricks, gravel, wood and concrete. The colors of the house, doors and windows, as well as the surrounding environment can influence the color choices you make for your landscape.

There are three properties of color: hue, value and intensity. Hue is the relative purity of a color. For example, yellow roses are a lighter hue than purple penstemon. A color’s value is determined by its proximity to white. For example, a canary yellow rose is a lighter shade of yellow than a deep purple dahlia. Intensity is a color’s strength or brightness. Bright, saturated colors are often attention-getters, but they can be too intense for some landscapes.

Color is not the first consideration in a good landscape design. Solving functional needs, establishing activity areas, circulation patterns and defining the use of the space should be the primary concern before considering color. However, once these elements are in place, color can be used to enhance the landscape and create a more enjoyable living experience. A beautiful landscape can even improve the resale value of your home.

Form

The form of a landscape is the shape and size of its elements. It is important that the scale of all features and plants are considered to produce a balanced look. This includes the heights of trees and shrubs, the sizes of flowers and other plants and even the sizes of hardscaped areas like patios and walkways.

Lines, in the form of straight, curved or diagonal lines, are another fundamental aspect of form in the landscape. Lines are used to guide the eye to a desired point, draw attention away from unwanted areas or combine with other forms to create planes and volume in the landscape.

Circles are another form in the landscape that is used for its strong, recognizable impact. Circles can be a full circle, or they can be divided into segmented circles, arcs and tangents to add more interest and complexity to a design. Circles can be used for both hardscape and softscape to connect and create a focal point in the landscape.

Texture is the roughness or smoothness of surfaces in a landscape. This can be perceived mainly by touch but is also visible to the eyes. Texture can be found in the surface of earth, whether it is fine sand or silt, coarse clods, gravel or boulders, as well as the surfaces of buildings, glass and concrete. Plants also have texture in their leaf shapes, stems and bark.

Form, along with color and texture, are the most recognizable aspects of the landscape. These are the most obvious ways in which we can manipulate a garden to create the ambiance we desire. Rectilinear shapes feel structured and formal, while circles are soft and free, and irregular forms are casual and relaxed. Form can also be used to highlight a focal point in the landscape by grouping plants or structures together into a mass, which has its own impact.

Lines

Whether vertical, horizontal, diagonal or curved, lines in the landscape communicate direction and movement. The use of line is a fundamental element in composition, and can be used to draw the eye through the space or to emphasize particular features or elements within the landscape.

Often, landscape designers will use lines to frame views and limit or open them up. For example, a tall tree or a structure like an arbor can be used to draw the eye upward and accentuate a view or create a sense of enclosure. Conversely, a low garden wall or hedges can be used to define the ground plane and spatially tie everything together.

Straight lines, especially when paired with a symmetrical arrangement, can communicate a strong, forceful attitude. They move the eye to a focal point with no meandering or distraction, making them ideal for formal designs. However, even straight lines can be softened with sweeping curved edges or clusters of plantings that repeat patterns.

Curved lines mimic nature and can add a relaxing, natural feel to the landscape. They move the eye at a slower pace, inviting the viewer to pause and savor the experience of the landscape. They work well for pathways, plant bed lines, and dry creek beds or intentionally created on hardscaping elements such as retaining walls.

Diagonal lines can also add a dynamic, energetic feeling to the landscape. They can draw the eye to a focal point with a twist, adding interest and intrigue to the design. They can also work to break up a long, straight pathway or garden path into smaller “pause points” that encourage exploration and engagement with the landscape.

Texture

Unlike color, texture is less dynamic and tends to fade with time, but it provides a crucial element for landscape design. It’s also a highly adaptable element and can be used to add contrast or create depth. Whether it’s the rough surface of stones or pavers, the fine outlines of plant foliage or the soft touch of rose petals, textures are key to adding interest and avoiding monotony in your landscape.

Plants come in various shapes, sizes and colors to add different texture and appearances to the garden. Even their leaf shape can offer texture – large broad leaves create a coarse feeling, while narrow leaves create a more fine arrangement. Grasses are a popular way to add texture to the landscape. They are easy to grow and can bring surface color, density and dimension to the garden.

Lines also contribute to a landscape’s texture. Whether it’s a perceived line or a physical path, lines naturally direct the eye across your landscape and help establish focal points.

Texture can also be used to create a sense of distance. Coarse textured plants placed closest to the observer create a more intimate setting, while placing medium and fine-textured arrangements in the background can make a garden feel larger.

It’s important to carefully select plants with regards to their texture and maintenance requirements. Consider the soil condition in your yard, typical weather conditions and the amount of water it receives. This will ensure that your plants thrive and avoid over- or underuse of resources. A landscape expert can advise you of the best plant selections for your unique site conditions. They can also advise you of the proper maintenance requirements for your plants to maximize their appeal and long-term health.

Year-Round Interest

Year-round interest is an essential element of a well-designed landscape. By designing a garden with a mix of blooming plants that come to life in different seasons, along with evergreens for winter interest, you can create an inviting outdoor space that will stand out throughout the year.

Spring brings flowers like tulips, daffodils and iris that offer a beautiful carpet of color. Summer blooming perennials like roses, clematis and lilyturfa provide bright colors that linger in the heat of the season. Plants like hydrangeas, perennials and shrubs that flower over several times or have extended bloom periods can provide a continual source of beauty in the garden.

When it comes to year round landscaping, it is also important to look at trees and shrubs that offer unique textures. Weeping varieties of crabapples, willows and peashrubs add drama to the landscape with their unique branch structure, even when they are bare in winter. Plants with interesting barks such as the silver birch, Paperback Maple or Acer Driseum provide texture and contrast to the garden.

Lastly, consider the ground covers and a wide variety of ornamental grasses that provide movement, coverage and texture to the landscape throughout the year. Plants with berries, unique seed pods and foliage color like the sedges, Fountaingrass or Maiden grass can add that last touch of interest to the garden.

Another important consideration in year-round landscaping is hardscaping. Pathways, water features, retaining walls and other hardscape elements provide structure to the garden and make it more functional during the winter when many herbaceous plants are dormant. Creating a garden that is appealing in all seasons requires thoughtful planning and attention to detail. It is vital to understand your local climate and choose plants that are both beautiful and durable and work with the natural cycle of the garden.