What is Landscape Design?

Landscape design is the art and science of organizing the features of a land area for aesthetic or practical purposes. It can be divided into two main components: Hardscape (the un-living elements like pavers) or Soft scape (the live elements like flowers).

These are some of the major concepts in landscape design:

• Unity is harmony
• Balance
• Proportion
• Transition

Unity is when elements are used effectively in a design to communicate a theme. By implementing a consistent design across a landscape, such as through repetition or mass planting, unity can be achieved. White balance refers to the comparison of two landscape segments, unity refers to the whole landscape. Unity is when all elements of a landscape are viewed together in a cohesive theme.

Be consistent in your efforts to achieve unity. Property is the requirement or sense that all components or groups of components within a landscape are proportionate to each other. Properly adjusting the size of each component’s transition is one way to achieve proportion. Abrupt transitions can ruin a landscape’s ability to convey good proportion.

Transition refers to the gradual alteration of basic design elements such as color, scale, and line. Avoid abrupt transitions unless you are trying to achieve a specific effect. If the same color is used in all parts of your yard, it creates a cohesive feeling that allows for smooth transitions.

Sometimes, adding a suitable landscaping element to a large space can make a transition easier. This allows the viewer to break it down into smaller segments. In such cases, one could say that a transition has been made.

Landscape Design is more art than science

Knowing the science behind horticulture is crucial to landscape design because plants are the core of it. However, the field is more an art form than a science. Some decisions may not be based on hard facts, but on personal preferences, intuition, and current consensus. A foundation planting design, for example, is not supported by any hard scientific data. However, many of our contemporaries agree that a gracefully curving design looks better. People believe that a curved foundation planting is better at softening the harsh lines of a house wall.

Because landscape design is more art and less science, it is possible for reasonable people to disagree on what is the best. There are many different opinions and tastes. The following are some examples of these differences:

• Plant choices
• There are many options for hardscape
• Formal vs. casual styles

You might hear, for example, that certain plants are too used in plant selection discussions. Remember that even though the statement sounds authoritative, it is just an opinion.

Hardscape debates often center on the choice of material. For example, if you’re having a fence constructed, would you choose a vinyl fence or a wood fence? This may be more dependent on your emotional preferences than intellectual arguments. When choosing decking materials, do you choose composite or wood? Composites can be very similar to wood. If you are a homeowner who loves wood, the composite deck will remind you that it is not real wood every time you step on it.

People disagree not only about individual components of landscape design in Geelong such as plants and decks but also regarding the overall style. There are two major camps you can fall into when it comes to style: formal landscape design and cottage garden (informal) style. Both landscape designers and landscape architects practice landscape design. To do so, you should know the steps it takes, including education.