A lot of beautiful homes are surrounded by landscaping that is pleasant enough, even beautiful from certain vantage points at certain times of the day or year. But “pleasant enough” at certain times is not the goal of landscape design. Proper landscaping will add value and curb appeal every day of the year regardless of weather or the time of day. Achieving this type of all-round success is often just a matter of tweaking a few aspects of what you currently have, rather than tearing everything up and starting over. Below are 5 tips that will help you do just that.
Make Your Landscaping Click by Following These Tips
If your current landscape in not working the way you hoped it would consider making one or two adjustments from the following list:
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1. Use Walkways to Create Flow
- If you have two backyard social centres - let’s say, a patio and an inground pool - that are separated by the lawn it’s time to build a walkway and tie the two spaces together. An effective landscape design is a model of unity. Every aspect of the property feeds off of, informs and works in some way with every other aspect. If social centres are isolated from one another there is no visual or physical harmony. No flow. Just make sure that you incorporate material in the walkway that complements other materials on the property, such as flagstone or pavers.
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2. Water Features Should Look Like They Belong
All too often water features clash with, rather than complement, the homes they accompany. The materials and lines involved seem like they were chosen at random. This should never be the case. A water feature should look like it has always been there. Like it’s a natural extension of other landscape features. So, before building a water feature take stock of the area. Note the colours and textures, the type of rocks (if any) that naturally occur on the property along with surrounding plant life. How will the new feature interact with the sun? Are there any materials in the home that could or should be incorporated? Again, as with the walkway, we’re creating harmony. Not just adding stuff.-
3. Put Away the Straight Edge
When it comes to design there is one fundamental difference between nature and humans: nature doesn’t use straight lines. If the landscaping on your property is intended to have a ‘natural’ look and yet walkways, gardens and flower beds have straight line borders it’s going to create visual dissonance. You may have chosen all the right plants for your rustic landscape but they won’t be able to shine if they’re boxed in with straight lines. Break things up. Install some nice curvy edges. Make the path snake its way across the yard and break up the hard edge of the path with low plants and flowers.-
4. Create a Seating Area
We talked earlier about the need to tie social spaces together. But if your landscape is wanting for places where humans can interact with it you’d do well to create some. A patio is a great way to start. It can be right outside the back door or it can be separated a bit from the house. Erecting a trellis on one side for Morning Glory will turn the patio into your new favourite place to enjoy your morning coffee. If you have a walkway on the property create a discrete area along the path for a bench which faces a particularly beautiful aspect of the yard.-
5. Create a Gateway Between Spaces
Adding a pergola over the patio will really bring it to life and establish it as a place of rest and relaxation. But you can also use a pergola as a gateway which defines the transition between one part of the yard and another. This type of gateway can infuse hum-drum landscaping with drama and mystery. It doesn’t have to be a pergola either. It can be a simple arched garden arbour covered with vining plants.
If your landscape isn’t clicking the way you hoped it would it might just be a matter of tweaking things a bit rather than starting over. The above tips should help you get more from your yard without breaking your bank. For more information you can consult your landscape contractor to advice you better.
