A landscape garden can be a challenging thing to create as it involves a whole lot of planning, expertise and patience to achieve outstanding results. A landscaping job on your garden enhances its aesthetics and makes your garden look professionally done up. Nature can be soothing and can act as a lovely way for you to rejuvenate your senses. Having a beautiful landscape in your very own garden lets you create your own space, a little place where you can get away from it all and just take in the natural surroundings. It can be your very own sanctuary and you can decorate it in many creative ways.
There are some key points that you’d need to keep in mind while creating a landscape garden, and they are as follows –
Color: Colors are known to create various moods and effects. The use of color in your landscape garden depends on the kind of effect you’d like to create. In addition, as the seasons transition one after another, the colors you add to your garden will change as well so you need to keep that in mind. Bright, warm colors like red, orange, magenta, yellow and so on will make things appear closer and generate the mood of excitement, vibrancy and happiness.
Cooler colors like purple, light pink, blue etc generate a feeling of calm and relaxation and they also make spaces look bigger. Other things you might have to consider are how well the colors would go with the color of your house. There are also different color schemes you can use i.e. monochromatic, analogous and complementary. Monochromatic color schemes focus on just one color as the main color to be highlighted whereas analogous color schemes aim to create a sense of flow and unity by using colors that are close to one another on the color wheel are placed next to each other. Finally complementary color schemes allow for lots of experimentation with colors as colors opposite each other on the color wheel are placed next to each other – for example, yellow with purple.
Texture: A mix of different textures in a landscape garden makes for the best way to enhance its overall look. You can get the effect of different textures from plants as well as building materials. Different kinds of foliage make for an interesting effect when grouped together. You can use tree bark, shrubs, flowers and foliage grouped together for great textures. A lot of imagery comes to mind depending on the kind of foliage – fine and spiny foliage reminds one of fir trees while rugged textures have a desert effect.
Line and Form: Lines create structure and order in your landscape garden. For example, vertical lines indicate stability, and horizontal lines create the effect of rest (shown with the tops of trees). A hilly area makes for a diagonal, moving effect and long, winding paths create a curved effect. Straight lines make for a more formal setting. Form refers to the different geometric shapes seen in your landscape garden, created by the hedges, and groups of trees. They should be integrated and merged so that there’s a feeling of harmony and not chaos, and the sizes and shapes should vary. In addition, repetition is another technique which achieves a sense of unity in the garden by repeating a certain species of hedges across the garden.
Sources:
1. Landscape Design Tips and Tricks on myidealgarden.com
2. Landscape Design for Beginners on about.com