You’ve seen those colorful landscapes with lovely fountains and enormous flower gardens on the covers of magazines and Pinterest. Landscape design may seem intimidating, but this article is here to teach you the basics.
“But surely I can put together my own simple landscape design?” you wonder. Designing landscapes is more complicated than it sounds. There’s more involved than adding some lovely plants in your front yard.
While you can accomplish the task solo, we have a few simple landscape design tips to help you on your way. Read on if you’d like to know how to arrange a simple landscape design.
Primary Landscape Design Principles
Every art or skill has its fundamental elements you need to know if you want to learn something new. There are five landscaping principles you should familiarize yourself with:
- Scale: refers to the size relation between close-by components
- Form: refers to the shape and structure of plants and trees
- Texture: refers to plant texture and how it relates to the surrounding flora
- Line: refers to how the landscape arrangement draws the eye
- Color: refers to the combination and integration of colors
All five principles have to come together for your yard to look good.
Scale
When creating a landscape design for the backyard, keep in mind how big everything is in relation to each other. Nothing should look bulky or overly small compared to nearby items.
If you have a fountain or statue, it shouldn’t appear too large or small for the surrounding landscape.
Form
One simple landscape design tip to remember is that shapes invoke feeling. Using different forms in your landscape design helps visitors impress a specific emotion. For example, triangular shapes appear strong.
Triangle-shaped trees can make your yard appear stately and impressive. In contrast, irregular shapes look whimsical and may provide a fun and relaxed ambiance.
Texture
Creating texture is perhaps one of the most interesting simple landscape design ideas. The thing about surface within landscapes is that it’s primarily visual.
Sure, you can touch the plants, but the idea is that things appear textured. A fantastic and easy way to accomplish the appearance of different surfaces is to use a mixture of plants.
A plant’s perceived coarseness or softness provides more variety for your eyes. If you’re having trouble deciding on what plant texture pairs well, visit grassdr.com. You can speak with their landscaping experts for assistance.
Line
“Line” means how your eyes are drawn across your yard. For example, a simple landscape design idea for the front of the house could be bordering your walkway with flowers.
Anything your eyes follow invokes a feeling of movement. Landscapes become less monotonous when you provide focal points to observe.
Color
Perhaps the best simple landscape design for small spaces is coordinating colors. If you understand color theory, you can pack a lot of flair into a relatively tiny area.
If you want your garden to be a meditation space, stick with cool colors like purples and blues. Red and oranges are warmer colors and can appear more welcoming and exciting.
Combining warm and cool colors creates depth and makes a space appear larger. To achieve this “deepness,” start with warmer colors and plant cool-colored flowers and shrubbery near the back of your landscape.
Helpful Simple Landscape Design Tips
Keeping an eye on your landscape’s scaling helps keep everything proportionate and pleasing to the eye. Textures provide visual variety and break up monotonous spaces in your yard.
If you enjoyed these simple landscape design ideas, browse the blog for more helpful tips. We’re sure there are more articles that you’ll enjoy.
