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Landscape Tips and Ideas
The Basic Principles Of Landscape Design
Whether you plan on "borrowing ideas" or plan on creating your own landscaping design, you should have at the very least a basic understanding of the principles of landscape design.
This doesn't mean that you have to apply every principle to every part of your plan. But just having an understanding of these principles will help you generate ideas and increase your creativity.
Great landscaping lies in the eyes of the its creator. So, while the principles of landscape design are great guidelines to follow, don't feel like they're the "have to rules" of landscaping. Abstract and creativity are allowed.
Unity should be one of your main goals in your design. It may be better understood and applied as consistency and repetition. Repetition creates unity by repeating alike elements like plants, plant groups, or decor throughout the landscape. Consistency creates unity in the sense that some or all of the different elements of the landscape fit together to create a whole.
Unity can be achieved by the consistency of character of elements in the design. By character, I mean the height, size, texture, color schemes, etc. of different elements.
A good example would be in the use of accent boulders. If you've ever seen a landscape design that had one large white round boulder here and another large red square granite boulder there and so on, then you've seen that unity wasn't created by this specific element.
This is just one example but the principle applies to all other elements such as groups of plants and materials.
A simple way to create unity in your landscape is by creating themes. And one of the simplest ways to create themes is by using a little garden decor or garden statues. Creating a theme garden is easier when it's related to something you're interested in or have a passion for.
If you're into butterflies for instance, you could create a theme using plants that attract butterflies as well as using statues, ornaments, and other decor that are related to butterflies.
Unity should be expressed through at least one element in your landscape and preferably more. Using elements to express a main idea through consistent style and a specific theme is what creates harmony.
Simplicity is actually one of the principles in design and art. It's one of the best guidelines you can follow as a beginner or do it yourselfer. Just keep things simple to begin with. You can do more later.
Simplicity in planting, for instance, would be to pick two or three colors and repeat them throughout the garden or landscape. Keeping decor to a minimum and within a specific theme as well as keeping hardscapes such as boulders consistent is also practicing simplicity.
Balance in design is just as the word implies. Equality. There are basically two types of balance in landscape design. Symmetrical and Asymmetrical.
Symmetrical balance is where there are more or less equally spaced matching elements of the garden design. With a garden equally divided, both sides could share the same shape, form, plant height, plant groupings, colors, bed shapes, theme, etc.
You may remember creating something like this when you were a kid in art class at school. Where you take a piece of paper, splash paint on it, fold it in half, unfold it, and then it magically creates an interesting symmetrical design. So symmetrical balance or design is somewhat of a mirror image or reflection.
Asymmetrical balance on the other hand is one of the principles of landscape design that's a little more complex. While textures, forms, colors, etc. may remain constant to create some unity, shapes and hardscapes may be more random. This form of balance often has separate or different themes with each having an equal but different type of attraction.
A good example of this would be where bed shapes or paths differ on both sides of the dividing line. One side could be curvy with a sense of flow while the other side is straight, direct, and hard.
This can also create a neat contrast. Flowing lines are pleasing to the eye but the bold contrast of a curve with a straight line can be very interesting.
Asymmetrical balance isn't necessarily limited to just the shape of your garden.
An example might be where one side of the garden is mostly large shade trees while the other side is predominately a lower growing flower garden or even a mix of both examples. This is only limited to your imagination.
Contrast and harmony can also be achieved using plants. Fine foliage verses coarser foliage, round leaves verses spiked leaves as well as color compliments and contrasts.
Plant height, color, and texture may be varied from one area to the next but each area should stay consistent within its own theme.
You'll hear me talk about "themes" a lot. Many successful do it yourself designs follow a basic theme to achieve most of the principles of landscape design described on this page. The proper use of plants and garden decor or a mix of both is a simple way to achieve themes.
Color adds the dimension of real life and interest to the landscape. Bright colors like reds, yellows and oranges seem to advance toward you and can actually make an object seem closer to you. Cool colors like greens, blues, and pastels seem to move away from you and can make an object seem farther from you.
Grays, blacks, and whites are considered neutral colors and are best used in the background with bright colors in the foreground. However, to increase depth in a landscape, you can use dark and coarse textured plants in the foreground and use fine textured and light colored plants in the background.
Colors can also be used to direct your attention to a specific area of the garden. A bright display among cooler colors would naturally catch the eye. Natural transition can be applied to avoid radical or abrupt changes in your landscape design. Transition is basically gradual change. It can best be illustrated in terms of plant height or color but can also be applied to all elements in the landscape including but not limited to textures, foliage shape or size, and the size and shape of different elements.
In other words transition can be achieved by the gradual, ascending or descending, arrangement of different elements with varying textures, forms, colors, or sizes.
An example of a good transition would be a stair step effect from large trees to medium trees to shrubs to bedding plants. This example is where a little knowledge of proper plant selection would come in handy.
Transition is one of the principles of landscape design that can be used to "create illusions" in the landscape. For example a transition from taller to shorter plants can give a sense of depth and distance (like in a painting), making the garden seem larger than it really is. A transition from shorter to taller plants could be used to frame a focal point to make it stand out and seem closer than it really is.
Line is of the more structural principles of landscape design. It can mostly be related to the way beds, walkways, and entryways move and flow.
Straight lines are forceful and direct while curvy lines have a more natural, gentle, flowing effect.
Proportion simply refers to the size of elements in relation to each other. Of all the principles of landscape design, this one is quite obvious but still requires a little thought and planning. Most of the elements in landscape design can be intentionally planned to meet the proper proportions.
For instance if you are creating a small courtyard garden, an enormous seven foot garden statue placed in the center would be way out of proportion and a little tacky to say the least. Or a small four foot waterfall and pond placed in the center of a large open yard would get lost in the expanse.
Don't misunderstand this to mean that if you have a large yard you can't have smaller features or garden decor. Proportion is relative and elements can be scaled to fit by creating different rooms in the garden. The goal is to create a pleasing relationship among the three dimensions of length, breadth, and depth or height.
A small water feature can be proportionate if placed in a corner or on the edge of a large area and becomes a focal point of the larger area while creating its own distinct atmosphere. An entire room, sitting area, or theme can be created around it. Other rooms and themes can be created as well. See small gardens for ideas on creating rooms and creating illusions.
Also, special consideration and study should be given to proper plant selection to avoid using plants that are out of proportion.
Repetition is directly related to unity. Its good to have a variety of elements and forms in the garden but repeating these elements gives variety expression.
Unity is achieved by repeating objects or elements that are alike. Too many unrelated objects can make the garden look cluttered and unplanned.
There's a fine line here. It's possible that too much of one element can make a garden or landscape feel uninteresting, boring and monotonous.
However, unity can still be created by using several different elements repeatedly. This in turn keeps the garden interesting.
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how does hinduism affect the cultural landscape?
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has anyone read Insergent by veronica roth?
has anyone read Insergent by veronica roth?
ok... i'm pretty sure no one is going to help me with this but you never know...;)
i have to write a quiz of this book and cannot for the life of me find the page number (even chapter or any general idea of when or where it happend whould be a GREAT help) that tobias talks about his fear landscape changing... help?
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the genesee river and the susquehanna river flows mostly through which landscape region?
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How do i create a pdf file in landscape mode from a txt file?
it always seems to come out in portrait mode.
Acrobat 6 pro.
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What plants should I line my driveway with?
I have a pretty small cement driveway, probably not much longer than 25 feet. For my next landscaping project, I want to a few feet of grass on each side, and put some plants to line the driveway. I want something that will look neat, but nice.
I am in Cincinnati, so that is zone 6. The summers are long and hot, but the winters can be cold with ice, and temperatures get below freezing often (but rarely do they go below 30 F for any extended period).
First I was thinking those long, grassy bushes that stick up. I like how they look, kind of relaxing and tropical. Then I thought maybe some flowers for color - tulips, or lillies perhaps. Something perennial though. Not sure what else I could plant there...don't want anything high, no more than a couple of feet. Maybe I could alternate between a grassy bush and a flower, spaced nicely.
Any ideas would be welcome...thanks!
Don't sunflowers grow pretty high though? I'd like something shorter, preferably 1-2 feet.
Ah I forgot to mention, it'll be in the full, hot afternoon sun. Not sure how well hostas will do, and also I planned on planting a bunch of hostas in my back yard against the fence since it's shady and not much will grow there. I'm not sure how well hostas grow in full sunlight or if they make different varieties for full sun.
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I need some help with this landscaping math problem?
The question says Cadance is planning to tile a bathroom floor that is 8 feet long and 6 feet wide.
She determined that 1 tile will be needed for each 4-inch-by inch region. What is the minimum number of tiles needed to completely cover the floor to it's edges.
I need to know how to get the answer too. Thankyou for your help everyone.
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REBECCA NIVEL BY DAPNE DU MARIER?
note examples of each trait: you can note it with a quote or some part of the novel
Extreme weather or storms,
Common image: black or darkness,
Old castle or mansion with passages, crypts, or dark hallways,
Common image: shadows,
Passionate emotions
Common image: Decay
A circular story that begins where it ends
Mysterious setting that has a personality of its own
Common image: wild, overgrown plants
Common image: moon or moonlight
Rational or scientific explanation of the supernatural
Common image: mist or fog
Helpless female character who needs to be rescued
A curse
Mystery
Landscape of dense forest, rugged mountains, or rough seas
Monsters
anything helps even one of the above it doesn't matter, but.... if you are not gonna help don't answer anything!
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I'm looking for a good Tumblr Blog to follow!?
I like sports, comedy, cats, music, landscapes and space!
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should I approach the landlord about this or is this a big deal?
So we have assigned parking in the blgs, 1 spot per unit. The past 4 days I come home from work at 6pm and the landlord himself has been parked in my assigned spot. Hes been doing maintence cleaning and landscaping and stuff outside which I appreciate him keeping the blding up. But he never asked or mentioned he was going to be using my spot. He leaves at 8:30pm or so. I dont know how long this will be going on.
The thing that bothers me si that there is no street parking, so I have to park 1.5 blocks down AND then on that block there is no parking between 8am and 6pm so I HAVE to go out and move my car when he leaves at 9pm because I leave for work way after 8am the next morning so I would get a ticket. Its annoying because at 9pm I am relaxing after work, mayve have people over, sometimes getting ready for bed early, and then I gotta move the car.
AND this is just after he posted a big sign about only parking in our ASSIGNED spots, no exceptions. I just dont want to feel stupid if I say soemthing because Id ont know if this is normal, this is his blding afterall, and this is my first apt....
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Which cameras are better? nikkon or cannon?
So im basically goin to start photography and im planning to get a camera, but i dont really know which brand, i want to take pictures of me and also landscapes and stuff like that. I want one with high quality and self timer. Omg please help me.
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How have gender roles defined the landscape of our nation?s history?
To what extent have gender roles changed and why? What impacts have these changes had on the structure of our nation? As gender roles continue to shift, what might that mean for the infrastructure of our society?
No. I have not seen that movie.
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Which logo do you like better for my landscaping business?
sorry, messed up the last one. it should work this time..
Logo 1 (lowercase)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78399208@N02/7213338394/in/photostream
Logo 1 (uppercase)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78399208@N02/7213338358/in/photostream
Logo 2
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78399208@N02/7213338278/in/photostream
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I am an amateur photographer, i now wish to purchase a SLR i usually shoot outdoor scenic landscapes and trave?
I am an amateur photographer, i now wish to purchase a SLR i usually shoot outdoor scenic landscapes and travel through the world. please suggest a camera. M budget is within 30,000 INR.also suggest Zoom lenses too. THanks in Advance!
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Please have a look at the short story I wrote and correct errors and opinions?
She had waited for five days. She had been crouched under a barren, dried tree, something she can rely her back on. The tree was on the top of a hill, and she could see better from the hill. Above her head was grey, murky sky which shaded the landscape into monotone. Down the hill, hardened and lifeless plane reached over the horizon. The chilling temperature numbed and was slowly wearing out her body. She could not feel coldness anymore. Her parents had taken her here five days ago and made her to wait them, promising that they would come back. So, she waited. Although she was scared alone in darkness and cried when chilling winds froze her body on night, she waited. Even though gnawing worries that they would not come back kept bothering her, she believed in them and waited. After five days from then, the thoughts did not trouble her anymore; she was exhausted and her mind sought rest. She looked on the sky again. The sky was dark as the sun slowly started to set below the horizon. Although the sun never shone through thick clouds and gave warmth, its presence always reminded her of her parents' promise. She prayed for the sun to stay with her, but as it has been doing for billions of years, it set and hid under the horizon.
In the middle of darkness, snow gently started to fall. She was very tired by then, and her body kept demanding her a very long sleep. She cupped her hands and let snow fall into her hands. As the snowflakes melted into her hands, she felt warmth, which she has never felt for few days. She remembered the time when her mother and father were around her. She was running along the field blithely, and when she looked behind, they gave her a pleasant smile and wavered to her from distance. However, now, her parents in the memory seemed distant, as if they would fade away. She never opened her eyes because she was afraid that they would disappear from her if she opened her eyes. She knew what would be out there if she opened her eyes: an emptiness. Her mind was slowly getting blurry, and her consciousness sank to the bottom and bottom, until she fell into sleep. She never woke up. She had traces of tears along her cheeks and her body did not contain any warmth, but, she was smiling pleasantly.
I am ESL student and wrote this story to practice writing more descriptively. Comment me about how was it, any errors or wrong descriptive word or phrase usages.
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surfing south wales anyone?
I'm looking for a nice place for a surfing weekend in south wales. Can anyone tell me more about Llangennith? We are looking for a place not too crowded, with a nice landscape and good surfing spots. Also where can i get info to find a place to stay and have fun in the evening?
Thanks
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