A Professional Landscape Designer can transform energy in the living spaces.

Professional landscaper will always adhere to the key principles of landscape design. These principles include unity, scale, balance, simplicity, variety, emphasis and order when in line, form, texture and color.  Landscape design consists of developing practical and pleasing outdoor living space. A landscape designer uses variety of elements from trees, plants, shrubs; water, soil, elevation etc when designing a landscape.  A landscaper often collaborates with related disciplines like architecture, geography, civil engineering, surveying, botany and artisanship. Historically the professionals in this section were called Landscape gardeners. 1990 saw creation of a distinct classification — Landscape architect. Institutional education appeared in early 20^th century and was included in various ornamental horticultural programs with design components. Traditionally hand drawn documentation was done to design and position the features of construction in a landscape. Now it’s increasingly done using landscape design software. Landscape designer is not a college degree and it’s a expertise earned by years of experience and wide range of sophistication, aesthetic talent, technical expertise and strengths that may be responsibly matched with specific client and project requirements.

Lines connect and define the space

Lines are good elements that define rooms and make people connect to the landscape. You would rather use bold lines and curves rather than small zigzag and wavy curves for a professional touch.

Form Includes the Three-Dimensional Mass

When it comes to form, it can be determined by lines, direction and arrangement of branches and twigs. Mass then influences the scale.

Here are three-dimensional forms of mass:

• Horizontal and spreading: it makes the area look spacious because it is wide and also makes it look more attractive.
• Rounded forms: this is usually common in plants. This form creates a pleasant undulation that leads the plants to group around it. It also allows eyes to move freely.
• Vase shaped form: this creates space beneath the canopy. The space helps people to pass through or helps to place other designs. This form also makes the place to look very nice when observing with your naked eyes. It is also a unique design to many people.
• Weeping forms: Weeping forms are helpful in leading the eyes to the ground and a little detail just beneath the weeping plants often becomes a focal point.
• Pyramidal: Pyramidal forms direct the eyes upwards and are particularly helpful in shielding the lower background or creating focal point on the upper side-like the building in the background. Grouping the pyramidal trees helps in softening the upward influence.

Texture

Texture is a key consideration in well-planned landscapes. If you want to create the most ideal atmosphere, you must ensure that you have the right plants which will portray just the right texture, when planted in one large mass.

Generally, the texture could either be thick, medium or light, depending on the type of foliage and twigs that grow. This means that the best way to determine right texture is by having in-depth knowledge of different types of plants. Close up texture differs from a distance and needs to be carefully assessed for a required effect. Close up; the texture comes from the size and shapes of the leaves, size of twigs, colors and shading and the gloss of dullness of the leaves, while from a distance the texture is derived from entire mass effect and quality of light and shadow generated from the plants.

Only an expert can understand which plant can grow with particular features. This would include the size of the plant when fully grown and all other features, including leaves, flowers and twigs.

Color

Colors are needed to be chosen wisely as per the story line to emphasize the mood desired. A design theme needs to go with the right colors.

Cool colors – Green, blue, purple or warm colors like red, orange, Yellow. Former is considered restful and suggests distance and low scale while the former is cheerful and stimulating asking to step forward and has a high scale.

If you want the perfect landscape, you must consider the overall color that will be created. Just as with the texture of your planting, you must know exactly which type of plants to grow. There are some plants which also change color during the course of their growth. This too must be factored in.

A cool and soothing atmosphere would need a lot of deep greens and darker flower shades as compared to an inspiring and exciting area that features reds, yellows and pinks.

What do colors generally signify in landscaping?

Red – Passion, Courage, Power, Wealth, Motivation, Fame

Yellow – Joy, Happiness, Inspiration, Sunshine, Optimism

Blue – Imagination, Calm, Serenity, Relaxation, Compassion, Reflection

Green – Harmony, Beginnings, Prosperity, Nature, Growth, Healing

Orange – Enthusiasm, Joy, Exuberance, Interaction, Fun, Captivation, Sex

Purple – Intuition, Devotion, Respect, Peace, Spirituality, Awareness, Royalty

White – Purity, Innocence, Faith, Benevolence, Honesty, Grace

Pink – Love, Sweetness, Uplifting, Happiness, Tenderness, Enticement

Scale

A truly functional landscape would not stand out oddly from its surroundings. This also means planting trees and shrubs that are proportional in size to the building nearby. The plants must not be too big or too small such that they contrast with the buildings or living spaces. Absolute and relative scaling is used to create a favorable sense of size either charging the area emotionally with closely linked colors or creating a feeling of relaxation and peacefulness.

Low scales are used to relax and calm home landscapes which gives a feeling of peace and relaxation. On the other hand if spaces are large high scale in small spaces, it makes the space feel smaller and induces action.

Balance

A formal balance repeats the same on left and right giving a sense of stability but involves high maintenance effort to keep them looking similar. An informal balance differs from left to right generating curiosity. However and effort is needed to maintain the left and right masses.

Simplicity, Variety, Emphasis and sequence are other parameters that form integral part of landscape design. The intent is to generate an environment that complies with the storyline, justifies the space needed, creates a mood to go with living space and adds to the beauty and enhances curb value of the property.

When fully catered for, all these principles of good landscape design will give you the best results. Obviously, that would mean hiring only professionals.