7 ways to improve landscape design

Updated Jul 22, 2022
Chandler LandscapesChandler Landscapes

Every landscaping company knows that creating a landscape design takes more than just luck.

In fact, it can be a daunting task to establish a landscape design that has one garden bed flowing correctly into another garden bed.

Jay Sifford, a Houzz contributor and garden designer, offered a few tips to Forbes on how to create garden transition in a landscape.

1. Reimagine hardscape and bed lines. Serpentine lines both invoke the imagination and have a relaxing effect upon the mind. In art theory this shape is referred to as the line of beauty. It infuses a composition with vitality, as opposed to straight lines, which signify death or inanimate objects.

2. Repeat key elements. The use of a key element repeated throughout a garden gives it peaceful continuity. This technique is especially effective when the key element crosses over a pathway into the parallel bed, moving the eye back and forth throughout the space.

3. Interject an element to induce transition. Boulders can be used to provide interest and contrast. This gives the designer a natural opportunity to begin something new.

4. Become reacquainted with color flow. Think back to middle school science class. Do you remember learning about Roy G. Biv? This initialism was an easy way to remember natural color flow, the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. This same color flow can create a natural and peaceful transition in the garden.

5. Mix up your materials. In one example, the gravel covering the path leading to the patio is the same color as the bluestone patio, which creates continuity and peaceful transition.

6. Create different levels. Terracing a space can result in both logical and dramatic transitions. The added third dimension allows for more diversity in themes and activities within a confined space.

7. Add a gate. Bold transitions are desirable to make dramatic statements in some cases. Gates can be aesthetically useful when a garden is too predictable and needs to be injected with interest, or when two distinctly different garden spaces adjoin.

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