The best way to create a successful landscaping design in Sarasota is to work with a professional landscaping company! However, if you prefer to roll up your sleeves and tackle a property yourself or are just looking to trim some yard maintenance costs, note a few quick suggestions for creating a successful luxury landscape design for your home or commercial facility.
What Are Mass, Form, and Line in Landscaping Design?
Professional landscapers don’t simply toss together random flowers and shrubs but start by planning mass, form, and line. To better understand successful landscaping designs, consider what is meant by each of them and how they’re incorporated into a landscape plan.
What Is Mass In Landscaping?
Mass refers to an object’s overall size, including height, width, and depth. In landscaping, the mass of objects must be balanced and proportionate to the property’s size, adjoining open space, and surrounding objects.
For example, planting a very tall shrub in front of a landscape tree that’s roughly the same size will not allow that tree to stand out and get noticed. The mass or size of the shrub will overpower the tree. On the other hand, planting very small or “ground cover” flowers such as tulips or creeping thyme in front of a landscape tree will allow the tree’s mass to overpower those flowers.
The mass of landscaping objects should also work well with nearby hardscaping, structures, and the property itself. For instance, flowers planted along a sidewalk create a welcoming appearance, but overly large flower bushes can hide that walkway or encroach onto foot traffic.
What Is Form In Landscaping?
The form of landscaping features refers to their overall shape, and these should also be in proportion to surrounding objects and offer eye-catching variety. When at a local nursery or browsing an online catalog, note how various flowers and other vegetation offer different shapes, from rounded flowering bushes to cone-shaped hedges and everything in between!
For successful, attractive landscape design in Sarasota on your property, mix up forms of flowers and other features. Choose a rounded flowering bush to plant in front of a box hedge. Then flat ground covers flowers in front of those bushes as an example. This creates visual appeal and allows each feature to stand out and get noticed.
What Is Line In Landscaping?
Line, as the word implies, refers to the direction of landscaping features. The line is used to create flow along with various features and directs the eye in one direction or another. Various lines can also help break up the look of landscaping details so they don’t become monotonous.
To give you an example of a line and how it can be used to create stunning details, those rows of flowers next to a sidewalk might run all the way up to larger landscaping features next to a home’s entryway, drawing the eye toward those bigger details. Planting flowers in a wavy line in front of your home can break up the look of long outside walls or tall, boxy hedges.
How Do You Use Color and Texture in Landscaping?
As with mass, form, and line, various colors and textures also help create a stunning landscaping design. Different colors help features stand out from one another, while bold shades of red, yellow, and blue can also help draw the eye to various areas of your property.
To use color in your landscaping, opt for contrasting shades between plantings and hardscape features. For instance, if you have a solid panel, white vinyl, or wood fence, avoid planting white roses next to that fence! Choose a bold red rose instead, and then add a lighter color in front of those flowers for lots of contrast.
You might also note how various landscaping plants offer different textures, including fine, medium, and coarse. Most ornamental grasses offer a wonderful texture. Medium-texture plants will usually have larger leaves with soft edges; flowering shrubs will typically offer a medium texture.
Both fine and medium textures are excellent for creating a welcoming feeling around your property. Ornamental grasses, for example, might be placed around a bench, while flowering shrubs along a property’s border ensure a cozy, relaxed look despite the size of those shrubs.
Coarse textures are a bit more unwelcoming, but they can help offset lots of soft shrubs and flowers. Holly plants are an excellent example of a coarse texture, with their pointy leaves and sharp edges! By mixing up coarse textures with soft flowers, your landscaping design will have balance and variety.
What Is The Rule Of 3 In Landscaping?
Things are typically more visually appealing when they appear in odd numbers, and landscaping features are no different! According to Costa Farms, the rule of 3 in landscaping refers to displaying plants in groups of 3 or creating 3 rows or plantings, which breaks up an otherwise monotonous landscaping design. (http://www.costafarms.com/get-growing/news/design-made-easy-use-the-rule-of-three)
Use this rule of 3 when planning your landscaping features. Rather than just one row of shrubs and one row of flowers in front of them, add another row of ground cover flowers in front of that second row of blooms.
This rule of 3 might also be why your flowers or plants seem a bit dull next to your property’s lawn. Add a border of some sort between the flowers and grass to create a group of 3 features. That border will also add visual separation between the flowers and grass, allowing them both to stand out and get noticed!
Simple Mistakes to Avoid With Landscaping
When creating your own landscaping design, note a few mistakes to avoid along the way. These might seem like simple errors, but they can add up to a very unsightly property and landscaping features struggling to thrive.
First, ensure you choose plants and vegetation that will grow on your property! It might seem obvious that you need warm-weather plants for a Sarasota property, for example, but choosing plants and flowers that grow best in cooler weather and fade easily in the heat and sun will mean withered landscaping.
Note, too, if anyone is allergic to certain plantings, and be mindful of flowers that offer an overly strong scent. Pollen, airborne seeds, and pungent smells can mean a very unpleasant outdoor space for certain people, so ensure you choose plantings that won’t irritate anyone’s sinuses.
If you’re still unsure how to plan a successful landscaping design in Sarasota, contact a landscaping company near you. They can create a plan that works for your property, in particular, ensuring you end up with a beautiful, lush outdoor space that you’ll love for years to come.