Deciding on a landscape design for your Long Island home can be a daunting task, which is why we offer professional consultation to help with every step along the way. We also understand that you want a garden that best expresses your own tastes. For this reason, we’ve compiled a list of pointers to help you decide on the landscape that best suits your needs.
Deciding on a Theme
Deciding on a unifying theme before you begin with your landscaping or hardscaping project will make your choice of material and plants a whole lot easier. Right from the start your options are essentially narrowed down to those within the spectrum of your theme. When deciding on a theme, it will help to take into account existing architectural aspects of your home as well as the surrounding natural or man-made environment. These aspects can be reflected in terms of form, color palette or style.
Creating and Connecting Spaces
When deciding on your landscape design, it may help to think of your garden as consisting of several outdoor rooms. Sectioning off areas of your garden helps to create a sense of intimacy and comfort. These sections or “rooms” are normally partitioned off according to function, i.e. living/eating spaces, swimming area, area for kids, pets etc. Remember to keep sections with related functions close together and incompatible functions, such as outdoor dining areas and pet areas, further apart. These spaces can be separated using trees, flowerbeds, hardscaping or paving and can be connected using paved walkways to allow easy pedestrian flow.
Related: Landscaping Tips for Creating a Relaxing Backyard in Oyster Bay, NY
Highlighting Key Elements
Important sections of your garden can be highlighted using theme-appropriate features such as unique plants, trees or an eye-catching water feature. Gates or other section dividers can also draw the eye towards key areas. A feature reflecting the architectural or color elements of your house will draw the two together, creating flow between indoor and outdoor spaces. And of course, remember the essential: outdoor lighting.
Utilizing Plants
The value of plants in a garden is not only aesthetic. Plants have their practical uses as well. Plants can be used as excellent dividers between sections of your yard or be used along the boundary of your property to create privacy. Larger plants can be used to transform the ambience of your garden by altering the quality of the light, providing shade and even reducing levels of noise pollution. Flowering plants and trees with distinct fragrances can be used to manage unwanted odors (from your compost heap, for example). Planting with function in mind will give you a better idea of which plants to choose, where to place them and create a landscape better suited to your specific requirements.
Appealing to the senses
A sense rich garden is created by covering a wide spectrum of texture, sounds and scents. Texture alone can have a huge impact on how a landscape is perceived. Coarse textures can make a space seem smaller than it actually is and smooth textures have the opposite effect. You can balance this by placing features and plants of contrasting textures together. Pleasing sounds can be introduced by adding a water feature and using plants that appeal to birds. Flowering plants and trees with rich scents will also create a garden pleasing to the nose. When designing your landscape, bear in mind that the sensual properties of your garden will change according to the time of day and season.