Just like decorating rooms of your home, garden landscaping takes into account a variety of design elements that will help your outdoors space flow in the most beautiful way. It is not enough to simply plant a few flowers here and there; garden landscape designs that are well planned will be aesthetically pleasing and fully functional. However, when you are gazing upon a vast expanse of dirt, it is hard to imagine how to even begin a garden landscaping project. The first step is to understand the basics of designing the perfect garden, so you can build your own creation from the bottom up.

Elements to Consider

When it comes to basic garden landscaping, there are five factors to consider. The first characteristic is color, which can be determined by the same color wheel that you would use to choose the hues for an indoor room. Primary colors include red, blue and yellow. Secondary colors, green, purple and orange are all combinations of two of the primary colors. Tertiary colors combine one primary and one secondary shade for hues that offer a nearly infinite range for your outdoor decorating pleasure.

The second element important in garden landscaping is form. Form will describe the basic shape of your plants, bushes and trees, and can range from upright, columnar, spreading, weeping or oval. Choosing the right combination of form will create a more attractive design in your garden landscaping. Line is the third characteristic in garden landscape designs, and goes along with form in terms of leading the eye from one place to another. Line is determined by how you group your plants together from both a vertical and a horizontal perspective.

Another factor to consider when creating your garden landscaping is scale. Scale will involve choosing plants that are in direct proportion to one another, although this does not indicate the selections will all be identical in size or height. It may mean setting a wide, spreading bush next to a weeping tree of equal proportion. It can also involve choosing larger plants to fill up a more spacious area and more compact varieties for smaller spaces.

The final element to consider in your garden landscaping is texture. Texture can be defined as the look or feel of an item, and can range from course and rough to smooth and shiny. The best garden landscaping projects will encompass a variety of textures that will add interest to the planting bed. For example, a plant with small, smooth leaves might look lovely planted next to one with large coarse leaves.

Understanding the basic elements of design can be a great asset in your garden landscaping projects. By choosing plants and hardscape based on these characteristics, your outdoor space is destined to be interesting and beautiful.