Landscape design has the ability to do much more than simply enhance the curb appeal of your home. Designing the landscape surrounding your home has many incredible benefits, so it is essential to understand all of the benefits and elements. Whether you are looking to enhance the curb appeal of your home, increase your home’s value, or looking to create a beautiful oasis in your own yard, there is plenty to learn! Keep reading to discover everything you need to know about landscape design.
There are countless advantages associated with designing the landscape surrounding your home. Whether you are trying to increase the value of your property, lower your energy costs, or extend your home beyond its interior, here is what you should know about the benefits of landscape design.
Increase Your Home Value
As a homeowner, it is common to find new ways to increase the value of your home. Intense projects such as remodels and additions are not always an option. However, landscaping is an excellent way to enhance your home’s value, and nearly every homeowner can improve their outdoor space. Well-kept exterior spaces and yards can help you sell your home for more money and in less time.
Reduce The Cost Of Your Energy Bills
When executed by a professional, landscape design can actually impact the amount of energy required to cool and heat your home. By strategically placing larger shrubs and trees throughout your property, a landscape architect can lower the heating and cooling costs associated with your home.
Environmentally Friendly
Landscape design has a significant impact on air quality. Adding trees, shrubbery, and other plant life helps to decrease the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. Well-maintained lawns help keep dirt and dust from being freely released into the air, and planting shrubs, flowers, and trees to increase the amount of oxygen and prevent soil erosion.
Extend Your Living Space
Landscape design can incorporate patios, gardens, pools, and outdoor kitchens to make outdoor spaces feel and function as living spaces. This extension of your home may not add to the square footage. Still, it optimizes the use of your property and gives homeowners the opportunity to create a unique and usable space for entertainment and more.
It is common for homeowners to assume that they can replace the work of a professional landscaper or landscape architect with a bit of research and a great deal of hard work. While this may be true, there are a few things to consider. Many of the advantages and benefits to landscape design mentioned above are, in part, due to the expertise and skill of a professional landscape designer. Their education and experience provide them with the knowledge and skill to increase the value of your home, enhance your home’s curb appeal, and positively impact your energy costs.
Do-it-yourself landscape design is typically seen as a fun project for homeowners, and it is easy to understand why. You can create your own idea from scratch and watch it come to life with from your own two hands. These types of projects usually require much more labor than is initially assumed, so it helps to have a professional with a team complete a home project of this size. The great part about hiring a landscape architect or designer is that you have the opportunity to work with an expert to design the outdoor space that you have been dreaming about.
Here are a few other advantages to hiring a professional landscape designer or architect:
They Know How To Create Low Maintenance Spaces
When it comes to landscape design, professional designers look for native plants, shrubs, and trees that naturally thrive in your region. This not only helps to curb any maintenance but also ensures that your lawn and garden design bring value to the local ecosystem. Native plants help to reduce chemical use and water costs while also reducing the need for additional watering systems or irrigation.
Landscape Architects Incorporate Paved Spaces
By including paved spaces and patios into your landscape design, architects are able to solve many common issues associated with landscaping. Paving can offer solutions by reducing runoff, encouraging proper groundwater revitalization, discouraging flooding, or adding beauty to sidewalks, patios, and other spaces.
Properly Designed And Executed Irrigation
Not only are sprinkler systems expensive, but they also waste a significant amount of water and can harm plants due to overwatering. A professional can design and install a drip irrigation system that will help you save on your monthly water bill and keep your new plants alive. These systems optimize water usage by delivering a water supply to the root of a plant.
They Know How To Plan And Execute
Possibly the most beneficial aspect of hiring a professional for your landscape design is that they know how to create a landscape system. Rather than simply regarding one or two elements of your overall design, they will approach your landscaping using a comprehensive strategy. By assessing your property’s problem areas and using creativity to optimize your space, a professional landscape designer offers a big picture approach with which they know how to deliver results.
There are five key elements associated with creating an aesthetically pleasing landscape design. Properly balancing these design elements will result in a space that is incredibly appealing to the eye and creates a fantastic balance and harmony.
Scale
Scale is an element that often goes overlooked in do-it-yourself landscaping projects, but it has a significant role in the overall process and landscape design. The size of the components in a landscape, as well as how they relate to each other, need to be balanced for the space to feel right. Having a tree or plant that is too large or too small in relation to all of the other elements will draw the eye away from the entire landscape. These design elements should also complement and fit the size of your yard, home, and any existing landscape structures or features.
Line
In landscape design, lines are used to control the movement of both the eye and those in an outdoor space. Lines are used when creating walkways and paths and during the design and construction of additional features. This applies to ponds, pools, fire pits, patios, and any other element within your landscaping project. Lines are significant because they create visual interest and composition. The structure of your lines can determine the style of your landscaping. For example, straight, clean lines are associate with more traditional landscaping styles.
Texture
Texture is used to describe components of your landscaping in both soft scapes and hardscapes. Texture is the term used to describe whether a plant or other element is soft, hard, coarse, fine, light, heavy, smooth, rough, etc. Many different components throughout your landscape add to the space’s overall texture – leaves, bark, water, stone, the list seems endless. Incorporating and utilizing various textures bring depth and dimension to the space.
Form
In landscape design, form refers to the shape of the features included within the design. Just the plants themselves have various forms – ground cover, round, upright, freeform. The same is true for hardscapes and stone features. Form must be carefully considered to create a balanced landscape design. The combination of form and its utilization is what helps to lay the foundation for the creation of a landscape while helping to define its style.
Color
This may be the easiest element to grasp, as it is typically what homeowners think about first when considering landscape design. Color usually captures the attention; therefore, it is a crucial element in the design process. It is incredibly important to consider seasonal changes when determining the use of color in your landscape design. Those colorful plants and flowers that add life to your summer garden will likely not last throughout the cooler seasons. This is why it is crucial to consider other vegetation and trees to maintain the vitality of your landscape throughout the year.
While working with a designer or architect to create your landscape design, you will want to spend some time considering the level of upkeep and maintenance you are comfortable with. High-maintenance space will require either additional work from you, or additional costs to have a landscaping company come to your home to maintain the integrity of the space. If you are low on resources and time, it may be a better idea to plan your landscaping accordingly. Voicing these concerns can help a landscape design professional create an outdoor space that works best for you while meeting your aesthetic demands. In addition to creating the appropriate design, landscaping professionals will know which plants and shrubbery are best suited for the level of maintenance with which you are most comfortable. Remember, no matter what, you need to design a space that fits you and your home.