How Do I Know What I Want to Plant in My Landscaped Garden?

Landscape gardens are all about the aesthetic appeal. One of the most important factors in considering what you want to plant in your landscape garden, and when discussing your ideas with your licensed landscaper, is your personality and your family. Because a landscape garden is all about aesthetic and appearance, a landscape garden is, in essence, a reflection of you. What do you want people to see? What are you looking for this garden to represent or say about you? There are simple ways to figure it out.

When you are speaking to your landscaper, keep in mind the four basic landscape design elements, which are scale, color, texture, and focal point. Scale refers to the size of your landscape when you are in the midst of designing and customizing it, in short, for blueprint purposes. Color is the main you want to focus on in your landscape, whereas texture refers to your home’s architecture, and the sort of plants you want to place around your landscape. Focal point is where the eyes will be drawn to—usually, the focal point would be an extravagant fountain of sorts placed right at the center of the large landscape garden.

Organization is key. How you want everything placed can be the difference between loving your garden, and wishing you had done it differently. Don’t rush the process of customizing your garden. It is your garden, and there should be no deadline for such a large-scale project.

You’ll want to look at the amount of sunlight and shade you get next. This will also determine the sorts of plants you’ll want and can have in your garden. Also, check the soil. Is it moist? Dry? Take the environment into consideration.

Now, think of color this way—the color element of your landscape design is essentially the theme. Once you have the color, everything will be built around it, and you’ll have to start thinking of what you want in terms of softscape and hardscape. Softscape is the plants, trees, bushes, and flowers you want to place in your garden, while hardscape is the sidewalk and patio you might want to place in as well. The color you choose will determine what sort of plants you’ll end up picking, the size, shape, and height, as well as the sort of trees (if you want trees in your landscape garden, that is), and the bushes and the shape of these bushes. Then you decide—do you want a walkway through the garden? Do you want a patio, a sidewalk so you’re not walking on the grass? Overall, what it comes down to is your preference.

The landscape design should complement your house. It should not be completely attention stealing, or too flamboyant for a house that is more antique, but just about the right amount of breathtaking. You also want to make sure that your landscape garden is in proportion with your house. You want it to be neither too big nor too small in comparison to your own home, as the sight isn’t quite aesthetically pleasing.

When talking to landscape designer in Sydney, be sure that they really get a sense of who you are as an individual to accurately reflect you in the garden. As stated before, a landscape garden is essentially a reflection of you—and no one should get you wrong.