Oh, What to Plant?
I can remember in college taking landscape design classes teaching us how to select and place plants in the landscape. The five elements of design were heavily stressed. Even though I don’t think about them very often I believe I can still recall them. First there is color, which sets the mood. The next is line which directs the eye. Then there is form or the shape of the objects. My personal favorite was texture or how the plants and structures feel. And the final element is scale or how the size of an object fits in the design. All five of these elements were discussed in great detail.
When I got out of college and looked around at all the landscapes, I critiqued each landscape according to these five basic elements. Then I started to realize, because plants in their own right are so intriguing, you could find these elements in every landscape. In other words it is hard to screw up a landscape design. I have now changed my critique from looking at the five main elements of design to what I call the three main inputs of landscape design. Each one of these inputs is important with no one input being more important than the other. By concentrating on these three inputs, I am able to appreciate all landscape designs. I will have to admit however, that I appreciate some more than others.
I truly believe that if you think about these three main inputs in a landscape you will be happy with your landscape even if your neighborhood thinks it looks ridiculous. Your neighbors might even appreciate your design over time. I have to admit I do take exception to gaudiness, plywood women bending over, inflatables or tires made into planters in the garden. But if the homeowners like it, who cares? If these objects are kept in the backyard, no one should object.
I will assure you that if you are successful in utilizing the three inputs that I am going to write about you will have a satisfying landscape that will please you even if you know nothing about color, line, texture, scale, and size. If fact I can show you landscapes that are not satisfying to the homeowner even though the designer used the five elements of design perfectly.
By now I’m sure that your curiosity is piqued. What are these three main inputs that make a landscape successful and rewarding? I would like to introduce the three elements in this column and then write in further detail about each one in later columns. If you have not noticed this is my attempt at trying to produce a cliff hanger to encourage you to read further.
I call the three main inputs the three “P’s” of landscape design. The first “P” is purpose. What purpose does your landscape serve you as the homeowner? I think it is important to know what the landscape is going to be used for and what the family values. Knowing what families like and dislike is crucial in landscape design. You might love pink flamingos. If this is true I strongly believe there should be a spot in the yard for these plastic creatures. Most designers would suggest the best place for a plastic creature is behind the shed. Everyone has likes and dislikes and those biases are what make your landscape unique.
The next “P” input would be place. In order to insure that your landscape works you need to know the characteristics of your property. Another way of putting it is what are your site conditions? Is your yard sunny or in deep shade? Do you know your soil type? Is your soil wet or dry? Is your soil alkaline or acid? How well do you want to know your neighbors? Where is the prevailing wind coming from? These are a few questions you need to know in order to have a successful landscape.
The last “P” would be what is the plant palette that is available to you and would grow successfully in your yard? I have seen many designs with plants that don’t grow well in the conditions they are planted in. A good design that has line, color, shape, texture, and scale with dead plants is not very attractive to me or most landowners. Knowing a plant’s culture and needs are extremely important in designing landscapes.
It sounds like my years of on the job experience have made me bitter to those landscape design classes that made me learn about the five elements of design. I look at it this way I have not become bitter over the theory of design, I have just become more practical. This twist on my outlook allows me to feel better about myself.
Personal Preferences Landscaping
I strongly believe that when you design a landscape the three most important aspects to consider in design are purpose, place, and plants. The purpose in landscape design is the homeowner’s personal preferences, priorities and values for their property.
Here is an illustration of how important purpose is in designing a landscape. Let’s say that you are designing the property of a high school. There’s a need for an area for a football field. You design the field with Kentucky bluegrass and then decide it isn’t aesthetically pleasing. The monoculture of Kentucky bluegrass is just too monotonous for your taste so you decide to place some trees and shrubs on the field. For some strange reason the players, coaches and fans don’t like your creativity. Your design doesn’t fit their ideas of what a football field should look like or their purposes, even though you have a beautiful design that would be aesthetically pleasing.
I believe it is very important to know a family’s interest when designing a home landscape. Most of the new homes that are built today have a huge deck for entertaining and eating on during the summer months. I know at the Martin’s household we love to eat outside and do so almost every summer night because of our enjoyment of complaining about the flies and ants. I would guess that for many people, it is just too much of a pain to eat on their deck and thus it is rarely used. Does a deck truly fit the recreational needs of your family? This would be a good question to start with before pursuing building a deck that will take up three quarters of your property.
Yards seem to serve three purposes for the homeowner. The number one purpose is bragging rights in the neighborhood. I call this the status symbol purpose. Number two reason is an excuse to get out of the house and do something alone fulfilling your need to “meditate”. The last reason is recreation. A lawn is a place for recreational games such as badminton, crochet, kicking the ball, etc. Which one of these reasons best fits your reason to have a lawn?
If you don’t want a lawn, there is no law stating you have to have a lawn. I find it amusing to see people that own weekend getaways cut down trees in order to have a lawn. Weekends are spent mowing or hearing the neighbor’s lawn mower. Doesn’t sound like a getaway to me?
This brings me to the next personal preference. How much time do you truly what to spend in your yard? Every lawn, flower bed, shrub and tree needs some kind of care. In designing your landscape take in consideration how much of your resources (time and money) you want to spend on your yard. If you have teenage kids, it might be a good idea to have a large lawn. This will force them out of the house and away for the video games in order to mow and receive the much needed vitamin D from the sun. I believe that the best thing about video games is that it has decreased kids’ exposure to sun. This will lessen their chances to get skin cancer.
I put personal preferences in with the purpose of the landscape. The purpose of your landscape is to put a smile on your face. Personal preferences can be seen in the plants you select and the yard ornaments that are placed around your property. Birders can’t enjoy their property without bird/squirrel feeders. Pink flamingos aren’t for everyone but stores have been selling them for years and so someone must be buying them and putting them in their yard. Or are they placing them in their enemy’s yard?
Every individual has a unique and special purpose or vision for their yard. By encouraging this special purpose, landscape designs become unique for each property. One of the problems with landscaping by commercial companies is when they don’t listen to their clients and their designs all look the same. It is important to make your desires known when someone is designing your outdoor living spaces. If you are going to have a new landscape make sure you know your own tastes and purposes for your landscape so that you can articulate these to your designer.
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