Form and function in creating your perfect landscape

When planning their landscapes, most people only think about form, or the shape of the objects in the landscape. They want certain shapes for walkways, fountains, shrubs, retaining walls and such before they even consider function, or how the landscape will be used. In landscape design, form always follows function. Piedmont Landscape Management has the experience and training to provide your home or business with beautiful and functional landscape design.

A beautifully sculpted backyard is useless if it can’t meet your needs. You should always begin by asking: What do I want my landscape to provide? In other words, how your landscape will be used?

If you want to play, a large lawn is good for athletic games or a place to play with kids or dogs. Your landscape will look much different, however, if you prefer an outdoor living space, a place to barbecue and entertain family and friends. A private, peaceful garden to meditate in or curl up with a good book will call for a different functional landscape design.

Once you decide on the function of your landscape, it’s time to plan a basic layout. You might need paths to access to different parts of a garden. A fence can keep kids or pets in and/or unwanted trespassers out. You can encourage wildlife by growing plants with berries, nuts and seeds. Flowers attract hummingbirds and butterflies.

Be sure to consider the maintenance and irrigation requirements. How much time and money are you willing to spend on the upkeep of your yard? Do you want it to pretty much take care of itself, except for a little weeding every few weeks, or are you willing to be mowing, edging and trimming regularly?

Once you decide on function, you can design a plan for your dream landscape. When designing, consider the following:

  • Scale: Make sure the current - and future - sizes of your plants fit into your design scheme.
  • Form: Consider the shape of each plant and how it will look next to other plants.
  • Texture: Bold, large leaves or fine, graceful foliage: What effect do you want to portray?
  • Color: Leaves, grass and flowers all add to the color scheme of your landscape.
  • Focus: Focus points draw the viewer’s eyes to certain spots in the landscape, creating a more relaxing environment than a chaotic jumble of colors, forms and textures.
  • Balance: When viewing from different perspectives, create a balance of large and small, bold and graceful, and bright and muted colors.

The form and function of your dream landscape is a lot to consider, which is where Piedmont Landscape Management comes in. Contact us today to turn your idea into a beautiful, functional landscape design.