Landscape Basics & Best Practices 

Everyone has their favorite plants & flowers. Choosing the right plant for the right location is an important part of creating a good landscape design and should be the number one consideration when planning any garden space. This allows for happy plants and happy plant owners.

Let’s start with the basics. Having some knowledge of both the elements & principles of landscape design can be helpful when creating a plan. While you have a vision for what you are looking to accomplish, knowing these basics will help you to choose the right types of plants and materials for your space. It will also save you time, money and help you accomplish the best result that is environmentally sustainable. 

Depending on the source, you will find varied lists covering the elements and principles of landscape design. Some of the most common ones are listed below.

Elements of Landscape Design include line, form, texture, color, and scale. 

Principles of Landscape Design include unity, balance, emphasis, sequence, rhythm, simplicity, and variety. 

While you might be able to envision how most of the elements and principles are integrated into the design of a landscape, it can be overwhelming to pull them all together into a cohesive plan. Hiring a garden consultant or landscape architect could be one way to create the perfect curb appeal. But if you are doing the job on your own, read on for some basic information and guidelines that will help you create a beautiful landscape that you will be proud to show off to all the neighbors. 

Consider the space and what is already there. Are there plants that look healthy and grow well? Are there unique rocks in the ground that can be used? Do you want to add a water feature? Take a good look and see what you like and don’t like about the current space. Some elements can remain in place or be relocated. 

Think of your landscape as layers. You have a foreground, middle ground, and background. You will want to have three layers of living elements known as softscape while also incorporating non-living elements known as hardscape. 

Use evergreens & tall shrubs as the backbone and base of your landscape structure.

This layer creates the visual background and structure for your landscape design and enhances the overall look of a property or front of a home. It is important to choose trees, shrubs and plants that will remain visually appealing and provide some color throughout every season. 

Evergreens and tall shrubs should be planted far enough away from the home and each other to avoid overcrowding and allowing them room to grow and acclimate to their space and environment. Think about the size of the plants and proportions to the size of the home. The overall look should be visually balanced. 

Use small shrubs & perennials to add ground cover, beauty and to fill in space of the structure.

The next layer is your perennials and smaller shrubs that fill in space and add color and texture to the middle ground layer of the landscape. Perennials are important for many reasons. They play a key role in supporting our ecosystem, specifically to local wildlife while providing nectar, attracting pollinators, and providing seeds for birds during the colder seasons. Choose native perennials whenever possible as they establish well in their natural environment, acclimate better to climate and are often drought resistant, making them easier to maintain and more cost effective over time. There are so many great varieties to choose from. You can find the most popular perennials as well as many specialty varieties from early spring through the autumn at Cerbo’s Greenhouse. 

Get creative and mix and match the plants you love for their vibrant or subtle color combinations. For example, mix early season flowering shrubs like weigela with summer bloomers like hydrangea or spirea. Many shrubs will bloom just once per season then remain green while others will bloom multiple times. Using different combinations of perennials will ensure that your landscape will be colorful throughout the season year after year. Read on to include the final layer where you can really make your landscape stand out by adding some unique plants and features.

Annuals provide the third layer in your landscape design. 

Using annuals adds that extra pop of color and fullness to a landscape design especially when it is in full bloom. This layer creates a visual foreground and is where you can be creative and choose plants that you love. Annuals can be potted and tucked into the landscape or planted in the ground. Either way, their long-lasting blooms fill in the landscape space creating a vibrant look and feel while adding to the overall curb appeal especially during the spring and summer seasons.  

Making the right choices for each layer of your landscape is the hard part. Once that is complete, go back to your plan and look at the hardscapes of the design. Did you include a bird bath, a pebble walkway, or a fountain? Remember to include the hardscape ideas in your original planning so that you leave room while building each layer. 

After you have completed the design based on your plan, you should take one last look and make sure you are satisfied by the overall appearance. You will have some areas that are not fully grown in, leaving some open space. Resist the impulse to add more to the design right away. Instead, live with it for one full year. This will give the plants a chance to get acclimated while also noticing what you like and don’t like during each season. At the end of the year-long period, you might decide that you want to add more hardscape items to fill space, plant additional bulbs for more color during the spring season or incorporate a new shrub to provide berries for birds during the winter. It is a work in progress! The goal should be to simply enjoy the landscape design that you have created knowing you can make adjustments over time.

What about grass you say? 

Grass as part of our landscapes is another topic altogether. We dig into grass & best practices for turf in our next blog, Lawn care 101, Do’s and Don’ts for Best Results. Check back soon to learn more.