Planning is vital to designing your landscape. It might seem intimidating at first, especially if you don’t have any experience with it. After all, a few even go to school to learn how to create landscape plans. But if you’re merely setting up a simple model for your backyard, then a more straightforward drawing will suffice. You need to have the right measurements to know where to plant your shrubs and where to set up your terracotta planters. To make it much easier for you, here are a few tips to help you design a landscape:
Create a List
You should determine all your landscape needs and wants and turn them into a list. Ask yourself if your family wants a patio or if you want to have a garden patch as well. You can create rough sketches of your yard with a few basic ideas of where you want to place these things. It doesn’t matter if it looks simple. It can even be just a couple of lines and circles that represent each variable that you want in your landscape. The important part is that you or the contractor understands the plan to turn it into reality.
Consider the Location
Experts recommend learning about the sun and wind patterns. Neglecting to consider these things in your landscape design can cause several problems in the future. Some houses have a higher chance of getting a lot of afternoon sun in August, making it less comfortable to stay outside. You should always consider the sun and wind patterns at different times of the day to prevent these kinds of problems.
Use Symbols
Landscape plans take advantage of symbols to state hardscape materials, plants, and other features. You can create your logos as long as they represent the same thing to you. HGTV suggests making it simple yet indicative of the actual appearance of the architectural features. For example, designing hardscape areas should resemble the material that you’ll use. You can draw zigzag rectangles for herringbone bricks or little dots for gravel. You can also use number codes to ensure that you have the right symbol in the right area.
Start Small
If you don’t have any experience in landscape design, then it’s highly advisable to start with small projects and enjoy the process. You can start by designing a small flowerbed at first. You can spend an hour or two so that you’ll spend less time worrying about filing everything up immediately. See how things will develop as you go along. Soon after, you can plant things and let it fill in the gaps.
Designing a landscape can be fun, especially if you have a passion for it. You can always check a few magazines to learn more tips about designing landscapes and see how it goes. Always remember that patience is the key to creating a great landscape design. Don’t fret too much if it looks bare at first. You’ll figure everything out eventually as you start to enjoy your landscape little by little.