The Special Details a Landscape Designer Adds to a Fine Garden Design in the Sparta, NJ, Area
Gathering inspiration from nature is one of the most exciting aspects of renovating landscapes. In this post, we will talk about the special details a landscape designer adds to a fine garden design in the Sparta, NJ, area. These are the kinds of details that take a landscape from beautiful to stunning.
Related: How to Fold in Your Personal Style to a Landscape Design in the Green and Sparta, NJ, Areas
1. A Sense of Place
A successful landscape design has a sense of place—it can look and feel as if it is suited to the surroundings, the home’s architecture, and the homeowner’s preferences.
There can be an amazing synergy between man-made aspects of the landscape that you will be keeping in place in contrast to the more naturalistic shapes and irregular, organic edges that could be introduced. Creative contrasts such as placing several lichen-covered boulders surrounding a fire pit set alongside a modernly styled home can be a feast for the eyes.
2. Linking Spaces
How spaces are linked is often an afterthought in landscape design. For example, the journey for some homes from the front yard to the backyard is often accomplished with a straight walkway through the side yard that simply gets the job done. A great landscape design would instead create an almost magical journey through these distinct spaces and create an opportunity to add beauty to the often neglected side yard.
A side yard could become a secret garden/relaxation area; even if it has a walkway through it, most people enter the backyard via the home, so this space would likely be very quiet most of the time. Natural stone, a water fountain, a stacked-fieldstone retaining wall topped by a privacy fence, and a comfortable lounge chair could be all you need for a perfectly serene getaway.
Any walkway can become a functional work of art. Details like a small bridge crossing a creek bed; an area just right for a bench overlooking a particularly pretty view; or character-filled bluestone stepping stone can make the journey as important, or even more so, than the destination.
3. Focal Points
Focal points like a beautiful fire pit, a curved stone wall with a fountain, a bridge, or a statue set on a flagstone base can add a touch of the unexpected to a unique landscape design.
4. Sensory Qualities
Every object, every plant, and every feature brings with it a sensual quality. Scent, sound, touch, and visual aesthetics (and sometimes even taste) can all contribute to the landscape’s overall feel. To fully experience a landscape, designers consider all of the senses. After all, a landscape can be so much more than a patio surrounded by the softscape: it can and should be an experience. Every detail within the landscape can be a sensory feast, in varying degrees of boldness and subtlety. The scent of pine trees, the sound and texture of moving water, the somewhat rough yet beautiful appearance of a natural stone wall, the colors of stone after a rain, and even the taste of tiny wild strawberries hidden in a rock garden can all add to the experience.
5. Balance
A balanced landscape design isn’t necessarily perfectly symmetrical, but it is balanced in terms of visual weight. A large masonry feature could be balanced by large mature evergreens, or by a larger collection of ornamental grasses behind a low retaining wall.