Residential Landscape Design Process

• The most important step in designing a residential landscape is to create a plan on paper.
• Developing a master plan can save time and money, and is more likely to lead to a successful design.
• A master plan is developed through a step-by-step process called the 'design process'
• The design process considers environmental conditions, desires, elements, and principles of design.
• The goal is to organize natural and man-made features into an aesthetic, functional, and environmentally sustainable landscape.

The Design Process

• The five steps of the design process are conducting a site inventory/analysis, determining needs, creating functional diagrams, developing conceptual design plans, and drawing a final design plan.
• The first three steps of the design process establish the aesthetic, functional, and horticultural requirements for the design.
• The last two steps apply those requirements to the creation of the final landscape plan.
• The process begins with a site inventory and analysis of soil, drainage, climate conditions, and existing vegetation.
• Climate conditions like temperature, humidity, rain, wind, and sunlight affect both plants and users.
• The next step is to make a list of needs and desires to determine how the yard and landscape will be used.
• User analyses will establish a theme for the form and style of the design.
• The functional diagram helps locate activity spaces and develop a conceptual plan.
• The final step is a final design that includes all hardscape and planting details necessary for installation.
• Throughout the design process, there are ten important things to consider:
• Understand the site for plant selection and activity location.
• Remember the user by considering what's wanted and needed.
• Use a form and/or style theme to determine shapes and organize spaces.
• Create and link spaces by designating activity areas and linking with elements.
• Consider the function of plants for both the environment and the user.
• Structure the plantings by using massing and layering techniques.
• Highlight important points such as transition areas and focal points.
• Pay attention to detail in the materials, the colors, and the surface textures.
• Account for the growth and maintenance of plants.
• Protect resources by using sustainable design practices.

Understand Your Site

• A thorough site inventory and analysis is important to determine the environmental conditions for plant growth and site use.
• Issues of concern include soil type, topography, and regional climate.
• Soil type determines the nutrients and moisture available to plants.
• It is best to use plants that thrive in the existing soil.
• Soil amendments are often costly and ineffective.
• Existing vegetation can provide clues to the soil type.
• Note soil conditions where plants grow well and use plants with similar growing requirements.
• Pay attention to areas where plants are not doing well and adjust accordingly when choosing new plants.
• Topography and drainage should be noted, and drainage problems should be corrected.
• A good design will move water away from the house and re-route it to other areas.
• Climate concerns begin with temperature and plants must be able to survive the average high and, most importantly, the average low temperatures for the region.
• The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (planthardiness.ars.usda.gov) is a starting point for choosing plants appropriate for specific zones.
• Microclimates within yards can offer alternatives.
• Sun/shade patterns, amount/length of exposure to sun or shade, create microclimates (microhabitats).
• Recording site conditions and existing vegetation on a base map will reveal the location of microclimates in the yard.
• Plants usually fall in one or two of four microclimate categories-full sun, partial shade, shade, and deep shade.
• Sun/shade patterns change with the seasons and over time as trees get larger.
• It is essential to note all existing conditions on an accurate base map when doing the site inventory.
• Utilities like power lines, septic tanks, underground utilities and roof overhangs determine plant location.
• Using a surveyor's plat of property to determine the boundaries and location of a home.
• Survey reports include measure and note other structures and hardscape like patios, driveways, sidewalks.
• It is important to hire a surveyor if there is no plat map; guessing boundary locations can be costly.

Remember the User

• Users of the yard are typically the family, family pets, and visitors, each with their own needs to consider:
• How the yard is currently used
• How they want to use the yard
• Its aesthetic
• Maintenance style preferences (hands-off or hands-on)
• Budget
• The vehicles used by the family are important to remember, as driveways and parking are space intensive.
• Budget concerns include the materials, initial installation costs, and ongoing maintenance costs.
• Determine realistic intentions and financial means to maintain plants and hardscape.

Use a Form and/or Style Theme

• There are many landscape design themes, from simple to complex, however, it is helpful to choose one to guide plant and material selection.
• Think of a theme as the inspiration for the garden.
• Gardening magazines and books provide ideas.
• Look at example photos with a critical eye to gather ideas that can be adapted to passion level, budget, and site.
• Before choosing a theme, look at the surrounding views of the property.
• Decide whether to open the yard, close it, or a little of both to those views.
• Care should be taken to choose appropriate themes for the yard based on the architecture, the type of neighborhood, the topography, and the regional landscapes.
• This is called "sense of place".
• There are both form themes and style themes.
• Every garden should have a form theme, but not all gardens have a style theme.
• Many residential gardens have no particular style except to blend with the house by repeating details from the architecture, such as materials, color, and form.
• All gardens, however, should use a form theme to create spaces for activities.
• In a form theme, the organization and shape of the spaces in the yard is based on the shape of the house, the shape of the areas between the house and the property boundaries, or a favorite shape of the homeowner.
• The form theme determines the shape and organization (the layout) of the spaces and the links between them.
• Common themes include geometric (circle, square, rectangle) or naturalistic (irregular, organic edge, curvilinear, meandering lines).
• Form themes are sometimes combined; geometric shapes are used for the hardscape and naturalistic shapes for the plantings.

Create and Link Spaces

• The yard is an extension of the home and generally is divided into three areas: public (front yard), private (back yard), and service (side yard).
• The location of activity areas depends on the type of area, the size of space needed, the type of activity, and the desired proximity to other activities/structures.
• Examples of spaces include the front entry area, a cooking/eating/entertaining area (patio or deck), a play area, a dog run, a secret garden/relaxation area, a vegetable garden or hobby area, and a trash/compost/work area.
• The most important spatial concept for garden design is to create outdoor rooms separated by plant beds, sod areas, trees, planters, garden walls, arbors, level changes, and paved surfaces.
• These features enclose or define the spaces and give them a room-like feel.
• Most people prefer places with protection and shelter, rather than open and exposed areas because of psychological comfort,
• The outside wall of the house often serves as the first wall or starting point of an outdoor room.
• Incompatible uses should be separated, and related activities (Ex: cooking and dining) should be put together.
• Similar construction material should be used for the house and hardscape to create spaces for continuity.
• Pedestrian circulation in the landscape should move people through the yard and provide organizational structure.
• Outdoor rooms are linked by pathways, steps, walkways, or openings with gates/arbors that encourage exploration.
• Spaces can also be linked by visual features such as a creek bed or a garden wall.

Consider the Function of Plants

• Plant materials have three major functions in the landscape: aesthetic, structural and utilitarian.
• Plants create a visually pleasant environment.
• Plants organize and define spaces.
• Plants transform the environment by modifying light, temperature, and humidity.
• Plants control noise and odor and provide food for homeowners and wildlife.
• Plants are used as physical or implied barriers for privacy and safety.
• Physical barriers block both the view and access to a space and include fences, walls and plant hedges.
• Implied barriers (typically low growing plants) block access but not the view.
• Other functions of plants include cleaning the air, preventing erosion/soil loss, retaining moisture in the soil, and returning organic matter to the soil.
• Plant types (trees, shrubs, groundcovers) should be chosen in the early stages of planning.
• Plant types are chosen for their functional capabilities so that their future purpose and required space can be considered at the same time.
• Trees and large-to-medium shrubs are important for structure/utility and are the most important plants in the landscape.
• Trees and large-to-medium shrubs contribute the most to microclimates, spatial organization, and security concerns.
• The size, form, and texture (density) are the three dominant characteristics that determine how plants can be used to make more pleasant microclimates and create a more functional, organized, energy-efficient yard.

Structure the Plantings

• Plants provide structure in the garden like walls in a building.
• Shrubs act as walls in a space, and the branches of trees form a ceiling canopy overhead.
• The overhead, vertical, and ground planes should be considered to create enclosure.
• Once the shape of a plant bed is established, the plants should be massed (grouped) and layered to achieve visual unity and the desired amount of enclosure.
• The size of a plant mass will depend on the total size of the yard, the size of the individual plants in the mass, and the emphasis/impact desired from the plant material.
• Layered masses of plants are both horizontally and vertically to link the plants in an interconnecting pattern.
• Each plant mass is in front of, behind, or next to another mass.
• Repeating plants within a mass and repeating masses with similar plants tie the garden together.
• Individual plant characteristics must be considered to successfully layer and mass plants.
• Each plant should complement or contrast a neighboring plant.
• Plant compositions begin with the main structure plants.
• These include the large, mostly evergreen background plants (trees and large shrubs), that separate or enframe spaces, control the size of the space, that provide the starting point for choosing the appropriate characteristics of the second layer, midground plants, for massing and infill.
• The final layer of plants, the foreground plants, includes the low-growing plants and provides emphasis/focal points.

Highlight Important Points

• The garden's important points are highlighted with unique plants, distinct structures, or garden ornaments such as thresholds, entrances marked by gates, arbors, steps, or unique/colorful plants.
• The garden's form and/or style theme will often determine the important points and how they should be highlighted.
• Some styles have signature elements, such as statuary or water features, that is the hallmark of the style.
• Other important places in the yard are focal points, for visually organizing a landscaped area.
• The focal point type depends on the viewing perspective.
• Varying perspectives or viewpoints can reveal distinct landscape compositions that need different types of focal points. Texture, shape, size, and color of focal points will capture and hold the eye.

Pay Attention to Detail

• Detail in the landscape is derived from the visual quality of plants, hardscape, and garden ornaments.
• Sensual qualities (scent, sound, and touch) add detail to the landscape.
• Various combinations of form, color, texture, and size create aesthetic qualities.
• Plants come in various forms (round, columnar, weeping, spreading) that compliment/contrast with each other.
• Form is the most enduring quality of a plant and thus the most important characteristic.
• Texture is the next dominant feature of a plant and coarse, medium and fine textures can be used for contrast/emphasis in the landscape.
• Form and texture outweigh color, but during certain seasons, color is the most noticeable characteristic of the garden.
• Use plants that have color in numerous plant parts (foliage, bark, and fruit).
• Color schemes, based on color theory, provide contrast/unity in a garden.
• Color schemes can be one color, two contrasting colors, or several analogous (similar) colors used throughout a garden.
• Color and texture affect percieved distance and can change the perceived size of a space.
• Warm colors/coarse texture make a space feel smaller.
• Cool colors/fine texture make a space feel larger.
• The characteristics of individual plants affect balance, unity, and emphasis in the composition.
• Dark colors/coarse textures make a plant look heavier and larger (more visual weight).
• These are balanced with a similar mass of lighter colors with fine or medium texture.
• Massing plants with similar colors/textures provides unity, and contrasting plants should provide emphasis at important points.
• All senses must be used to fully appreciate and experience a garden.
• The pleasant scent of plants, the sound of wind in the trees/water, and the colors and textures of sculptures, pots and garden furniture add to a garden's experience.
• The effect of light on plant aesthetics; such as light shining through a feathery grass, change their appearance.
• The entire garden changes in function/appearance over the course of the day and year.

Take Time into Account

• Plant selection must consider a plant's growth rate, mature size and form, and required maintenance.
• Fast-growing plants may/may not be desirable depending on the site size, design intent, and expected level of maintenance.
• It is important to know their eventual mature size of plants so plants can be properly placed and spaced.
• Common mature size is typically based on optimal growing conditions and environmental conditions may cause plants to grow larger or stay smaller.
• Overcrowding poses maintenance issues if installations are spaced too closely to simulate a fully-grown landscape.
• Provide enough space so that, when fully mature, they are barely touching their neighbors and a solid growing mass is formed.
• It is important to leave space so plants do not touch the side of the house to allow for air circulation and home maintenance.
• Avoid common planting mistakes that plant too close to utilities such as AC units and meters.

Protect Your Resources

• Proper protection of the land involves wise usage of plants, water, and building materials.
• These include the use of resource-efficient plants, the management of water, and the use of environmentally sound hardscape materials.
• Before removing plant material, consider how to enrich existing ecological capital.
• Some plant material may simply be in the wrong place and can be transplanted for more favorable conditions.
• Resource-efficient plants should be chosen as new plants.
• Florida-friendly plants are long lived, insect/disease resistant, and they don't demand frequent trimming, fertilizing, and watering.
• The design phase is the time to consider incorporating the development of a rainwater catchment system.
• Design the role of water; how to get irrigation water, manage it, and use it?
• The most obvious source to harvest rainwater for capture, move, and storage.
• The system can be designed to be aesthetic in the early process.
• Installation is typically the first element installed because it requires earthmoving and underground piping.
• Protecting resources also includes the use of environmentally-friendly hardscape materials.
• Use environmentally friendly hardscape materials and nontoxic preservatives, stains, paints, and cleaners.
• Reusing construction materials will reduce the environmental impact of using new materials while removing waste materials.
• Before any demolition of patios, pool decks, arbors, or structures, consider reusing materials in the new design.
• In addition to helping the environment, it will also help budget.
• Look for other sources of used material in the community if no demolition work is done in the yard.