Landscaping

Many people still have the wrong conception that landscaping means gardening, which is completely wrong although there is gardening involved in landscaping, but there is much more into it. Landscaping is more related to architecture and natural surroundings.

            At the beginning it was about simple gardening, it was limited to the proper allocation of gardens around residential buildings. Nowadays though, it has become   an art consisting of embellishing or remodelling certain surfaces of natural terrain following a rational and esthetical criteria.  It looks for a natural looking way of integrating the architecture to nature or vice versa .

            Rule number one of landscaping is that there are no rules at all, each piece of terrain will need particular solutions. These solutions will be conditioned by the size of the land in first place. Topography, weather, surroundings and, of course, the personal  preferences of the owner of the place.

            Landscaping makes use of different elements which can be both constructive ( bridges, statues, paths, etc. ) or topographic (rivers, valleys, hills, etc.).  Of course, natural vegetal elements are the number one resource when developing a landscaping project.

            To start up, the person must decide what kind of garden he/she wants. There can be a rational approach, which follows the geometry of the place in first place and makes the intervention based on it; or you can opt for a more spontaneous type, being natural conditions the main aspect to respect and maintain. 

            You can decide to subdivide the space in different areas, identifying each one with dominant colour or subject, or you can create undefined areas that will make a more fluent space.

            Scales and proportions have to be carefully considered when planning the changes to be done. A smaller fenced garden will make the viewer focus on  the immediate things  while an open garden leads to far views and little bushes contemplation.  In the case of a small area, the proper use of the elements will create a enlarging impression.

            One thing to consider when starting your landscaping project is the quality of the soil, this will allow or not a proper development of the selected plants.  Weather and season have to be taken into consideration too. When choosing the plants you must know what kind of weather is good for them, and whether they are seasonal or year lasting plants.  At the moment of choosing the plants you must consider light/shadow too.  Some plants do great under direct sunlight and others can not survive direct sun exposure but will do wonderfully in a shadowy area. So there is much more than just what you like.

            Of course, grass must be a primary consideration when starting your landscaping project.  Nothing like a green homogeneous lawn. A good advice here, is to choose different seeds, different kinds of grass, choose a type that will survive winter mixed with a summer type so as to assure yourself you will have a green surface all year round.

            There are many natural elements you can take advantage of when landscaping, aromatic herbs can be decorative too, you can  have an aquatic garden even with bright goldfishes, you can adhere to the concepts of Japanese gardens and create  clearly defined areas, you can use stones, you can make artificial small hills, whatever you might imagine as long as the whole picture is smooth and integrates natural and artificial or architectonic elements in a natural way.