Oceanic Landscaping is the process of creating a unique outdoor environment that reflects the homeowner’s personal style and tastes. It can also have practical benefits, such as providing shade, increasing privacy, and reducing energy costs.

Texture adds interest to a landscape by contrasting or complementing elements. Plant stems, leaves, bark, and stones all have different textures.

Color conveys mood and evokes emotion, creating a sense of depth within your landscape design. Warm colors like red, orange, and yellow inspire excitement, while cool colors such as blue, green, and purple create tranquility. Using color to highlight specific features of your landscape design, such as water features or flower gardens, makes them more prominent and easier to find.

Seasonal color displays in planters and beds add interest to a property and boost curb appeal. They also attract attention, which is beneficial for businesses looking to increase their brand visibility.

Prioritizing unity in your landscaping design establishes continuity. Whether you’re repeating a specific plant species throughout the garden, using similar building materials in pathways and patios, or matching your company logo to the landscaping, consistency is key. Mismatched branding sends a mixed message and can chip away at customer trust.

Form

Form refers to the three-dimensional shapes of plants and landscape elements like walkways, paths and retaining walls. A balance of form creates harmony and visual interest. Like color, form evokes a specific mood or style, which can complement or contrast with other design features.

Shape can be the difference between an orderly, formal landscape and a natural, relaxed garden. The overall silhouette of a tree, the shape of a flower head or the way a shrub is pruned all show its form. Individual plant forms evoke different feelings as well. Rounded, globular shapes feel soft and casual while straight or columnar forms evoke a sense of formality and structure.

Lines are one of the most important landscape elements because they set the framework for a landscape and direct movement and sight. They can be straight or curved, horizontal or diagonal, and can be created with hardscape materials (pavers) or vegetation. Formal, geometric lines work well with a Federal style house or symmetrical gardens while curved or irregular lines work better with more informal spaces and natural, organic styles.

Texture is another important element because it defines how a space feels to the touch as well as the eye. It can be smooth or rough, light or heavy, and can contrast with the colors and forms of other landscape elements.

Grouping a number of similar plants or structures together affects their form, creating a new composition that is more impactful than each plant or structure individually. For example, planting a row of boxwood hedges along the edge of a home gives the yard a more defined and structured appearance than just planting individual hedges throughout the garden.

Taking into account the form of the landscape, the style of the home and other design features helps us choose the right plants for your property and provide the best installation services. Proper trimming and pruning ensures a tidy appearance and healthy growth, while incorporating proper watering practices and sustainable fertilization. We can also help you maintain your landscape after the initial installation by offering seasonal maintenance programs that include weed control, mulching and fertilization.

Lines

Lines are one of the most important design components, shaping and organizing outdoor spaces to enhance their visual appeal and usability. They are found in a variety of forms, from the sweeping curves of blossoming flowers to the defined edges of a retaining wall. Skillfully leveraging diverse lines within these different three-dimensional configurations and hardscape structures is key to elevating any landscape into a harmonious, balanced design composition.

Form is the physical structure that a landscape takes on, including the shapes and sizes of plant materials as well as the shapes of hardscaping elements like trellises, fences, paths and garden beds. While form isn’t as visually dynamic as color or line, it plays an equally important role in establishing the overall character and function of your landscaping.

Like form, lines are a crucial element in any landscape, creating movement and rhythm and influencing how you perceive your yard’s size and shape. They can be straight, curved, thin or thick, but they all have the ability to direct or divert your attention. For example, vertical lines can make a space feel larger by emphasizing certain features and drawing your eye upward. Horizontal lines, on the other hand, can create a feeling of rest and repose and work to spatially divide or tie a space together. These lines can be created by a wide range of plantings and structures, from tall trees to a walkway lined with shrubs.

Sightlines are clear paths that lead the eye to a focal point, out to an attractive view or from inside your home to the garden. Whether you incorporate them intentionally or not, sightlines can open up views and help gardens of any size feel more expansive. The best way to capitalize on sightlines is by adding linear features that align with them. Plantings that spill over walkway edges or a water rill, for instance, can make the line appear even more intentional and visually extend the garden.

Defining property lines with landscaping not only adds beauty and privacy to your backyard but can also increase the value of your home. Whether you choose to use natural elements like hedges and flower beds or hardscape features like stone walls and fences, here are ten creative ways to transform your property lines into stunning landscaping features.

Balance

In a landscape, balance is achieved when the design elements look harmonious and are in tune with one another. A well-balanced garden reflects the personality and tastes of its owner and the surrounding environment. For some, the idea of a balanced garden invokes images of symmetrical shapes and topiary hedges while for others it is more about blending with nature. Whatever the view of a balanced garden may be, it is essential that the landscape designer considers how all the plants and hardscape features will work together as part of a whole.

Repetition is an important element in balance because it helps a composition to feel unified and cohesive. However, too much repetition can become monotonous, so it is essential to use this tool sparingly. Repetition is also effective for establishing rhythm and accents in a landscape design. Repetition can be accomplished through the use of similar plant species, using a consistent color palette throughout the garden, or by using matching building materials for pathways, patios and landscape edging.

The skillful use of contrast is another way to create balance in a landscape. The sharp lines of a stone patio or the rough texture of gravel can be balanced by the soft curves of rounded plant forms, the gentle gradation of a hillside, or the more uniform leaf size of a bedding plant. The contrast of size, shape and color between plants, trees, building materials and textures can add visual interest to a landscape and draw the eye to particular features.

A balance of scale is also critical in landscape design. Larger scale items should be used to anchor smaller scale features and to provide visual weight. For example, a tall tree or shrub should be planted to visually balance a group of small shrubs or ground cover plants.

A well-balanced and thoughtfully designed landscape can make a home or business more appealing, livable and enjoyable for its residents and visitors. It can also increase a property’s resale value and help it stand out from the competition. Landscaping is a complex process that involves a number of different disciplines like soil science, environmental sustainability and the ability to read and interpret an existing site.