4 Useful Words for a Landscape Design Education

Here Are 4 Words you must learn and understand for your landscape design to come alive.

Form - Contrast - Rhythm - Texture

Form

One of the first things to consider in garden planning is form. Form refers to the shape of things, whether they be a tree, shrub or inanimate object.

Every conifer has strong form, with distinctive outline. Its form is the same throughout the year, while that of a deciduous tree is less obvious in winter.

The form of the dwarf Hinoki cypress is conelike and its pointed top catches the eye just as a church steeple does. Thus a good use for a shrub or tree with a conical form is as an accent - by a doorway, at the end of a path or some other garden axis.

A little observation discloses several different forms among the evergreens alone. Andorra and Pfitzer junipers grow in fountain like forms. Tree-like arborvitaes appear either columnar or conical, while others are globular. Conical while small, a pine may develop a flat-topped outline as it ages… a picturesque form.

Even among herbaceous plants, distinctive forms may be found, although their effects are temporary. The flower spikes of delphinium and tritoma make strong accents for the flower border. Vertical forms create a restless effect, especially when planted singly or in small groups. For a quiet and peaceful garden rely mostly on horizontal forms.

Contrast

Every gardeners achieves contrast or emphasis, whether they realizes it or not. For example the contrast in foliage sizes with the fine dense leaves of boxwood next to the large open ones of hosta. Still more obvious is contrast between plants and paving. A closer look discloses that the paving itself shows a contrast in texture between the bricks and the gravel.

Contrast in color also exists between the greens of the plants and the dull red of used bricks; between the deep green boxwood and the yellow-green hostas. Color contrasts are usually stronger in flowers than in foliage. Thus, in a new garden open to full sunshine, the planner may experiment with zinnias, marigolds, petunias, salvias and other annual flowers before setting out more permanent plants.

Whether contrast is achieved in colors, textures or other ways, it brings life to a garden just as a holiday can to a human being after a humdrum work week. However, garden contrast (like holidays) must be had in moderation for keenest enjoyment. Too much contrast leads to spotty results, instead of a restful effect.

To be most satisfying, strong garden contrast may well be confined to a few important areas and the contrast worked out with care to achieve dramatic pictures.

Rhythm

A path suggest movement or rhythm, but even more so do the plants which flank it. The similarity in character of the plants encourages the eye to travel smoothly down the path. They are all of fine texture, yet varying heights create a rhythmic wave-like effect.

Many different plants make up a planting. Sedums or stonecrops fill cracks between paving stones and form mat like coverings on either side of a path. Just beyond them low rock plants, such as candytuft, various alyssums and pinks, grow in colorful mounds. Sweet alyssum, baby blue-eyes, signet marigolds and other dainty annuals act as summer fillers in open spaces between these perennials. English lavender, babys-breath and other tall perennials give height on the outskirts. Then come massed shrubs as backdrops for the scene.

All the flowers included are kinds which thrive in full sunshine. Even before planning for a special effect it is wise to consider which plants will thrive under given cultural conditions, especially sunlight and shade.

Fine-textured perennials for a much similar effect in shade could include sweet woodruff, wild bleeding-heart, and epimedium, building up to forget-me-not, columbine and the still taller meadowrue, with azaleas and mountain-laurel as background.

Texture

Picture these three textures - one is found in the ground cover, a second in the paving and a third in the board that separates the two.

In landscape terms, texture refers to the apparent roughness or smoothness of plants or structures. In plants, the texture results from a combination of leaf size, spacing and general character. Foliage may be fine to coarse just as the weave in cloth. Foliage surfaces may also be rough or smooth, glossy or dull, any of which will contribute to the textural effect.

The above mind picture happens to have leaves that are glossy and medium-fine in texture. It could be used in any garden. large or small. On the other hand, a bold-textured ground cover, such as a big leaf saxifrage or hosta, would be safe to use in quantity only in a large garden. In working out a flower border, it is natural to place greatest emphasis on forms and colors of flowers.

In working out shrubbery and ground-cover plantings. however, the garden planner should pay special attention to textures of leaves. By the repetition of textures in plants (and in structures), a garden can become a well-knit whole. Then the gardener may proceed to indulge in flowers and furbelows to suit his fancy.

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