From the Wild, Home: Components of a Landscape of Experience

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The real experience of nature teaches us some strong lessons when developing our home gardens. From the wild, meadows of tawny orange broom sedge at the autumn, boulder-laden streams which meander around gnarly sycamore trees and round tapestries of bluebells, ferns and geraniums have no demand for irrigation systems, fertilizers or tractor-trailer loads of mulch.

Nature’s wild and spontaneous places have become models for designing beautiful and productive home gardens on almost any scale. The trick is not to decorate a home with landscaping, but rather to chair a home in a landscape.

Recently, thanks to the work of giants in the field of design, embracing the regional landscape has shown in gardens in which people long for something more than a relic of the past.

Kikuchi + Kankel Design Group

Simplicity

Holding back and forth keeping things simple frequently generates more visual intrigue than a complex landscape layout.

These groves of trees add mystery to what lies beyond. The simplicity of this ground plane doesn’t distract from the harmony of this space. This layout is bold but simple, and easy for your 16-year-old neighbor to weed on a Saturday afternoon. The urn isn’t terrible to look at either!

Donald Pell – Gardens

Shade and understory trees create overhead and vertical planes that participate guests at the backyard’s experience. The simple tree coating of Nandina domestica has outstanding winter interest and helps buffer the huge driveway outside. Straightforward layers of plants cover the ground plane densely. This is a booming landscape which manages nearly completely without human intervention — nearly.

AHBL

Every plant in this simple palette creates an impact in a subtle, naturalized manner. Bold romantic drifts of powerful perennials keep this informative article intact with minimal management. The children can ride their bikes throughout the switchgrass (Panicum) or create openings to hide outside in with little stress in the backyard designer about harm.

Randy Thueme Design Inc. – Landscape Architecture

Exploration

Narrow distances to move through and overhead planes to walk under become successful additions to a garden’s circulation. Walking from 1 location in the backyard to another becomes a unique experience. Your children will always remember playing at a space like this.

Oehme, van Sweden Landscape Architecture

Compressing distance with overhead and vertical planes creates a potent experience. Arbors, walls, trees and tall perennials become excellent tools for creating an experience of location and therefore are worthy concerns for many gardens.

I discovered the work of the late Wolfgang Oehme years past, and also have great reverence for what he brought to the world of design. Here, his firm constructs a flagstone terrace among tons of robust perennials. The Bertoia chairs are all beautiful, and the arbor beyond encourages exploration.

Developing a strategy of circulation through a property becomes among the primary factors in place making. Ideally, areas of the backyard link to one another, like these two paved areas. 1 space is made for dining, the other is placed under an overhead airplane, but equally invite exploration with an alternate perspective of the same backyard.

Castanes Architects PS

Mystery

I really like to plant groves of trees to scrim views, create puzzle and invite exploration. A client once described it as Victoria’s Secret as opposed to Penthouse. (Who says client meetings are not awesome?) The idea is exactly the same, however — the experience of mystery or uncertainty of what lies behind that door or around that bend could be thrilling.

The Garden Consultants, Inc..

Repetition

Pioneer trees at the windows bring birds into view while cleaning the dishes, blurring the lines between indoors and outside. Again, the planting notion here is straightforward. The repetition of these grasses looks more compelling than simply planting everything in the garden centre. All plants are beautiful in the ideal context — the ideal plant in the ideal place generates magic.

Bernard trainor + partners

Local

In case you want to learn more about landscape design, among the best things you can do is find a nearby stream, meadow or woodland and experience the magic. Simply embracing your property’s natural plants and landscape is among the best garden designs out there.

This grand landscape could easily have been ruined by a less thoughtful strategy. Paving is kept to a minimum. This gorgeous airplane of water is set at a designed meadow that embraces the potent regional landscape. The encounter with this Northern California landscape is why I wanted to name my first daughter Marin.

More: Position of the Landscape: Natural Garden Style
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