Minimalist Landscape Design

Isn’t minimalist landscape design the same thing as contemporary landscape design?
It can be because it follows the same aesthetic principle of “less is more,” but in actuality it is much more than that. Minimalism goes back all the way to ancient Greece and Rome and really is all about a controlled approach to plant life cultivation that emphasizes the imposition of human order and the concepts of symmetry and geometry over the wild random patterns of nature. As such, minimalist tendencies are found in all derivative cultural landscape forms that were either once occupied by Rome or influenced by Greco-Roman principles. Consequently, you can apply this approach to landscaping to your yard if you like regardless of the style of your home or the size of your lot.

Can I do this myself?
This is not a task for the do-it-yourselfer. Minimalist landscape design requires a very precise approach to designing each element with just enough detail as to focus attention and please the senses, but never overwhelm them. At the same time, the entire yard must look like an interrelated array of separate elements conjoined by pathways and lighted corridors of interest. This requires close attention to geometry, proportion, scale, and even the grade of the land itself to pull off effectively.

What does your company focus on when creating a minimalist landscape design?
We focus on the following four elements: gardens, architectural walls, custom patios, and water elements.

Gardens
Successful minimalist garden design hinges on doing just enough with plant material but never overdoing the colors or the number of the plants themselves. This is more practical from both an aesthetic perspective and from an outdoor living. The garden becomes more of an outdoor room that can be experienced than a thing to overwhelm the eye. The trick here is to carefully select plants that will stand out as individual elements that share a common theme of interconnectedness when viewed as a whole. Spacing and geometry are much more important here than crowding lots of different plants together like a miniature jungle of greenery and color.

Architectural Walls
Masonry is every important to minimalist landscape design, and is perhaps the one element other than hedges that has survived since ancient times. Stone has always been a mainstay in building architectural walls, but it can be a very costly one. Bricks can work just as well due to the variety of brick colors and types available to masonry specialists. When we build walls, we make sure that the size of the wall, the color of the walls, and the overall geometry of any outdoor room we build works to contain, focus, and direct the flow of organic energy in the cultivated areas of the garden and the yard.

Custom Patios
Custom patios can be constructed from stone, concrete, brick, even wood to create a solid surface that supports human transit. Most important minimalist landscape design, patios help space out the plant life by occupying areas that would otherwise be filled with too much greenery and color.

Water elements
Water elements are used to highlight points of interest and to center garden outdoor rooms in minimalist landscape design. Many people often forget that the swimming pool is a water element in its own right as well and make the mistake of hiring a swimming pool company to build or remodel their pool. This will always diminish, if not outright destroy, the minimalist nature of the landscape because the pool will not “fit” the geometry and layout of the other elements of the landscape master plan.

Swimming pools should be designed by the landscaping professional just like the fountains, natural points, reflecting ponds, and infinity pools that are often used to punctuate high-end properties. This will ensure that the specifications of the pool respect the home and surrounding property and will provide the pool contractor that we bring in with a better frame of reference to work with.

Minimalist Garden Design

What characterizes minimalist garden design?
It is an approach to gardening based upon the belief that less is more. Plant materials are carefully selected. Unusual materials are often integrated into the softscape in very innovative ways. Hardscapes are used to establish strong lines and stark geometry. There is also a heavy emphasis on symmetry.

What are some of the more unique elements used in this design?
It often draws upon industrial elements such as stainless steel and glass. These elements are deliberately placed in a way as to suggest human dominion over natural forces. Contemporary art is very common in landscapes where the home itself is characterized by a very avant garde design that warrants reflection and compliment throughout the landscape. Water is also used to establish a sense of peace and tranquility. This can be in the form of a custom fountain or a reflecting pool centered within the various elements.

How popular is this garden design?
Minimalist garden design has been around for centuries. Many cultures have found that a less-is-more approach to landscaping is a great way to express certain values and traditions in a clearly recognizable way that avoids overwhelming the senses. In recent times, this approach to gardening has exploded in popularity—partly due to the popularity of contemporary landscaping design.

Does minimalist garden design only work with contemporary landscapes?
No. As we have noted here and in previous blogs, minimalism goes all the way back to Greek and Roman times. Because of this, you can find traces of minimalism in every popular European garden design style, including French Formal, Parterre, English, Italian, and Mediterranean. You also see minimalism in Japanese gardens as well. Minimalism is a philosophy, remember, not a single style. Any landscaping style can benefit from the controlled, conservative aesthetic it represents.

What are some specific benefits of minimalist garden design?
It is an ideal lifestyle compliment to young professionals who have just recently purchased their first home. It is low maintenance by nature, so the homeowner never has to worry about upkeep. Due to its cautious use of softscape elements, it also has a very clean appearance which adds attraction factor to home entertainment events. The reduced sense of clutter gives the yard a greater feeling of spaciousness that leaves plenty of room to develop other areas of interest throughout the property. Everything from swimming pool design, outdoor kitchen architecture, sports recreation areas, and courtyards can look good all year round when complimented by a garden that works more to compliment geometry, landscape design them, and activity than it does to draw attention exclusively to itself.

Are there any problems with minimalism I should be aware of?
If you are a do-it-yourselfer, minimalist garden design is definitely a problematic aesthetic that is best outsourced to a professional landscape designer. Do not be deceived into thinking minimal means easy. The phrase “less is more” is a literary oxymoron—something that appears to make no sense at face value. Many people who try to plant minimalist gardens themselves create something that looks barren or boring because they overdo the “less” part of the equation.

Such a tightrope of design can only be walked by a landscape designer who can implement minimalist garden design as one of many interrelated components of a landscape master plan. This master plan is intended to create an outdoor living space that compliments the architecture of your home and ties all of the surrounding landscape features together.