Getting the Home Garden Design You Want

Thinking about home garden designs opens up a realm of possibilities. Gardens are places of retreat and restoration. Gardens evoke pleasure, sensuality and intimacy. They are also places of change, every day, every season, every year.

Glorious home garden designs affect how we experience our entire living environment. A vital outdoor landscape design celebrates our regional characteristics (perhaps with a sprinkling of tropical plants) and complements the extant architecture (using a Tuscany garden theme to enhance a Mediterranean-style home, for example).

One current school of thought for garden planning is to let plants lead the design. This idea embraces the concept that, within landscape architecture, there has been more emphasis on architecture and less on landscape.

This theory points out that, while concrete, paved paths, fences and walls are necessary, they are also static. Plants and greenery enliven the composition. In fact, it is the juxtaposition of solid mass and growing life that captures our attention and imagination.

If your tastes run toward the functional and the aesthetic, you might consider a vegetable garden design. In these ecologically-sensitive times, it makes more sense than ever to grow your own vegetables. All the time and effort you put into a vegetable garden comes back to you in abundance when you bite into a juicy homegrown tomato or taste the tang of your very own cilantro.

Nothing distinguishes a home garden design like a custom fountain design. Choose from a variety of styles, always being cognizant of your home’s architecture and other material choices you have made. Styles include classic (Roman or Greek), water wall fountains, and pool water fountains, to name a few.

Speaking of water elements, a pond landscape design is another beautiful addition to a backyard. Ponds stocked with koi and other colorful fish also have the added benefit of adding movement to your yard.

Another idea to discuss with your residential landscape designer is a rock landscape design. Rocks and stones have unique characteristics within the natural world. They come with a steadiness, counterbalanced by a surprising changeability. They urge patience and restraint in an over-full world.  A stone landscape could be the quietude your soul seeks.

In contemplating your home garden design, think in terms of creating harmony with colors. For instance, the soft purple of a lavender bush, the bright blue of bachelor’s buttons, and the cheerful yellow of pansies layered against each other is akin to mixing voices together. Instead of a chorus of baritone, alto and soprano, you have a choir of color.

Landscape lighting design is yet another element to consider for your garden. A well-designed lighting schematic extends the pleasure you derive from the gardens by letting you enjoy it at night. Nighttime, with the introduction of shadows and absences created by darkness, lets you take in the tableau with new eyes.

Houston outdoor living comes alive with a customized landscape design for your garden. Discuss with your design professional the fresh, inventive ways that your garden can engage the senses. Make it a place where plants flourish. And people, too.