Hire an Expert in Landscape Design

 

If you’re a homeowner aiming to have a landscaped front and backyard but without the necessary skills and expertise, it is best to hire an expert in landscape design. Landscape design is the design of outdoor structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioral, or aesthetic outcomes.   It involves the systematic investigation of existing social, ecological, and soil conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of interventions that will produce the desired outcome. The scope of the profession includes landscape design; site planning; storm water management; environmental restoration; parks and recreation planning; visual resource management; green infrastructure planning and provision; and private estate and residence landscape master planning and design; all at varying scales of design, planning and management.

Being a specialized field, landscaping can’t just be done helter-skelter.  You have to consider the project site vis-à-vis the regions you are in.   Therefore, local natural experts are recommended if it is done for the first time.  This is because understanding the site is one of the main requisites for successful landscaping.  Different natural features like terrain, topography, soil qualities, prevailing winds, depth of the frost line, and the system of native flora and fauna must be taken into account.   Sometimes the land is not fit for landscaping. In order to landscape it, the land must be reshaped. This reshaping of land is called grading, a key feature in water garden grading and drainage.

In effect, landscape design is a multi-disciplinary field that incorporates all aspects of botany, horticulture, the fine arts, architecture, industrial design, soil sciences, environmental psychology, geography, and ecology.  Landscape designers work on structures and external spaces with limitations toward the landscape or park aspect of the design—large or small, urban, suburban and rural, and with “hard” (built) and “soft” (planted) materials, while integrating ecological sustainability. The most valuable contribution can be made at the first stage of a project to generate ideas with technical understanding and creative flair for the design, organization, and use of spaces. The landscape designer can conceive the overall concept and prepare the master plan, from which detailed design drawings and technical specifications are prepared.

The landscaping contractor first makes a rough design and layout of what could be done with the land in order to achieve the desired outcome.   Landscaping has become more technological than natural, as most projects require specialized equipment like bulldozers, lawnmowers, or chainsaws.  Different areas have different qualities of plants.  Some landscapers prefer to use mix gravel with rocks of varying sizes to add interest in large areas

If you live in a particularly sunny or rainy climate that would necessitate shade or protection from the elements, you might consider an outdoor living room shelter into your design.