Too
often, in landscape design, the most important views are
ignored – the homeowner’s. We spend most of
the time in our house, or going from our house to our car.
Yet too many designers start by looking at the overall vista
from the curbside. Here are five tips to make sure that
doesn’t happen to you:
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Identify the areas you see when approaching or leaving
your front or back door, or driving up to your home. The
beds on either side of the door? The walkway? Make sure
you give these special attention when designing and maintaining
your landscape.
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Think of your landscape as an extension of your interior
space – another series of “rooms” to
use. How do you occupy each of these outdoor spaces? What
purpose do they serve? How do they interact with the interior
rooms? This will help you to decide how to design them
and how important they are to the overall plan.
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Where do you spend most of your time when you are inside
your home? At the kitchen table? In your favorite reading
chair by the living room window? Perhaps you have a master
bedroom with a large bank of windows. Now, ask yourself
what you see when you look out the windows from these
places. When the design is right, your favorite garden
elements should be visible to you from your interior perches.
There is no reason to limit the enjoyment of your landscape
to your time outside.
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When winter makes the outside less accessible, compensate
from inside. Be sure the beautiful winter elements of
your landscape – the lovely form of a specimen tree,
sculptural pieces, winter-blooming plants such as Witch
Hazel – are visible from those favorite indoor spots.
And come February and March, bring the outside in, providing
a prelude to what will soon be coloring your yard. It
is easy to force into bloom branches of your flowering
bushes, such as forsythia and cherry blossom, using just
a decorative pot filled with water and some clippers.
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You may not have the budget to landscape everything at
once, or the time to keep everything looking great all
the time. By adopting these simple tips you will be able
to prioritize to ensure a manageable plan that meets your
needs.
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